James Gubbins

Professor in the Interdisciplinary Studies Department, Salem State University

I am an interdisciplinary teacher and scholar in the areas of ethics, moral psychology, and religion as well as assessment. All my work—teaching, advising, researching, writing, speaking, contributing to my department, the university, and public higher education, and serving the larger community—centers on one question, What is a good life? From this one question flow my research and teaching, which consider what makes (1) a good person, (2) a good institution, and (3) a good society.

Ph.D., Brown University, Religious Studies: Western Religious Thought

M.T.S., Harvard Divinity School, Theology and Ethics

B.A., Wesleyan University, Philosophy

I have been teaching at Salem State since 2001. I teach courses on creating a happy life, comparative religion, history of religion in America, religion and literature, love and compassion, and more.