University of North Texas professors Pankaj Jain and Geoffrey Wawro will share their expertise in religion and history for upcoming shows on the National Geographic Channel.
Jain, associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion, will appear alongside Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman in “The Story of God with Morgan Freeman.” The documentary series, now in its third season, explores how religions around the world have shaped society. The last two seasons are available on Netflix.
UNT’s Jain traveled to Nepal last fall where he joined Freeman to participate in rituals at a Jain temple in Kathmandu. Their trip and discussion about Jainism will be featured in “The Story of God” episode airing 8 p.m. April 9 (Tuesday).
Jain has been consulted widely by media around the world for his expertise in ancient religions such as Jainism and Hinduism and their connections to contemporary issues. He also created UNT’s first course on Jainism and has helped organize Jain education events at the university.
In 2017, the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences established its first professorship in Jain studies with a $500,000 gift from the Jain Education and Research Foundation. George Alfred James currently holds UNT’s Bhagwan Adinath Professor of Jain Studies position.
Wawro, Department of History professor and director of the Military History Center at UNT, is featured in multiple episodes of “Nazi Megastructures: America’s War.” The series takes a look at groundbreaking weapon technology developed during World War II.
Wawro is a sought-after expert in military history and has appeared in original series on The History Channel, Netflix and more. He’s also written numerous articles and books, including his most recent, “Sons of Freedom: The Forgotten American Soldiers Who Defeated Germany in World War I.”
The Military History Center at UNT is building one of the premier military history programs in the world. The university has hired military historians such as Wawro who are at the forefront of their fields in teaching and research, and offer a rich course rotation for graduate students and undergraduates on the major conflicts of history as well as war and society, military thought and diplomacy.