James Gubbins


Professional Details

Title Chairperson
Department Interdisciplinary Studies
Office Meier Hall 232
Phone 978.542.7210
Email james.gubbins@salemstate.edu
Resume James Gubbins
Photo of James Gubbins

Recent and Upcoming Courses

FYID 100 First Year Seminar (ids)
IDS 255 Comparative Religious Traditions
IDS 255H Honors Comparative Religious Traditions
IDS 275 Love and Compassion Across the World Religions
IDS 389 Research Methods in Interdisciplinary Studies
IDS 489 Senior Capstone in Interdisciplinary Studies

Professional Biography

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.