Tom Perrine

Tom Perrine, a graduate of the Osage Forest of Peace School of Spiritual Direction, is a Vietnam era Army veteran and holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Kent State University where he also completed his master’s coursework in organizational sociology. Tom is a practicing Mahayana Buddhist and serves as the sangha leader for the English Language Sangha at the Tam Bao Buddhist Temple in Tulsa, Oklahoma. An ordained Zen priest (Korean, Seon) Tom is frequently called upon to speak on Buddhism to educational, professional and civic groups. Mr. Perrine has given classroom instruction in Buddhism for the Interreligious Understanding program at the Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa and for the World Religions program of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute through Oklahoma State University. Tom is a past board president for the Osage Forest of Peace (interreligious education and retreat center) and is a past board president for the Unitarian Universalist church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. He has also served on the boards of and been actively involved in the Cherokee Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Casa Hispana (Hispanic outreach), and the Academic Interests and Mentoring Society (AIMS), a program for youth at risk (Bartlesville).