Multifaith Scholars | Today at ��ϲ�� | ��ϲ��

Across disciplines, ��ϲ�� faculty integrate multifaith understanding into the classroom

Avery Craine Powell — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:20:44 +0000

At ��ϲ��, faculty say preparing students means helping them understand the people they will interact with throughout their lives, and that includes the influence of faith and religious identity.

That commitment to multifaith understanding is a primary goal of the university’s Multifaith Strategic Plan, which strives to “support opportunities for multifaith learning and engagement for all members of the academic community.”

“��ϲ��’s Multifaith Strategic Plan is a promise to our students, faculty, staff and the wider community that we will take them seriously as whole, complex people,” said Brian Pennington, director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society.

The multifaith experience

The Multifaith Scholars Program is a two-year program, founded in 2016, that emphasizes interdisciplinary learning as student scholars undertake original research projects and study in global contexts connected with religious diversity and multireligious societies.

Amy Allocco, professor of religious studies, photographed May 4, 2023.

“Our work is richer when we have students bringing questions from their own disciplines,” said Amy Allocco, director of the program and professor of religious studies. “It is a sign of a vibrant campus ecosystem when not only students but also their mentors can see their interests and expertise intersect with questions of interreligious contact, religion and society.”

Allocco says that the breadth of disciplines represented by students and mentors participating in the program has widened each year. The current cohort includes students with diverse majors such as psychology, theatrical design, history, economics consulting, political science, religious studies, and international and global Studies. Owen Hayes ’26, a history major with minors in political science and religious studies, is a 2024-2026 Multifaith Scholar studying the historical and contemporary relationship between Christian missionaries and Indigenous Australians.

“I’ve always been interested in understanding the interreligious encounters of the world, like global Christianity and understanding how different communities can come together and understand such an important religious concept in such different, varying ways, but still have that belief of Christianity,” Hayes said.

The interreligious studies minor also allows students to analyze the historical and contemporary encounters between and interactions among religious communities and traditions.

“��ϲ�� has done incredible work in enfranchising multifaith as an academic as well as a student affairs initiative and aligning and even blending those areas in meaningful ways that enhance the student experience,” Allocco said.

Multifaith in the classroom (and clinic)

In the Department of Nursing, faculty don’t just train future healthcare professionals on specific medical assessments but, as Assistant Professor of Nursing Lori Hubbard says, they “prepare students for the diversity in the populations they will serve,” including religion.

“Diversity in people is understanding their religious background, because religious practices are often infused into health practices and health beliefs,” said Hubbard, who teaches the Healthcare Relationships course, which focuses on understanding diverse backgrounds in healthcare.

Assistant Professor of Nursing Jeanmarie Koonts (far right) demonstrates health care techniques on one of the mannequins in the Gerald L. Francis Center’s Interprofessional Simulation Center.

The course is just one component of the Department of Nursing’s commitment to equitable healthcare teaching, which is incorporated throughout the curriculum.

“From birth to death and everywhere in between, the people that are going to be important in a person’s wellness or their healing may come from their church body,” said Hubbard, who says they also want students to understand the role of the chaplain in a hospital setting. “People may have members of a church congregation bring them meals, they may have pastors and friends visit to pray with them. A person’s support network is a social determinant of health.”

In December 2025, a faculty team consisting of Pennington, Jeanmarie Koonts, assistant professor of nursing; Molly Green, assistant professor of public health, and Helen Orr, assistant professor of religious studies, was awarded a $60,000 Faith & Health Campus Grant from Interfaith America to promote awareness of how religious diversity impacts healthcare space and medical decision-making.

From left to right: Brian Pennington, director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society and professor of religious studies; Jeanmarie Koonts, assistant professor of nursing; and Helen Orr, assistant professor of religious studies.

Engineering a multifaith course

Along with nursing, several ��ϲ�� courses across disciplines integrate multifaith understanding. Orr is co-teaching a new course, Engineering A Better World, with Professor of Engineering Sirena Hargrove-Leak on ethical practices in engineering.

“Religion is an important category for a lot of people, and it informs not only beliefs, but also everyday practice and ritual, including when people fast, how they dress and how they interact in professional spaces,” Orr said. “One of our sessions in the course focuses on the value of multi-faith spaces in professional working environments. Those spaces can be beneficial both for religious people and non-religious people, while also encouraging us to think about how environments themselves can be designed to be more inclusive.”

Sirena Hargrove-Leak, professor of engineering

Hargrove Leak says the engineering curriculum requires an ethics course and, historically, faculty advised students to choose an ethics course through the Core Curriculum. The downside, she says, is they may not connect what they’re learning to engineering practice. This new course, she says, connects the dots directly.

“The work of engineering professionals has the potential to impact people directly; therefore, ethical practice is critically important,” said Hargrove-Leak.

Communicating religion

While Orr and Hargrove-Leak’s course is new this semester, Professor of Journalism Anthony Hatcher has been studying and teaching the intersection of religion and media for more than 20 years. His course Religion and Media analyzes how the two interact through media coverage of religious issues and themes, religion’s use of television and the Internet and media portrayals of religious people and traditions.

Professor of Journalism and Chair of the Journalism Department Anthony Hatcher

Hatcher began teaching the course in 2003, coming from a longtime interest in the intersection of the two subjects.

