HIGH POINT, N.C., Oct. 28, 2015 – High Point University welcomes Dr. Jennifer Ortegren as an assistant professor of religion. She is one of 41 new faculty members joining HPU this year.
Ortegren is developing and teaching multiple classes related to world religions, including introductory courses in Hinduism, Islam, religions of India, women, religion and ethnography.
“I’m very excited not only to work with the outstanding faculty, staff and students at High Point University, but to begin cultivating relationships with local religious communities in order to create new learning opportunities for the students in my courses,” she says.
Ortegren specializes in the study of South Asian religions, particularly Hinduism and Islam in India. While completing her dissertation, she spent time in India studying the relationship between religion and class among upwardly mobile Hindu women. Her ethnographic research was funded by both a Fulbright-Nehru grant and a grant from the Initiative in Religious Practices and Practical Theology at Emory University, which is funded by the Lily Endowment.
Ortegren earned a Bachelor of Arts in religion from Wesleyan University, a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a doctorate in religion from Emory University.