Faculty
Professor
Dr. Shivani Bothra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at California State University, Long Beach. She recently was the Bhagwan Mahavira Prakrit Fellow for the Program of the International School for Jain Studies. Before this, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Rice University in Houston, USA. She has also served as a lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She earned her doctorate from the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. Her focus is South Asian traditions, Jainism, and Nonviolence.
Her research explores the role of religious education for children as a means of preserving Jain values and culture for future generations. Dr. Bothra’s pedagogical interests include Jain yoga, non-violence, environment, foodways, and integration of the local Jain community into her pedagogy with field trips. Presently, she is engaged in a study that examines how lay Jains incorporate the principles of anekāntvāda (the doctrine of non-absolutism) and aparigraha (non-possessiveness) into their daily practices.
She also explores their involvement in nonviolent movements that transcend religious boundaries. Her most recent article was published in “Gandhi’s “Nonviolence: Convergence or Divergence of Jain Values.” in an edited volume titled, Gandhi’s Global Legacy. Terāpanth Prabodh: Devotion to Ācāryas in Śvetāmbara Terāpanth Tradition, in Contemplative Studies & Jainism. Her peer-reviewed publications include “Nonviolence: A Secular Paradigm for Sustainability,” “Self-Discipline as Integral to the Education System,” and a co-authored article “The Rise of Non-Veg: Meat and Egg Consumption and Production in Contemporary India.”
- Phone: (562) 578-6125
- Office: MHB-613
- Email: Shivani.bothra@csulb.edu
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
R/ST 352 sec 1 Wednesday 11:00–12:00 (and by appointment)
R/ST 604 sec 1 Tuesday. 2:30pm – 3:30 pm
Professor
With a PhD in Classics from UCLA, Dr. Kathryn Chew has research interests in the ancient Greek and Latin novels, early Christian female martyr accounts, and fifth century eastern Roman imperial history. She has published on the development of the ancient novel and early Christian female martyr accounts, on the intersection of religion and politics in the life of Pulcheria, a fifth century imperial woman, and on other interesting topics, like how to recognize gods in mortal guise in Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit literature. Dr. Chew joined the faculty at CSULB in 2003 after teaching at such institutions as the University of Virginia, Northwestern, Vassar, and Princeton. Her joint appointment in both Classics and Religious Studies gives her the best of both worlds: teaching the languages that are the foundation of Classical studies and participating in the lively intellectual environment of Religious Studies.
- Phone: (562) 985-5810
- Office: MHB-606
- Email: kathryn.chew@csulb.edu
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
Not teaching
Professor
- Phone: (562) 985-2598
- Office: MHB-601
- Email: gabriel.estrada@csulb.edu
- Class Time & Place: Both are online and asynchronous
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
R/ST 303 sec 1 M-F 8am-5pm I will endeavor to answer all emails sent within 48 hours. I will hold Zoom office hours on Tuesdays noon-12:45pm
R/ST 313A sec 1 Tuesdays 12pm-12:45pm online with this Zoom Meeting ID: 841 9842 1719 and Passcode: 303303313.
R/ST 601 sec 1 6:45-7pm, 9:45pm-10:45pm, on class zoom, or by appt, (response within 48 hours, M-F 8am-5pm) Meeting ID: 895 1835 3674 & Passcode: 601601
- Document
Professor and Graduate Advisor
Dr. Sophia Pandya is currently a full professor and department chair at California State University at Long Beach, in the Department of Religious Studies. She received her BA from UC Berkeley in Near Eastern Studies/Arabic, and her MA and PhD from UC Santa Barbara in Religious Studies. A Fulbright scholar, she specializes in women and Islam, and more broadly in contemporary movements within Islam. Dr. Pandya has authored a book (2012), Muslim Women and Islamic Resurgence: Religion, Education, and Identity Politics in Bahrain, on Bahraini women and the ways in which globalization and modern education impacted their religious activities. Having carried out research in Turkey on several occasions, she is also the co-editor of a second published volume (2012), The Gülen Hizmet Movement and its Transnational Activities: Case Studies on Charitable Activism. She is now finishing a manuscript on the Hizmet movement, alterity, and the challenges of altruism. Her interests have also included religious change in Yemen among both the younger and older generations of women, and the ways in which they negotiate conflicting religious discourses. One of her publications, “Religious Change among Yemeni Women: The New Popularity of ‘Amr Khaled,” looks at younger, educated Yemeni women and their preference of an Egyptian televangelist over their mothers’ religious practices. Another, titled “Religious Flexibilities of Older Yemeni Women in Sana’a,” examines older women and their navigation of religious change. Dr. Pandya is frequently invited to speak at the local, national, and international level.