“It has always sparked my interest how religion intersects not only with a news item, but how it intersects with popular culture,” he said. “I tell my students, ‘If there is a secular entity of some sort, there is a religious corollary to it.’”

Finding religious connections in culture is endless for Hatcher, who says he never runs out of material for the course. For one assignment, students must attend a house of worship outside of their own faith and do a research project on the experience. The projects range from more well-known religious practices to lesser-known, like a student who visited a coven of witches in Hillsborough, North Carolina

“I make it clear: this is not a religion class. I’m not here to teach you about the scripture,” Hatcher said. “When they go (to these houses of worship), it’s not just a religious thing. I say, ‘What kind of media did they use? Do they have cameras? Do they have a single microphone? Do they use screens and slides? Is it a majestic organ? What are you seeing there? Did they give you a paper program? Everything that’s media.’ It gets them thinking about all the mediated ways that they experience religion.”

The course is open to all majors, and Hatcher says it can be relevant for all professions.

“The subject matter is so important,” Hatcher said. “It’s like how study abroad is mind-broadening. I think understanding where somebody else comes from, especially if faith is a big part of who they are, is a big deal.”

And for Pennington, ��ϲ��’s approach to multifaith learning is an example for others to follow.

“We live in a moment where we can clearly see that the faith commitments and religious practices interact with our global politics, our legal systems, our media environments, and our healthcare systems,” said Pennington. “By attending to multifaith education across academic departments and programs, ��ϲ�� is leading the way in preparing its students for a rapidly evolving world.”

This story is part of a series of stories focusing on ��ϲ��’s Multifaith Strategic Plan.

Professor of Religious Studies Amy Allocco publishes new book on trends in Hindu ritual

Amy L. Allocco — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 13:54:46 +0000

Amy Allocco, professor of religious studies and director of the Multifaith Scholars program, has co-edited a new scholarly volume titled “” with Xenia Zeiler of the University of Helsinki, Finland. The book brings together 13 chapters from an international roster of scholars located in Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America, offering fresh perspectives on two trends that are shaping the contours of contemporary Hindu worship, myth, and visual and material culture in contemporary South Asia and its diasporas.

“Sweetening” refers to the softening of deities’ iconographies, the standardization of religious narratives, and the sanitization of ritual practices. Alongside this current exists “intensification,” the insistence on the continuing relevance of rigorous, visceral, and frequently stigmatized practices and beliefs, often in response to new circumstances and challenges.

Individual chapters trace these currents across diverse Hindu geographic, linguistic, ethnic, and social contexts; textual and theological traditions; and ritual and media formats. Allocco’s own chapter, “Insistence, Persistence, and Resistance in Tamil Hindu Rituals to Call the Dead,” theorizes from a 2019 ritual performed for a deceased man named Ganapathy to consider how ancestors make their desires known through possession performances and demand particular offerings and practices—including alcohol, crematory ash/grave soil, and tongue-piercing—and argue that the dead’s steadfast refusal to be satisfied by anything but fierce practices and materials signals a deliberate resistance to the sweetening trends visible in many contemporary Tamil ritual contexts. Director of ��ϲ��’s Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society, Brian Pennington, contributed a chapter on local deities in the Indian Himalayas.

Allocco and Zeiler’s collaboration evolved over several years. In 2019, Allocco delivered a lecture titled “Ritual Relationships with the Dead in South Indian Hinduism” at the University of Helsinki at Zeiler’s invitation. During her time in Finland, they began conceiving a joint project focused on the categories of sweetening and intensification in contemporary Hinduism. The next year, the pair applied for and were awarded a Collaborative International Research Grant from the American Academy of Religion to begin a research project that would bring these two currents into sustained conversation.

They then convened a double panel under the title “Intensification vs. Sweetening? New Patterns in Contemporary Representation and Practice” at the 49th Annual Conference on South Asia in 2021. The two sessions brought together a diverse complement of scholars from Europe, South and Southeast Asia, and the United States to consider this dialectic from different methodological, regional, and disciplinary perspectives. Allocco and seven other scholars presented papers across the two panels and the ensuing discussion helped to develop the theoretical framework for the planned publication. The resulting book highlights how sweetening and intensification processes intersect with and even drive contemporary (re)negotiations, (re)interpretations, and (re)constructions of Hindu deities, practices, narratives, and symbols.

Allocco and Zeiler were recently invited to participate in the New Books Network podcast on Indian Religions about their new book. The episode, hosted by Raj Balkaran, will be available .

Amy Allocco elected treasurer and executive at the International Association for the History of Religions World Congress

Amy L. Allocco — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 13:36:31 +0000

The leadership of the IAHR’s Women Scholars Network—outgoing co-coordinators Milda Alisauskiene and Amy Allocco (left) and incoming co-coordinators Jessica Albrecht and Carolina Greising (middle)—with IAHR President Satoko Fujiwara (right).

Amy Allocco was elected treasurer and executive committee member of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) during the 23rd IAHR World Congress in Kraków, Poland from August 24-30, 2025.

A consortium of learned societies for the study of religion around the world, the IAHR was founded in 1950 and has grown to include more than 50 national, regional, and affiliated associations. Allocco will serve in this leadership role for five years, until the next World Congress in 2030, effectuating IAHR fiscal policy, collecting fees and dues, paying the organization’s bills and engaging in fundraising efforts. She succeeds Andrea Rota (University of Oslo, Norway) as treasurer of the organization.

