Gregory Watkins
Gregory Watkins
About
Greg has taught in Structured Liberal Education (SLE) since 2002. He has a BA in Social Theory (a self-designed major) from Stanford, with Honors in Humanities, an MFA in Film Production from UCLA, and a dual PhD in Religious Studies and Humanities from Stanford, also from Stanford. Greg's research interests hover around the intersection of film and religion, and he continues to work on a variety of film projects.
Assistant Director of SLE
gwatkins@stanford.edu
Florence Moore Hall
B.A., Stanford University, 1985
M.F.A., UCLA, 1991
Ph.D., Stanford University, 2003
Once a SLE student himself, Greg Watkins has taught in SLE since 2002. As an undergraduate, Greg designed his own major in Social Theory after SLE derailed him from his Chemical Engineering, pre-med plans. He also received Honors in Humanities for his thesis on Goethe’s Elective Affinities. After a year of wandering, Greg returned to graduate studies for an MFA in Film Production at UCLA and then for a dual PhD in Religious Studies and Humanities at Stanford University. Greg’s dissertation examined George Santayana’s Interpretations of Poetry and Religion, in which Santayana argues that religion and poetry, in their highest manifestations, are the same thing. It was in the doctoral program that Greg also started working on his research in film and religion, culminating most recently in Teaching Religion and Film (Oxford University Press, 2008).
Greg continues to work on films as a producer and director. His other interests include Buddhism and media, all things Bhutan, and Stanford sports. He and his wife, Susan, have been Resident Fellows in East Florence Moore Hall (home to SLE) for the past 9 years. They have two daughters, Erica and Emily.
