Diana L. Eck
Professor Diana L. Eck is Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and is a Member of the Faculty of Divinity at Harvard University. She is also Director of the Pluralism Project, which includes 60 affiliates investigating the religious dimensions of the United States' religious communities, including the growth of Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Zoroastrian communities. She has written numerous books and articles, including Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras and A New Religious America: How a 'Christian Country' Became the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal from President Clinton and the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1996, and the Melcher Lifetime Achievement Award from the Unitarian Universalist Association in 2003. She also served as acting director of the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University during 2003-2004.