During the week-long Congress, Allocco also presented the first report on her research conducted in 2023-2025 in South India. Titled “Making a Body for Periyandavar in Rural Tamil Spaces,” the paper described the little-known worship of a Hindu lineage deity (kuladevam) called Periyandavar. To stage these Periyandavar’s elaborate rituals, patrilineal relatives hire drummer-priests to fashion a massive anthropomorphic image of the deity from the soil of the family’s native village. Allocco drew on theory on spatial practices, material religion and the body/embodiment to analyze local understandings of the kuladevam’s temporary earthen body, which is only one among Periyandavar’s multiple embodiments. Allocco’s paper explicated indigenous theories of co-substantiality, permeability, and agency and extrapolated from two multi-day ceremonies that she documented in 2024 while conducting field research in Tamil-speaking South India with support from a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship.

Allocco was also invited to moderate a roundtable discussion organized to launch the recently published book titled “Religion and Gender Equality around the Baltic Sea. Ideologies, Policies and Private Lives,” which was edited by Milda Alisauskiene, Egle Aleknaite-Skarubske and Marianne Bjeland Kartzow (Routledge, 2025). The volume aims to rethink the intersections of gender and religion as well as the secular and religious in implementing and challenging gender equality at individual, institutional, and societal levels in the regions around the Baltic Sea. Its chapters utilize approaches from multiple disciplines and present data drawn from fieldwork in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Norway. As moderator, Allocco offered an overview of the co-edited volume and posed a series of questions to the four women scholars who participated, two of whom contributed to the book and two of whom offered comparative perspectives from Poland and Sweden.

At the World Congress, Allocco concluded her five-year term as co-coordinator of the IAHR’s Women Scholars Network (WSN). The group was formed to facilitate scholarly exchange among women scholars and under Allocco’s leadership she and her co-coordinator, Milda Alisauskiene (Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania), introduced a successful webinar series. While in Kraków, Allocco and Alisauskiene convened the WSN meeting, which drew more than 100 attendees, and hosted a reception for participants. They also arranged for a team of librarians from the University of Tübingen to present on their partnership with the WSN aimed at increasing the visibility of women scholars’ research in the study of religion and announced the new WSN Co-Coordinators, Jessica Albrecht (Center of Advanced Studies, Erlangen, Germany) and Carolina Greising Diaz (Catholic University of Uruguay).

Newly elected officers of the IAHR: Treasurer Amy Allocco, President Satoko Fujiwara and Secretary General Andrea Rota.

Finally, during the World Congress, Allocco met with the editor from Blooomsbury Academic who oversees the “Advances in Religious Studies” book series that Allocco is an editor of, along with Steven Sutliffe (The University of Edinburgh) and Bettina Schmidt (University of Wales). In addition to meeting with the editors, Allocco also engaged with potential authors who are interested in submitting proposals to the series.

Approximately 1,300 scholars of religion convened in Krakow for the IAHR World Congress, whose theme was “Out of Europe: Studying Religion(s) in Interconnected Worlds.” The conference’s local hosts were the Jagiellonian University and the Polish Society for the Study of Religions.

��ϲ�� undergraduates explore diverse topics (and the world) through SURE

Avery Craine Powell — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 18:33:54 +0000

While nearly 60 students presented their undergraduate research in the Snow Atrium of Schar Hall on July 24, their research took place beyond ��ϲ��, in the local community and around the world, including Owen Hayes’ project, focusing on the relationship between Indigenous Australians and the settlers of Australia.

“I’ve always been interested in Australia, mainly due to Steve Irwin,” said Hayes, a history major from Holly Springs, North Carolina. “I’ve always been interested in religion and connecting how religion can combine new cultures, and how it can be negative and positive. I try to understand the middle group in how religion can be taught, learned and shared.”

Global growth

A large portion of Hayes’ research was completed during a study abroad experience at Curtain University in Perth, Australia, while also looking at archives in Canberra and Sydney.

Jo Bogart ’26 discusses her research during the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience presentations on July 24 in the Snow Family Grand Atrium.

“It was a great experience to understand myself and other cultures, learning about new people and how their lives are lived,” said Hayes, who is a Multifaith Scholar. “It definitely helped being in the country that I was researching rather than sitting at a computer and looking at the online archives.”

Jo Bogart ’26, a classical studies and creative writing double major, took her research to Rome, Italy this summer to work on a feminist translation and revision of Virgil’s “Aeneid,” the Latin epic poem that tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and went to Italy.

“The work I’m doing this summer is rooted in my being in Rome,” said Bogart, who is also minoring in women, gender and sexualities studies. “I’m looking at writing in place and the aspect of writing in the place in which the original author of an ancient text, like the ‘Aeneid,’ was written as I tell it in my own way.”

��ϲ�� held the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience presentations on July 24 in the Snow Family Grand Atrium.

Hard work paying off

Both Bogart and Hayes presented at the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) presentations on July 24, which provides an opportunity for students to gain meaningful research experience over the summer, without the pressure of other courses during a typical semester.

Part of the undergraduate research process is mentorship with faculty members, a unique experience for students at ��ϲ��. Hayes was mentored by Brian Pennington, director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society and professor of religious studies.

