Many religion majors take advantage of Middlebury's Junior Year Abroad programs, studying either in one of the College's Schools Abroad or in programs approved by the Study Abroad Committee. In the past, religion majors have studied in France, Spain, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Israel, India, Tibet, and South America. In recent years, a number of majors have taken advantage of opportunities to work on archaeological sites, such as Chersonesus in the Crimea.
Over the past few years, the Religion Department has sponsored four major symposia: The Christ and the Bodhisattva, Spirit and Nature, Religion and the Religions of America, and Religion and the Arts. Each of these symposia has attracted large audiences from the College and wider community and given students the opportunity to engage in conversations with each other and with leading religious figures from throughout the world. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, for example, was a featured speaker at the first of these symposia; Stephen Carter gave the keynote address at the third. With support from the Charles P. Scott Endowment Fund, the Department will be sponsoring other symposia in years to come. A symposium in January 2000 focused on Religion and International Relations.
The Hannah A. Quint Lecture in Jewish life and thought is one of the premier lectureships at the College, bringing to campus each year a leading figure in Jewish Studies.