Professor Barbara Waugh first became interested in Sanskrit as she was working on her BA in Religious Studies at UC Berkeley and pursued that interest by earning an MA in South and Southeast Asian Studies, also at Berkeley.

She has been teaching Sanskrit since the early days of DRBU, volunteering her time while also working as a nurse in Ukiah, and continuing to teach at DRBU after retiring from her work in public health. She is drawn to Sanskrit by its broad range of religious and philosophical literature, including beautiful poetry.

She also appreciates Sanskrit because she enjoys grammar and finds the logical nature of the language very appealing. Reading Sanskrit “is magic. It calms me down.” As a teacher, she is inspired by her students, who work very hard to master Sanskrit—even when they find it difficult.

She cherishes the moments when a student who has been struggling finally puts it all together, realizes “I get it!”, and begins to really enjoy the language.