“I had two classes with him before I started this project,” said Hayes. “He’s a great guy in terms of, one, letting you do the research yourself, letting you lead your own path; but at the same time, leading you on how to do academic research correctly.”

Students apply for SURE, which usually takes place during the summer before the junior or senior year. Undergraduate research is one of the five ��ϲ�� Experiences, and students are expected to complete at least two of the experiences before they graduate.

“It’s fun to present the hard work you’ve done over the year,” said Hayes, who was presenting for the first time at SURE. “It’s nerve-racking to start, and I’m working out the kinks in my presentation, but I’m looking forward to how my research is going to evolve over the next year and how I’m going to present at other undergraduate research conferences.”

��ϲ�� held the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience presentations on July 24 in the Snow Family Grand Atrium.

Research across disciplines

SURE research topics span across disciplines, including Asia Green’s project, investigating whether expecting cognitive benefits from exercise would impact cognitive function or if it’s just exercise alone.

“I’m a public health minor and exercise science major, so we talk a lot about the placebo effect, and I wanted to know if expected benefits from specific exercise would increase mood and cognitive function or if just exercise alone would do it,” said Green. “Everyone is told ‘Just exercise,’ but is it the exercise or what we’re being told about exercise?”

Green says it appears that expecting cognitive benefits does have a positive impact, but there needs to be a larger sample size to get more results, something she plans to do in the upcoming academic year, along with her mentor Madison Chandler, assistant professor of exercise science.

Merrie Byers ’26 discusses her research during the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience presentations on July 24 in the Snow Family Grand Atrium.

Merrie Byers ’26, a cinema and television arts major, didn’t do what some may consider a traditional research project for SURE, she created a documentary exploring the friendship of two religious leaders whose communities share a complicated past.

The documentary focuses on the reverends of two churches in Burlington, North Carolina, with a deep, complicated and connected history. During U.S. slavery, according to Byers, members of Union Ridge Church owned members of Union Chapel United Church of Christ. Now, the reverends of each church, which sit across the street from one another, have developed a close relationship.

“They are using their friendship to combat this prejudice and hosted a committee where 10 members of the church from each side got together and talked about these differences,” said Byers, who is from Wake Forest, North Carolina. “It really made a difference in how these churches have blossomed into a bonded community.”

As students continue to develop their research, they also have the opportunity to present during the spring semester, at the annual Spring Undergraduate Research Forum or SURF.

“Our students knocked it out of the park once again,” said Justin Clar, director of undergraduate research and associate professor of chemistry. “The growth of SURE participants over just 8 weeks is truly amazing. I can’t wait to see how these projects progress over the next academic year.”

Burlington Masjid hosts first ESL graduation in partnership with ��ϲ��

Amie Sanneh — Thu, 08 May 2025 17:51:20 +0000

In a lively celebration marked by certificates, balloons and applause, the Burlington Masjid included English as a Second Language (ESL) students and ��ϲ�� volunteers as part of their yearly Sunday School graduation for the first time.

More than 50 immigrant and refugee students received recognition for their dedicated participation in weekly English classes supported by ��ϲ�� students, faculty, and staff.

Kaelyn Rosenberg ‘25, a cinema and television arts major, Alyssa Carney and ESL students.

The graduation marks a milestone in an ongoing partnership between the Burlington Masjid and ��ϲ��’s Multifaith Scholars Program, as well as ��ϲ��’s Global Neighborhood. Throughout this academic year, ��ϲ�� students and staff have volunteered at the Masjid, providing structured ESL instruction, tutoring and conversation support to a community made up primarily of newcomers from Afghanistan and Syria.

“This initiative is rooted in our commitment to global citizenship and local engagement,” said Sandy Marshall, faculty director of the Global Neighborhood and interim director of the Multifaith Scholars Program. “The Burlington Masjid plays a vital role in supporting newly arrived refugees, and this collaboration is a natural extension of our shared goals.”

Each Sunday morning throughout the academic year, approximately 50 students have gathered for lessons in listening, reading and writing in English. The program is tailored to meet the unique needs of learners adapting to life in a new country.

Owen Hayes and students from the ESL class.

Multifaith Scholar Bethany Marzella ’24 and ��ϲ�� College Fellow Rachel Curtis ’24 were among the early volunteers who helped launch the initiative with just a handful of students in 2023. As the number of refugee families in the Burlington area increased, so did interest from ��ϲ�� volunteers, especially amid reductions in federal refugee resettlement support.

Alyssa Carney ’26, an international and global studies and history double major, and Owen Hayes ’26, a history major, began volunteering in fall 2024, as part of their community engagement efforts with the MFS program. Recognizing the need for consistent, structured language support, they worked with Marshall and the Masjid to help expand the program.

“Seeing the class grow has been incredible,” said Dina Halayqa, volunteer coordinator for the ESL program at the Masjid. “This is more than just grammar and vocabulary. It’s a space where people are rewriting their stories in a new land.”

Greatly contributing to the growth of the program has been the dedicated support given by Nicole Galante, assistant director of National and International Fellowships, who joined as a volunteer in January. Like Halayqa, Galante agrees that the program is about more than language learning.

“Meaning-making is a communal process that transcends the boundaries of language,” said Galante. “I love helping students at the masjid learn English, but I really love coming together despite our differences to learn more about ourselves and the world.”

