Senior Scholar Award

Recognizing Excellence in Public Scholarship on Religion

Each spring, the Boniuk Institute hosts a senior scholar for a fellowship and award. Awardees have made outstanding scholarly contributions to the public understanding of religion broadly as well as pluralism and tolerance. Award winners are invited to the Institute to participate in a variety of programs and give a public lecture followed by a reception in their honor.

ANNOUNCING THE 2027 BONIUK INSTITUTE SENIOR SCHOLAR

We are pleased to announce Thupten Jinpa as the recipient of the Boniuk Institute's 2027 Senior Scholar Award.

Thupten Jinpa is the Founder and Chairman of the Compassion Institute and the principal author of Compassion Cultivating Training (CCT), developed during his time at Stanford University. He trained as a monk at Shartse College of Ganden Monastic University in South India, earning the Geshe Lharam degree, and later received a BA in philosophy and a PhD in religious studies from the University of Cambridge.

Since 1985, Jinpa has served as the principal English translator to H.H. the Dalai Lama, collaborating on numerous books, including Ethics for the New Millennium and The Art of Happiness. He is also the author of A Fearless Heart and has translated key Tibetan texts in the Library of Tibetan Classics series.

Jinpa is an adjunct professor at McGill University, founder of the Institute of Tibetan Classics, and former chairman of the Mind and Life Institute.

The Boniuk Institute will host Dr. Jinpa at a public award ceremony in the spring of 2027.

Watch remarks by the 2025 Boniuk Institute Senior Scholar Dr. Tariq Modood here