Varun Soni is the Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California.
Hear more inspirational stories like Varun's on the Pray app: https://link.pray.com/hOzg1zP3i0
He is currently a University Fellow at USC Annenberg’s Center on Public Diplomacy and an Adjunct Professor at the USC School of Religion. He is the author of Natural Mystics: The Prophetic Lives of Bob Marley and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Figueroa Press, 2014) and his writings have appeared in the Washington Post, Huffington Post, Crosscurrents, Jewish Journal, and Harvard Divinity Bulletin.
Dean Soni is a member of the State Bar of California, the American Academy of Religion, and the Association for College and University Religious Affairs. He is on the advisory board for the Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement, Journal for Interreligious Dialogue, Hindu American Seva Charities, Hindu American Foundation, Future45, and the Parliament of the World’s Religion. Prior to joining USC, Dean Soni spent four years teaching in the Law and Society Program at UCSB. Born in India and raised in Southern California, he has family on five continents and they collectively represent every major religious tradition in the world.
“The cause that resonates with me the most . . . is the cause of inclusion, it’s the cause of belonging, it’s the cause of creating communities that allow people to be who they are. That celebrate differences but understand commonalities.”