Additional volunteers who joined in the spring include Jesse White ’26, also a multifaith scholar, Tajallah Amirkhil ‘28, Huria Tahiry ‘26 and Jenna Abousaab ‘27. With increased capacity, the program offers two class sections: one for primarily Arabic-speaking students from Syria, and another for Dari and Pashto speakers from Afghanistan.

“As a Syrian American, it’s incredibly meaningful to have been a part of this experience,” said Abousaab, “which has not only allowed me to give back to the community but has helped me reconnect with my roots in a way I never expected.”

Yasmeen, a Syrian student in the program, shared what the class has meant to her: “I still have a lot of learning to do, but this class has taught me how to build relationships in my community and communicate with my neighbors.”

For the ��ϲ�� students involved, the experience has offered insight into community engagement, cross-cultural connection and mutual learning.

As the program looks to continue in the next academic year, organizers hope to further expand the curriculum, recruit more volunteers, and build on the deep relationships formed through language and learning.

��ϲ�� welcomes ninth class of Multifaith Scholars

Amie Sanneh — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 18:46:40 +0000

Five rising juniors have been named members of the ninth class of Multifaith Scholars, a two-year fellows program for juniors and seniors that offers a closely mentored, experientially rich and intellectually rigorous educational opportunity for students with significant potential.

After a highly selective application and interview process, students are awarded $5,000 annually to support research and study in global contexts connected with religious diversity and multi-religious societies. Students who show great potential as academically curious and socially engaged leaders committed to their own ongoing development and the enhancement of their local and global communities are selected each spring.

Sandy Marshall, associate professor of geography, serves as interim director of the Multifaith Scholars program this year while Professor Amy Allocco is on research leave in South India funded by the American Institute of Indian Studies.

“We had a very strong applicant pool, and I am excited about the diversity of backgrounds and research interests represented in this new cohort,” Marshall said. “Their topics span a range of time periods and regions, from the Middle East to here in North America. Likewise, their proposed research combines diverse interdisciplinary perspectives from history and politics, to economics and psychology. We are excited to work with these students and their mentors over the next two years to facilitate their scholarly development and personal growth.”

In addition to pursuing their faculty-mentored undergraduate research projects and undertaking academic coursework in religious studies and interreligious studies, the scholars will extend the program’s ongoing community partnership with the Burlington Masjid. Through the partnership, scholars participate in youth and social events with the local Muslim community, teach in the mosque’s English-language tutoring program, join community garden workdays, volunteer with the food pantry, and take part in potlucks and iftar meals during Ramadan.

Project Title: Navigating Modesty from a Modern Perspective: A Comparison of Adolescent Muslim Women in Palestine and North Carolina.
Major: Political Science
Minor: Interreligious Studies
Mentor: Amy Allocco

Kenzie Ross

Project Title: Economics and the Relationship between Religion and a Consumption-Based Economy
Majors: Economics Consulting, Marketing
Minor: Interreligious Studies
Mentor: Cora Wigger

Christina Skelly

Project Title: Rewriting the Script: Muslim Women, US Policy, and the Legacy of Orientalism
Majors: International and Global Studies, Religious Studies
Minors: Islamic Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science
Mentor: Sandy Marshall

Lizeth Torres-Tomas

Project Title: Faith, Law, and Migration: Analyzing the Sanctuary Movement and Faith-Based Responses to Anti-Immigrant Policies Surrounding Latinx and Muslim Communities
Majors: Political Science, Sociology
Minor: Interreligious Studies
Mentor: Michael Matthews

��ϲ�� students and faculty present research 2025 American Academy of Religion Southeast Regional Annual Meeting

Amie Sanneh — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 18:20:57 +0000

Building on a strong trajectory of undergraduate research in religious studies, five ��ϲ�� seniors delivered professional papers at the southeast regional conference of the American Academy of Religion, which was held at Florida Memorial University in Miami, Florida from March 7 – 9, 2025. Two ��ϲ�� faculty members also presented their innovative research at Florida Memorial University, a Historically Black College and/or University.

��ϲ�� student presenters at the southeast regional conference of the American Academy of Religion.

This year’s conference centered around the theme of “Transitions.” Student paper topics ranged from the comparison of Gen X and Gen Z views of religion to the evolution of sexual and Christian themes in vampire films. Their international research took them to elephant sanctuaries in Kenya and Tibetan Buddhist centers in India; their rigorous methods included ethnographic interviews and visual analyses of cinema; and their conclusions contributed to such psychological challenges as anger management and recovery from religious trauma.

The American Academy of Religion is the largest scholarly organization in the world dedicated to the professional study of religion. Roughly three hundred scholars working at colleges and universities in this region regularly participate in the annual meeting. The regional meeting also offers limited spots for undergraduate students to present their academic research and engage with professional scholars from across the region.

Four sessions were held to showcase undergraduate research, and ��ϲ�� students garnered five of the 16 highly competitive undergraduate slots. Three of the five students were members of ��ϲ��’s Multifaith Scholars program, led by Interim Director Sandy Marshall, who also attended the conference. Another student was a Lumen scholar, and one student took the initiative to craft their own credit-bearing undergraduate research project for ELR. All five students were closely mentored in their discipline by an ��ϲ�� faculty member who helped to guide their research and prepare their presentations over the course of their junior and senior years. The papers will also be delivered before ��ϲ�� audiences on SURF Day, Tuesday, April 29, 2025.

