Pluralism Project & Other Research Opportunities

Furman has a nationally awarded undergraduate research program, one of the many benefits of the Furman Advantage. The immersive experience provides the means to apply learned knowledge from your classes while also building the tools for your future career.

In addition to the large, semester-long research paper for REL-475 Senior Seminar (required for our majors), students can engage in collaborative research with a professor. Our department has several opportunities for exposure to undergraduate research that arise every semester, but we want to share a few with you.

Pluralism Project

Dr. Claude Stulting and Dr. Sam Britt became involved with Harvard’s Pluralism Project in 1998. They explore the changing religious landscape in Upstate South Carolina with the help of student researchers. While the area is predominantly Protestant, the Upstate also has other religious groups such as Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Muslims, and Bahá’í. When the project first began, the two professors mapped out the religious landscape in South Carolina, then they examined the Upstate specifically, which progressed into investigating the religious diversity within Columbia and the Midlands.

Robert L. and Dorothy W. Cate Research Fellowship

The Robert L. and Dorothy W. Cate Research Fellowship provide funding to one or more students to collaborate on a research project with a faculty member in our department. Faculty members choose the fellows each fall based on academic achievement.

For more information regarding research in the religion department, reach out to our staff! And remember, the first step to finding research opportunities is connecting with faculty members to discover possible openings to become a student researcher.