March 7, 2006
Rebecca Irelan, a doctoral student in systematic theology, has been awarded a second Dempster Fellowship for the 2006-2007 academic year. The fellowship is granted by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry in the United Methodist Church.

November 21, 2005
Joseph Deleon, a fourth year GTU doctoral student in art and religion, has been invited to contribute a chapter to the forthcoming work Creating Ourselves: African American and Latino/a Theology, Religious Imagination, and Popular Culture.

October 13, 2005
Jason Crawford, a fifth year GTU doctoral student in ethics and social theory, presented a paper entitled "Performing Queer Dissent: 'Gay Shame' and the Public Sphere" at the Artivistic/05 conference in Montreal, Quebec. The bilingual gathering brings together artists and activists from Europe, Canada and the US to discuss the intersections of art, practice, and political action in the current global context.

July 22, 2005
Jenny Patten Gargiulo, a GTU doctoral student in art and religion, curated an art exhibition of pre-World War II Europe architectural drawings by Lester C. Haas. The exhibit, held at the Novato, California, YMCA, opened June 1 and runs until July 31. She is also teaching two courses for Oregon State University in Rome this summer.

June 24, 2005
Elizabeth Drescher, a fourth year doctoral student in Christian spirituality, presented the paper "Creating the Cosmopolitan Classroom: Blackboard and the Ethics of Discourse with the Other" at the annual Computers and Writing Conference at Stanford University, June 16-19. The paper was selected for publication in a collection entitled Aching for Connection: Reflections on Spirituality and Technology, edited by Keith Dorwick.

June 7, 2005
Cynthia Col, a GTU doctoral student in interdisciplinary studies, has been awarded a $15,000 fellowship from the Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. The award will enable her to work on her dissertation, “Picturing the Cannon: The Murals of the Derge Printing House,” which will explore imagery in the murals produced at the Derge Printing House in Sichuan, China, in the eighteenth century. This summer, she will travel to Derge to photograph the murals.

March 14, 2005
Ray Maria McNamara, GTU doctoral student, will graduate in May and begin a position as assistant professor of theology at the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon, this fall.

August 31, 2004
Elizabeth Leung, a doctoral student in Christian spirituality, presented a paper on "Exploring the potential contribution of Philip Sheldrake's understanding of history and place to a notion of culture for the study of Christian Spirituality" at the College Theology Society Convention, June 3-6, 2004.

June 7, 2004
Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, a doctoral student in art & religion, was awarded first place for the best regular column, general commentary, by the Catholic Press Association at their annual convention in May. Her column, "De Todo Un Poco" appears on alternate weeks in The Tidings, the weekly newspaper of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

April 19, 2004
Jane Carol Redmont, a GTU doctoral student in systematic & philosophical theology, recently published an article on the death of Sister Marie Augusta Neal, teacher, author, and spokesperson for the poor and oppressed (click here to read the article); and a lectionary reflection addressing anti-Judaism in Christian scripture (click to read). She is completing a year as Bogard Teaching Fellow at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.

April 13, 2004
Sharon Lynn Betsworth, a third year doctoral student in New Testament, was awarded a 2004-2005 Dempster Graduate Fellowship from the United Methodist Church. The award is the largest offered by a Protestant denomination.

April 6, 2004
Robert Daren Erisman, a first year doctoral student, was awarded a $10,000 scholarship from CollegeNet, the GTU’s service for online applications. He received the award for an original essay entitled “The Saladin Solution,” in which he offers a constructive model for U.S. relations with Iraq based on the life of Saladin, a humane and generous twelfth century Muslim ruler. To read his essay, please visit CollegeNet Website.

March 29, 2004
Joseph De Leon, a third year doctoral student in art and religion, has had a paper on the theological aesthetic issues implicit in the Passion narrative accepted for the 2004 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion. De Leon also presented a paper entitled “The Quotidian Nature of Sincerity” before the national assembly of Cursillistas and the leadership of the National Cursillo Movement at their annual conference. He also has a paper being considered for publication in the Princeton Theological Seminary Graduate Form, Koinonia, on the anagogical nature of drama.

March 29, 2004
Uriah Y. Kim, a GTU doctoral student in biblical studies, will graduate in May and begin a position as assistant professor of religious studies at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY, this fall.