Support for travel was provided by the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society, the Department of Religious Studies and the Office of Undergraduate Research. The funding also supported a small student group of conference observers as well as group co-organizer Sheila Otieno, assistant professor of religious studies and distinguished emerging scholar of religious studies.

Undergraduate Research Presentations

Sandoh Ahmadu (MFS), “Bridging East and West: An Alternative for Emotional Self-Regulation” (Pamela D. Winfield, mentor)

Kiara Cronin (MFS), “Traditional Faith, Contemporary Doubts: Is Christianity Adapting to Generation Z?” (Sandra Reid, mentor)

Drew Fetterolf, “The Elephant in the Room: Being Maasai, Tourism, and Conversation” (Sheila Otieno, mentor)

Olivia Lancashire (Lumen Scholar ), “A New Intervention: High Control Religion, Hell, and Healing” (Lynn Huber, mentor)

Kaelyn Rosenburg (Multi-Faith Scholar), “Unholy Desires: The Evolution of Christianity and Sexuality in Vampire Film” (Nicole Triche, mentor)

��ϲ�� Faculty Presentations

Pamela D. Winfield, “Materiality as Method: How to Do Things with Zen”

Andrew Monteith, “Queering and Dwelling: Applying Religious Studies to a 1930s Sexual Autobiography”

Brian Pennington offers insights on multi-religious identity for Religious News Service article

Owen Covington — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 17:43:00 +0000

Vice President Kamala Harris could make history on a number of fronts if she is successful in her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, as she would become the first Black woman and first South Asian person to be nominated by a major party for president.

Brian Pennington, professor of religious studies and director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society

Her unique religious background also stands out, and as Religious News Service reporter Yonat Shimron notes, her multi-religious identity is likely “a map of America’s future.”

Harris was raised Hindu by her mother, often attended a Christian church growing up and as an adult, and celebrates Jewish holidays with her husband, Douglas Emhoff, who grew up attending a Reform synagogue. Shimron spoke with Brian Pennington, professor of religious studies and director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society at ��ϲ��, to learn more about multi-religious identities.

Pennington told Shimron that students in his courses who come from a singular religious tradition are becoming rarer. “These days, they have multiple influences that inform their spiritual ideas and identities,” Pennington said. ”

Pennington said Harris’s background could appeal to younger voters. “It’s not at all hard to imagine that (Harris’) personal religious and spiritual history would speak to younger Americans who demographically have much more experience of this kind of religious diversity in their families and backgrounds than older Americans.”

to learn more.

Pennington is a historian of modern Hinduism and theorist of interreligious relations. His primary research interests are in colonial-era religion in India, the history of religion in South Asia, religion and violence, and contemporary religious change in India. He is the author of “Was Hinduism Invented?: Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion,” editor of “Teaching Religion and Violence” and co-editor with Amy L. Allocco of “Ritual Innovation: Strategic Interventions in South Indian Religion.” His current book in progress, “God’s Fifth Abode: Entrepreneurial Hinduism in the Indian Himalayas,” is based on over a decade of field research in the pilgrimage city of Uttarkashi.

��ϲ�� students get personal with Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

Avery Craine Powell — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 15:10:01 +0000

��ϲ�� students participating in the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) reached a major milestone in their eight-week journey with poster presentations held in the Snow Family Grand Atrium on Thursday, July 25. For many of the nearly 50 participating students, the presentations are not the end, but the beginning of their research career.

Changing the narrative

SURE is about more than just researching a topic – the students are exploring personal questions and interests that can spark wide-ranging, impactful conversations.

“I want to change the narrative,” said Fiona Hodge ‘26, whose research focuses on the intersectionality of queer college student identity.

Hodge, a psychology major and vice president of the Undergraduate Research Student Association (URSA) identifies as a member of the LBGTQ community and noticed a gap in the research around queer people.

“The previous research focused on discrimination and talking about queer people, but not focusing on their own perspectives,” said Hodge. “So, I want to provide research that’s by queer researchers for queer people.”

Students present their work at the Student Undergraduate Research Experience presentations on July 26, 2024, in the Snow Family Grand Atrium.

SURE provides an opportunity for students to work with faculty and gain meaningful research experience over the summer, without the pressure of other courses during a typical semester. Students apply for the opportunity, which usually takes place during the summer before the junior or senior year.

“Undergraduate research has been shown to have a lot of great benefits for students and faculty, thinking about developing critical thinking and communication skills, which is evident at the SURE presentations,” said Eric Hall, director of undergraduate research and interim assistant provost for scholarship and creative activity. “Presenting at conferences is the way we show our research findings, and this shows students what it would be like if they go to a regional or national conference.”

Hodge first started doing research this year and says the experience has gone well, especially with the help of her mentor Adam Kim, assistant professor of psychology.

“This is my first-time presenting research. I’m excited. It feels really cool to see your research come to life,” Hodge said. “My mentor pushes me to work harder and be more creative, to think outside of the box and not just come up with an okay question but with an interesting question.”

Queerness in the classroom

The child of two educators, a future teacher and a queer-identifying student, Lindsey Hefty ’25 also turned to her LGBTQ+ identity for research.

“I wanted to combine my major of elementary education with my minor in women’s, gender and sexualities studies with all the discourse surrounding queerness in schools. There’s been a lot of negativity,” said Hefty, who is also an ��ϲ�� Teaching Fellow. “There is a lot of legislation that’s making it impossible for queer identifies to exist in educational spaces.”

