Samding Dorje Phagmo Judith Simmer-Brown is a Distinguished Professor of Contemplative and Religious Studies Emerita at Naropa University.
She is an acharya — a senior Buddhist teacher — in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition and was a senior student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
[1] She serves on the board of the Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies, and is on the steering committee of the Contemplative Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion.
Previously she was a member of the Lilly Buddhist-Christian Theological Encounter.
[2] She was raised as a minister's daughter in Nebraska, and graduated from Cornell College in Iowa (BA History and Religion); Florida State University (MA Religious Studies); and Columbia University Religious Studies, ABD.