March 9, 2004
Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, a second year doctoral student in art and religion, discusses the ministry of theological teachers in her regular feature for The Tidings. She has also been selected as the main speaker and facilitator for the National Council of Presbyterian College Women 2004 Leadership Event, "Claiming Wisdom's Call: How Christian Faith Empowers Women to Engage Pop Culture from an Anti-Racist Perspective." The conference will be held July 28-August 1, in L.A.

January 14, 2004
Lauren MacKinnon, a first year doctoral student in ethics & social theory, has been named a 2004 Civitas scholar by the Center for Public Justice. She will participate in a 2004 summer seminar for doctoral students on faith and public affairs co-sponsored by the Center for Public Justice, the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution.

December 11, 2003
Kate Bellm, a fourth year GTU doctoral student and a 2003-2004 Newhall Scholar, is exploring the relationship between beauty and a theology for the environment. Her research draws upon aesthetics, ecology, and the philosophy of American pragmatism. On her choice of topic, she says, "In light of the complex moral and theological issues involved in ecological concerns, to speak of beauty may seem a very small thing. Yet, beauty seems to have something to do with what moves us to address ecological issues. The experience of the beautiful in creation (both natural and human-made) moves us, draws us beyond ourselves."

November 18, 2003
Mary Elise Lowe, who is currently finishing her dissertation, is assistant professor of religion at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN.

November 11, 2003
Scott Mitchell, a doctoral student in the interdisciplinary studies of religion (and GTU M.A. '02), has built an informative website on Buddhist studies resources: http://buddha-world.org/2.Resources. He presented his paper “Shin Dharma Net as Virtual Dojo.” at the XI Biennial Meeting of the International Association for Shin Buddhist Studies, in September. He was also awarded a Newhall Fellowship for work in Tantric Buddhist ritual theory, 2003-2004.

November 5, 2003
Rev. Dr. James F. Lawrence, a GTU doctoral student in the field of Christian spirituality, is dean of the Swedenborgian House of Studies at Pacific School of Religion. He has been editor of the denominational serial publication of the Swedenborgian Church, and was founding director of J. Appleseed & Co., a small press devoted to Swedenborgian spirituality. He has contributed as publisher, editor, and author to over thirty published works, which include two edited volumes of essays, Testimony to the Invisible and The Country of Spirit.

October 21, 2003
Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, a second year doctoral student in art & religion, will be presenting two lectures at Voices of Hope/Voces de Esperanza, the 2003 Los Angeles Young Adult Conference, Nov. 21-23 in Long Beach. The lectures, which will be delivered in multi-media and in Spanish, are titled "Los Medios de Comunicacion Social y Nuestras Comunidades/The Social Communications Media and Our Communities" and "La Mujer Reclamando Su Historia/Women, Recovering our Story." This is Gonzalez-Andrieu's first year as a presenter at this conference.

October 14, 2003
Aggie Burke, a GTU Common M. A. student, has joined the staff of the Catholic Community of Pleasanton as bible study coordinator.

October 14, 2003
Tamara Rodenberg, a GTU doctoral student, continues to serve with Church World Service on the Social and Economic Development Ministry, and is doing consulting.

September 17, 2003
Jane Carol Redmont, a GTU doctoral student in systematic & philosophical theology, was one of six presenters at Villanova University's annual Theology Institute in June, this year devoted to feminist theology. Her paper was titled "Being Church: Global and Ecumenical Challenges in Feminist Ecclesiology." She was also a respondent to two of the other speakers, Cynthia Crysdale (who gave an ethics paper) and Joan Nuth (who gave a paper in historical theology). Their papers will be published in longer form in the Proceedings of the Institute next year. She will be teaching a related course at the GTU this coming spring, "Women as Global Church."

August 22, 2003
Stephen Suleeman, a GTU student and a leader in the Indonesian Christian Church, will participate in a dialogue on "Possibilities and Problems in Christian-Muslim Dialogue." The October 13 event is part of SFTS' annual community and continuing education event, "Faith & the Common Good." It is held at San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo.

June 17, 2003
Annie Russell, a GTU doctoral student in history, presented a paper on "Thirty Years After Jackie Robinson: Integration in Baseball's Press Boxes" at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians (OAH) in Memphis in April 2003. An expanded version of this presentation is scheduled to be published in 2004 in a special issue of the Massachusetts Historical Review focusing on issues dealing with baseball and integration in Boston.