The debate over LGBTQ+ issues in public schools has been a hot-button political issue in the last several years. In 2023, North Carolina passed the “Parents Bill of Rights,” which requires teachers to notify parents if a student questions their gender or uses different pronouns.

Lindsey Hefty ’25 speaks with her mentor, Professor of English Kevin Bourque at the SURE presentations on July 26, 2024.

In collaboration with her mentor, Associate Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English Kevin Bourque, Hefty interviewed LGBTQ+ educators and fielded survey responses from across North Carolina.

“We are looking for less obvious ways that queerness is happening in the classroom, less safe space posters and more covert incorporations of identity, and that’s a lot of what we’ve found,” said Hefty. “It’s also been really inspiring to talk to other queer educators about their experiences and stories.”

Hefty said she and Bourque fit together well – both being queer-identifying and interested in further exploring queer studies.

“Lindsey has been a pleasure to work with: thoughtful, perceptive, creative, good-natured, smart and funny. I love how her research ties not only to her professional goals, but also her outlook on the world,” Bourque said.

Using research to help

Archie Tan ’25, president of the Undergraduate Research Student Association, presents his research at the SURE presentations on artificial intelligence and pancreatic cancer.

Research was one of the main reasons Natalie Peeples ’26 and Archie Tan ‘25 chose to attend ��ϲ�� with undergraduate research being one of the Five ��ϲ�� Experiences. Two of those experiences are needed for the Experiential Learning Requirement (ELR) to graduate. Students earn two ELRs for their participation in SURE.

Both Peeples and Tan are Lumen Scholars with their SURE research being an extension of that work as well. Tan, the president of URSA, is a computer science major researching using artificial intelligence to detect pancreatic cancer.

“Right now, technology is growing super-fast, even for the people in the field, it’s really hard to catch up,” said Tan, who is also a first-generation college student. “I want to help people utilize advanced technology in their daily life. I want to use the technology to help people.”

Peeples’ topic is helping people in a different way – looking at what she describes as an understudied area in childhood well-being. The psychology major is interviewing parents of four-to five-year-old children in the US and asking them about what they think is important for early childhood, later she will talk with parents in Denmark, comparing the two countries.

“Denmark and the U.S. focus on very different things when it comes to childhood,” said Peeples, who is also an Honors Fellow. “In Denmark, they are focused more on play and outdoor time, while in the US, the focus is more on academics.”

A good childhood

Finding the parents to interview has been easy for Peeples through the dance classes she teaches at ��ϲ�� DanceWorks. Her mother is also a pre-school teacher. Her mentor Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler, professor of psychology and director of the Center for Research on Global Engagement, is helping to find parents in Denmark, which they will talk with over the next few months. Peeples plans to go to Denmark next summer to complete her Lumen and Honors thesis research.

Natalie Peeples ’25 presents her research at the SURE poster presentations in the Snow Family Grand Atrium on July 26, 2024.

“My mentor has taught me about resilience and organization, while making sure that you take time for yourself, your own mental health and well-being because it can be draining trying to do all these things at once,” said Peeples.

The two began working together in fall 2023 and Vandermaas-Peeler says Peeples has enthusiastically embraced the project.

“She’s grown tremendously throughout these intensive weeks and SURE has been exceptional preparation for the next two years as Natalie explores these concepts in the U.S. and in Denmark,” Vandermaas-Peeler said. “I feel very fortunate to be in a mentoring relationship with Natalie and support her intellectual journey.”

What does it mean to believe?

Growing up Catholic, Kiara Cronin ‘25 is tapping into her perceptions of religion – looking at how others in her generation (Generation Z) view faith and spirituality, compared to Generation X.

“Spirituality can mean different things for different people,” said Cronin, who is majoring in human service studies. “I see people on social media saying they are spiritual but not religious or they believe in a higher power, but not necessarily God. I thought it was interesting how my generation is open about not subscribing to a certain religion and how that differs from someone in my mom’s generation.”

Kiara Cronin ’25 presents her research at the SURE poster presentations in the Snow Family Grand Atrium on July 26, 2024.

The project grew out of Cronin’s work as a Multifaith Scholar through the Center for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society, in collaboration with her mentor Senior Lecturer in Human Service Studies Sandra Reid. Cronin is also an Isabella Cannon Leadership Fellow and connected with Reid through the Disarming Injustice course which all the fellows are required to take, along with a Civil Rights Leadership Tour.

Cronin interviewed people about their thoughts on religion and spirituality and held focus groups on the topic. The culmination of the research will be a podcast miniseries about her findings.

“A surprising response from people is that they don’t want to get rid of the traditional ritual acts or traditional values, because that is what makes the church what it is,” she said. “But they do think, to some degree, there has to be some change in how the church interacts with young people.”

Just the start

Before this project, Cronin had never done an extensive research project, so she found the process intimidating at first, something Garrett Schmiederer ’25 can relate to.

Garrett Schmiederer ’25 talks about his research on student-athletes, concussions and sleep.

“It’s been time consuming, and difficult at times, but I’m enjoying it so far,” said Schmiederer, an exercise science major who hopes to become an athletic trainer. “I’ve always wanted to do research and it’s been a learning experience.”

