Stephen Grover Covell

Stephen Covell (Ph.D., Princeton University) is the Mary Meader Professor of Comparative Religion at Western Michigan University (WMU) in the Department of World Religions and Cultures. He served as founding director of WMU’s Soga Japan Center for five years and as chair of his department for fourteen years. He has received two Fullbright Scholar Awards, a Japan Foundation scholarship, Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship and many other awards. He has conducted research at the University of Tokyo, Taisho University, Hitotsubashi University and International Christian University in Tokyo. He teaches courses on the pedagogy of world religions, death and dying, self-cultivation and Japanese religions. He also created and directs a study abroad program to Japan. He has written extensively on modern Japanese Buddhism.