Meditation and social activism: Opposites or complements?

Thomas B. Coburn, president emeritus of Naropa University, Boulder, Colo., will address the campus at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, in Emerson Auditorium, on the topic, "Meditation and Social Activism: Opposites or Complements?"

Coburn was president of Naropa University from July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2009. Prior to assuming this post, he served from 1996 to 2002 as vice president of the university and dean of academic affairs at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., where he was also the Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies. Now a visiting scholar at Brown University in Providence, R.I. , he is the author most recently of Secularism and Spirituality in Today's Academy (Liberal Education).

Coburn holds a B.A. in religious studies from Princeton University and a M.T.S and Ph.D. in comparative religion from Harvard University. He is a well-known scholar of the great goddess tradition in Hinduism. He has lectured broadly in the United States and India, and is a widely published author specializing in comparative and Asian religion.