Ever since his undergraduate years, Richard Lariviere has been interested in the interaction between law, religion, and society. As an academic he has pursued two of the ancient traditions where this interaction is very strong: Judaica and the Hindu tradition. "Being exposed to another culture is one of the most dramatic ways to examine who you are personally," he says.

This professor of Asian Studies is now the dean of the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. Liberal Arts, he maintains, "examines what it means to be a human being."

So why did an expert in Sanskrit want to serve as dean of a college?

"I really get a kick out of making it possible for smart people to do interesting things."

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