Dr. Sarah Jacoby

Biography

Professor Sarah Jacoby specializes in Asian Religions with a focus on Tibetan Buddhism. She earned her B.A. in women's studies from Yale University and both her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia's Department of Religious Studies. Since joining Northwestern University in 2009, she has completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the Society of Fellows in the Humanities at Columbia University. Her research interests encompass Indo-Tibetan Buddhist doctrine and ritual practice, gender and sexuality studies, Tibetan literature, and emotion history within contemporary Tibetan Buddhism. Professor Jacoby's notable works include her monograph, 'Love Liberation: Autobiographical Writings of the Tibetan Buddhist Visionary Sera Khandro,' which won the 2016 E. Gene Smith Book Prize. She has also co-authored and edited several publications and has been actively involved in organizing academic conferences, like the Tibetan translation workshop at Northwestern in 2022. Professor Jacoby's commitment to teaching excellence has been recognized multiple times by Northwestern students and various academic organizations. She teaches courses on topics such as Introduction to Buddhism, Gender, and Tibetan Religion and Culture.

Research Interests