June 9, 2003
Steven Schloeder, a fifth year doctoral candidate at the GTU, was recently appointed to serve as the Design Architect and Liturgical Consultant for the remodel and expansion of Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage, Alaska. He has also been selected to present the paper "'Our Town' as the Heavenly Jerusalem" at this summer's Communitas Conference in Eichstatt, Germany.

June 2, 2003
Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, a doctoral student in systematic & philosophical theology, published a column in "The Tidings" about PLTS President Timothy Lull, who died on May 20.

May 16, 2003
Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, a GTU doctoral student in systematic & philosophical theology, has just been selected a Fellow by the Hispanic Theological Initiative based in Princeton. She writes "the award supports my studies at GTU and provides scholarly development, mentoring and support. I join two other GTU Ph.D. students who are HTI Fellows, Jorge Aquino and Joseph De Leon."

March 25, 2003
Mistie Shaw, an MA student in Christian spirituality, participated in a panel discussion, along with GTU Dean Arthur Holder and ABSW professor Judy Siker, at the WECSOR (Western Commission for the Study of Religion) on March 23rd. GTU PhD student Elizabeth Drescher was also on the panel. The discussion was hosted by the Education and Workshops Area and the theme was "Learning From Each Other: Growing in a Pluralistic Environment."

March 3, 2003
Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu is a GTU doctoral student who has been given her own regular column in "The Tidings," the largest Roman Catholic archdiocesan weekly. Her column will appear twice monthly (schoolwork permitting!) in the Viewpoints section. She also writes for a young adult ministry e-magazine called Busted Halo. Gonzalez-Andrieu presented a workshop to Spanish-speaking lay and ordained ministers entitled "Social Communications Media and Our Communities" on March 1, at the Religious Education Congress. Congratulations, Cecilia!

January 27, 2003
Katarina Sucha (M.Div. at PLTS in 2002) is now completing a Master of Theological Studies. Her essay about Vatican II, written for Cheryl Kirk-Duggan's "History of Theology:1914-1965" class in fall 2002, was published in The Tidings, the largest Roman Catholic archdiocesan weekly. Read the article here. Katarina plans to return to her country Slovakia this year to work as an ordained minister in the Lutheran Church.

January 17, 2003
Eileen Harrington and Bea Morris, two first-year GTU doctoral students, are on a Pacific School of Religion-sponsored mission trip this month to El Salvador and Guatemala. The trip involves visiting Oscar Romero's Church, the Jesuits who work live and pray there, and the Ecumenical Seminary in Guatemala. This delegation is sponsored by the Office of Field and Contextual Education of PSR and the SHARE Foundation US/El Salvador. Also participating in the trip is GTU alum (M.A. ’99) Randy Sweringen. Upon their return, they will participate in a special reading course with Dr. Randi Walker addressing application of the delegation's findings in the U.S. context for ministry and leadership.

December 19, 2002
Uriah Kim, a fifth year doctoral student in Biblical studies, received a 2002-03 doctoral fellowship from the Fund for Theological Education.

December 19, 2002
Soo-Young Kwon, a Ph.D. candidate in religion and psychology, writes that in August 2002 his wife delivered a son, Dominic. Kwon is working at the Lloyd Center Pastoral Counseling Service in San Anselmo, and his latest article was published in Archiv fur Religionpsychologie. He received a 2002-03 doctoral fellowship from the Fund for Theological Education.

December 19, 2002
Darnise Martin, a doctoral student in cultural and historical studies of religion, received a 2002-03 doctoral fellowship from the Fund for Theological Education. She has also been the recipient of the GTU’s Toinette Eugene Scholarship for Critical Thinkers for the past 5 years. Martin’s dissertation, an ethnographic study of a local Oakland church, is entitled "The View From Oakland: A Study of an African-American Religious Science Community." A contribution to the understudied area of African American participation in New Thought Religions, it also argues for the importance of embracing expanded modes of African-American religiosity within the academy.

December 19, 2002
Peter W. Rehwaldt, GTU doctoral candidate in homiletics and liturgical studies, has been elected to the executive committee of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. He has also been named to the hymn text committee for the "Renewing Worship" project of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Rev. Rehwaldt coordinates the GTU’s Office of Institutional Research.

December 19, 2002
Steven Schloeder, a fifth year doctoral student in history of art and religion, saw the church that he designed featured in the U.K.’s Church Building magazine in May 2002. An article by him was published in Jacques Maritain and the Many Ways of Knowing, edited by Douglas A. Ollivant.