#  Bringing Together the Spiritual and the Scholarly 

 





**Varun Soni, MTS '99**, the dean of religious and spiritual life at the University of Southern California, helps students bring together the spiritual and the scholarly—a skill he learned at HDS.



 

April 02, 2025

 

 

     ![Varun Soni](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-04/Varun%20Soni%20edit_500x281.jpg?itok=jBLoOjba) 

Varun Soni, MTS '99



 



 

*Varun Soni, MTS ‘99, Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, USC (Los Angeles, CA)*

*View* [*more stories*](/community-life/career-services/alumni-career-snapshots "Alumni Career Snapshots") *on HDS alumni and their career paths.*

## Describe the work you do today:

As the dean of religious and spiritual life at USC, I serve as the chief religious and spiritual leader of a university with 70,000 people representing 140 nations and all the world's religions. In this role, I provide pastoral care and spiritual counseling, offer interfaith and religious literacy programs and events, oversee 80 student religious groups and 40 chaplain affiliates, conduct memorial and liturgical services, organize community service and engagement opportunities, and teach large lecture courses.

## How has your HDS degree influenced your career journey?

HDS showed me how to bring together the spiritual and the scholarly in my life, and that's literally what I do each day on my campus. There's no way I would have this role if not for HDS.

## What career advice would you offer to current HDS students?

Think about what the future of chaplaincy/ministry/academia looks like and start moving toward it as opposed to emulating how people encountered those fields in the past.



 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ Alumni News and Profiles ](/discover-stories-about/alumni-news-and-profiles)