<p>Dr. Duncan Ryuken Williams will be the new Director of the USC School of Religion. Dr. Williams was born in Tokyo to a Japanese Buddhist mother and a British Christian father. He believes his destiny is to serve as a bridge between the religions and cultures of his upbringing.</p>
<p>He will be the co-director of the USC Center for Japanese Religions and Culture with Dr. Lori Meeks who is an associate professor of religion and East Asian languages and cultures at USC Dornsife.</p>
<p>Dr. Williams received a Ph.D. from Harvard after being ordained as a Buddhist priest. He served as the university's Buddhist chaplain. He founded the Mugen Project, the world's first online Western language bibliographical database on Buddhism. He has also authored books on Japanese history and Buddhism. He comes to SC from the Univ. of California at Berkeley where he held the Shinjo Ito Distinguished Chair of Japanese Buddhism and served as Director of the Center for Japanese Studies. Williams is the first Buddhist to chair a department of religious studies in the United States.</p>
<p>The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Consulate-General of Japan have given Dr. Williams an offical commendation for deepening the bilateral relationship between Japan and the U.S.</p>
<p>Dr. Williams will begin teaching in the 2012-2013 academic year. He said,"Religion is so relevant to understanding our incrasingly globalized and multireligious world. It's so important to understanding how to orient our identities and values in an age of uncertainty."</p>
<p>These are highlights from an article on Dr. Williams written by Laurie Moore.</p>