The Divinity School is pleased to announce the 2024 Milo P. Jewett Award winner: MDiv graduate Shashank Rao.

The Milo P. Jewett Award is funded by the Baptist Theological Union and is awarded to the graduating Master of Divinity student with the most effective expression to the meaning and spirit of sacred texts. 

Prior to beginning the MDiv in 2021, Shashank received a Master’s degree in International Affairs in Singapore.  When Shashank entered the Divinity School, he brought with him a love of the texts and languages of his Hindu tradition, and a lively commitment to sharing his appreciation for these rich resources with his own faith communities, and with his multi-religious MDiv cohort as well.

During his three years in the program, Shashank has deepened his textual skills as a scholar and practitioner. In 2022, Shashank was a Kannada Program Fellow for the American Institute for Indian Studies.  His MDiv thesis, “Dislocation, Diaspora, and Devotion” explored the reading of traditional narratives as a source of theological imagination for American Hindu communities.  Shashank modeled that imagination in his own practice:  he gave leadership to the Hindu Sangam through the Spiritual Life office at Rockefeller Chapel, and he frequently wrote and performed his own original works of devotional poetry, in both the Kannada and English languages, for his MDiv cohort and the wider Divinity School community.