Rita Sherma holds an M.A. in Women’s Studies in Religion, and Ph.D. in Religious Studies (2002). Since 2007, Dr. Sherma has served as Executive Director
r of the School of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Taksha University, and is the President of the Confluence Institute initiative which partners with US and Indian institutions of higher learning to preserve and apply indigenous knowledge systems for contemporary needs. She is the Co-founder and Vice-President of DANAM (Dharma Academy of North America), the first scholarly association in North America to offer a dedicated forum for the interdisciplinary academic study of the Dharma Traditions (Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Sikh Dharma), in terms of their shared categories and interrelationship. She is the Co-founder and former President of Foundation for Indic Philosophy and Culture (FIPC) at the School of Religion at Claremont Graduate University, and a past President of the Himalayan Arts Council. She is a Chief Co-Editor of the Journal of Dharma Studies. Rita Sherma is a frequent presenter at academic meetings nationally and internationally; she has organized many panels and dozens of symposia and serves on the boards of several foundations.She has authored numerous essays, articles and book chapters, and encyclopedia articles on religion. Previous books include of five co-edited volumes, including Dying, Death, and Afterlife in Dharma Traditions and Western Religions (2007); Hermeneutics and Hindu Thought (2008), and Woman and Goddess in Hinduism: Reinterpretations and Re-envisionings (2011); Prayer and Worship in Dharma Traditions (forthcoming).