Jan Willis là Giáo sư môn Tôn giáo tại Wesleylan University, bang Connecticut, Hoa Kỳ. Bà đã nghiên cứu và giảng dạy về Phật học trong hơn bốn thập niên qua, là tác giả của nhiều cuốn sách về tôn giáo và tâm linh.

Janice Dean Willis, or Jan Willis (born 1948) is Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University, where she has taught since 1977; and the author of books on Tibetan Buddhism. She has been called influential by Time Magazine,^[1][2] Newsweek (cover story),^[3][4][5] and Ebony Magazine.^[6] Aetna Inc.’s 2011 African American History Calendar features professor Willis as one of thirteen distinguished leaders of faith-based health initiatives in the United States.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Janice Dean Willis

Born

1948

Nationality

American

Alma mater

BA and MA degrees in philosophy, Cornell University; Ph.D. in Indic and Buddhist Studies, Columbia University

Occupation

Professor of Religion

Employer

Wesleyan University

Known for

Author of books on Tibetan Buddhism

Awards

Wesleyan University’s Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching, 2003

Website

http://www.janwillis.org

Willis grew up in Docena, Alabama (near Birmingham), as the daughter of a Baptist deacon and steelworker. While traveling through Asia during the early 1970s, she became the student of Tibetan lama Thubten Yeshe, who encouraged her academic pursuits. She received BA and MA degrees in philosophy from Cornell University (thesis: History, Faith, and Kerygma; A Critique of Bultmann's Existentialist Theology.), and a Ph.D. in Indic and Buddhist Studies from Columbia University (dissertation: A Study of the Chapter on Reality Based Upon the Tattvartha-patalam of Asanga's Bodhisattvabhumi.).

She is the author of the following books:^[11]

• Dreaming Me: An African American Woman’s Spiritual Journey. New York: Riverhead Books, 2001.