- Phone: (562) 985-7982
- Office: MHB-617
- Email: sophia.pandya@csulb.edu
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
R/ST 366 sec 1 Tuesday 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Professor
Dr. Carlos Piar obtained his Ph.D. in Religion/Social Ethics from the University of Southern California. He also holds a M.Div. and a Th.M. from Talbot Theological Seminary. He was appointed to the Department of Religious Studies in 1990. Prof. Piar has published a book titled Jesus and Liberation: A Critical Analysis of the Christology of Latin American Liberation Theology (1994). With Jon R. Stone, he has recently edited a primary-source reader, Readings in American Religious Diversity (2007). He has also written several articles on virtue ethics. He specializes in Latin American Religions, Modern Christian Thought, and Religious Ethics.
- Phone: (562) 985-8727
- Office: MHB-612
- Email: carlos.piar@csulb.edu
Spring 2026 Office Hours:
R/ST 100 sec 2 Tuesday 11:00am - 12:00pm
R/ST 100 sec 3 Monday 10:00am - 11:00am
R/ST 308 sec 1 Thursday 11:00am - 12:00pm
R/ST 383 sec 1 Wednesday 10:00am - 11:00am
Professor
Dr. David Stewart received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley – a degree focusing on Hebrew Bible and Hittitology in their Department of Near Eastern Studies, an M.A. in Middle East Studies-Hebrew from the University of Utah, and a B.S. in Finance from the University of Oregon. He joined the CSULB faculty in 2007. His special interests include biblical and ancient Near Eastern religion and law, the literary art of the Hebrew Bible, intertextuality, and ancient notions of disability, otherness, sex and gender. Dr. Stewart has taught at Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Davis, San Francisco State University, and Southwestern University (Texas). Before his life as a professor, Stewart was involved in the management and financial guidance of a number of NGOs including ones that focused on homeless youth and college students.
- Phone: (562) 985-1697
- Office: MHB-603
- Email: david.stewart@csulb.edu
Retired
Professor
Dr. Jon Stone (Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara) specializes in Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion, and also teaches courses in American Religious History and the Sociology of Religion. He has taught at CSULB since 2004. He is the author or editor of twelve books, including On the Boundaries of American Evangelicalism, The Craft of Religious Studies, Expecting Armageddon, The Essential Max Müller, and contributor to The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism. His lexicon, Latin for the Illiterati (2nd edn, 2009), was named “1997 Outstanding Reference Source” by the American Library Association. With Carlos R. Piar, Professor Stone has recently revised Readings in American Religious Diversity (2007/2012), a primary-source reader now published in four separate volumes. He has previously taught at U.C. Santa Barbara, U.C. Berkeley, CSU Bakersfield, and the University of Northern Iowa.
- Phone: (562) 985-2146
- Office: MHB-620
- Email: jon.stone@csulb.edu
Spring 2026 Office Hours
R/ST 201 sec 2 Wednesdays 2:00m - 3:30pm and by appointment
R/ST 302 sec 4 Wednesdays 2:00m - 3:30pm and by appointment
R/ST 401 sec 1 Wednesdays 2:00m - 3:30pm and by appointment
