Our Bureau
Los Angeles, CA
Loyola Marymount University hosted the annual Doshi Bridgebuilder event, attended by several hundred people. The event focused on AI as a driving cultural force. Physicist Fritjof Capra, meditation leaders Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman, and the Center for Human Technology’s educator and tech leader Randima Fernando, shared the honors.
The Doshi Family Bridgebuilder Award, named for its benefactors, Navin and Pratima Doshi, is given annually to honor individuals or organizations dedicated to fostering understanding between cultures, peoples and disciplines.
The Doshi family has pioneered in the field of Indian American philanthropy, endowing chairs and programs at LMU, CIIS, MIU, and IIT Gandhi Nagar. Most recently, they provided funding to establish the Doshi Center for Integrative Medicine with locations in West Los Angeles, Fairfield IA, and Encinitas.
The award ceremony is a celebration of culture and diversity, often featuring numerous speakers and artistic performances. Navin Doshi, while presenting the Bridgebuilder Award to Thich Nhat Hanh in 2008, remarked: “Here we are at a Christian university giving an award to a Buddhist monk from a Hindu family. Isn’t it wonderful that LMU honors all human traditions?” The award ceremony is jointly sponsored by Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, the Department of Theological Studies, and the Navin and Pratima Doshi Professorship of Indic and Comparative Theology, which is currently held by Professor Christopher Key Chapple, PhD.
