Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Associate Provost, Undergraduate Studies
As the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies, Dr. James Bennett supervises the Office of Undergraduate Studies, the Undergraduate Core Curriculum, the Faculty Director elements of the Residential Learning Communities, the University Honors Program, Office of Fellowships, LEAD Scholars Program, Academic Support Services (i.e., the Drahmann Advising and Learning Resources Center), and the Peer Educator Program. All of these programs contribute to highimpact practices to enhance student learning. He reports to Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Diane JontePace.
As the Associate Provost, he works to facilitate and support what works well in undergraduate studies and to envision and implement ways to improve the undergraduate educational experience as the University moves into a new period of growth and development.
In the Department of Religious Studies, where he is a faculty member, he has chaired the Faculty Core Committee for the Core requirement in Religion, Theology, and Culture, served as the department's Director of Undergraduate Studies, and worked closely with the Drahmann Center as a summer orientation advisor to incoming first year and transfer students. The primary topic of his teaching and research is American religious history, with a focus on race, new religious movements, and the American West.
Bennett received a B.A. from UCLA, a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Yale. He taught at the University of Oklahoma for several years before joining the Santa Clara faculty in 2002.
(408) 551-1910
jbbennett@scu.edu