Schmiederer’s topic looks at concussions in student athletes and their effect on headaches and sleep. His research is still developing, and he plans to have more data by the end of the fall semester and present at the Spring Undergraduate Research Forum in 2025.

“It’s just the start so far,” said Schmiderer. “I’m giving them an ImPACT test, which is a concussion baseline test and then after that I’m giving them a survey that is about quality of sleep, if they have headaches or migraines and how it’s affecting their quality of life.”

Schmiederer is mentored by Caroline Ketcham, associate dean of ��ϲ�� College, the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of exercise science, and Hall, who is also his academic adviser.

“I’ve had a lot of success as a scholar myself, but I enjoy talking to students and working with them to develop something and see their success,” said Hall. “It’s amazing to see the topics and say ‘Wow that’s impressive,’ but then when you talk to the students at the presentations and they are able to translate what they’ve done to me, who’s not in their field, is really impressive.”

��ϲ�� students and alumnae selected for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program

Nicole Galante — Mon, 13 May 2024 16:12:01 +0000

Four members of the Class of 2024 and one member of the Class of 2023 have been selected to teach English, conduct independent research or earn a graduate degree abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Four have been selected as alternates.

The largest exchange program in the country, awards approximately 2,200 grants annually in all fields of study. Recent graduates and graduate students undertake graduate study, advanced research, and English teaching worldwide. Founded in 1946, the Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and people of other countries.

��ϲ�� has been repeatedly recognized for the number of its alumni who participate in the Fulbright Program as teachers and researchers and has been named a top-producer of Fulbright students in six separate years. This year, The National and International Fellowships Office supported the largest cohort of Fulbright applicants in ��ϲ��’s history: 34 applicants.

��ϲ�� students and alumni interested in the Fulbright program or other nationally competitive fellowships are invited to contact the National and International Fellowships Office.

Those who received awards this year are:

Leah Schwarz ’24

A psychology and Spanish double major with a minor in Latin American studies, Leah Schwarz has been selected for a Fulbright grant to teach English in Spain. She is from Hudson, Ohio.

At ��ϲ��, Schwarz was an ��ϲ�� College Fellow who spent two years researching Latinx student experiences in higher education. She also served as a student representative for the Latin American Studies Board, and as a Spanish tutor. She is a member of Sigma Iota Rho and Sigma Delta Pi honor societies.
“I applied to Spain because I studied abroad in Sevilla in Spring 2023 and instantly felt at home,” she said. “I loved the Spanish way of life, the relationships I made with locals and the emphasis on working to live, not living to work. I applied to Fulbright because, while abroad, I was a student English teacher at an elementary school and had so much fun working with the students. I loved the way the children were so excited to learn English and I was blown away with how much they knew.”

In the future, Schwarz plans to pursue a doctorate in psychology to become a clinical psychologist. Steve Braye and Leyla Savloff have been Schwarz’s most influential ��ϲ�� mentors.

Nellie Garrison ’24

Nellie Garrison, an English Literature major with minors in Spanish and��ǳ��ܲԾ��پ��ǲԲ�, has received a Fulbright grant to teach English in Spain. From Staunton, Virginia, Garrison was the director of diversity, equity and inclusion for her sorority, worked extensively with Campus Recreation and Wellness, and served as the co-president of Sigma Tau Delta, the national English Honor Society. She is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Garrison became inspired to pursue an English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) after her semester abroad in Spain. “I applied for Fulbright because of my passion for cross-cultural education that I developed while studying and teaching in Sevilla. My interest in instructing English as a second language first grew after working with adults at Alamance Community College during a TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language) course my junior year. I look forward to working in Madrid for the chance to work with a diverse community of learners,” she says.

Teaching English through the Fulbright program is the first step in Garrison’s journey to a career as a dual-language educator and potential lawyer. Regardless of what she does, her aim is to “create welcoming environments where people from diverse backgrounds can learn and grow together”—a mission that will no doubt be strengthened through her time as an English Teaching Assistant.

Garrison’s most influential ��ϲ�� mentors include April Post, Jennifer Eidum and Dinidu Karunanayake.

Britt Mobley ’24

Britt Mobley ‘24

A strategic communications and outdoor leadership and education double major, Britt Mobley has received a Fulbright grant to teach English in the Czech Republic. He is from Raleigh, North Carolina.

At ��ϲ��, Mobley was an Odyssey Scholar and a Communications Fellow, served as the Student Government Association Student Body President and worked as the course director on the ELOA Challenge Course. Fulbright is a natural extension of his deep involvement, and he was drawn to the program in part for its definition of holistic student success. “Honestly, I applied out of spite,” he says. “I applied to challenge my own fears and doubt about being good enough and having the most pristine academic record.”

Mobley’s strong, holistic undergraduate career has prepared him well to serve as an ETA at the Business, Hospitality and Vocational School Tabor in Tabor, Czech Republic. After his Fulbright year, he plans to attend the University of North Carolina-Charlotte to earn his doctorate in organizational sciences.

Mobley’s ��ϲ�� mentors include Evan Small and Israel Balderas, who have acted as cheerleaders and advocates “for [his] academic record and what [he is] truly capable of as a student, even though [his] transcript doesn’t fully portray that.”

Trevor Molin ’23

Trevor Molin, a political science major and member of the Class of 2023, has received a Fulbright grant to pursue a master’s degree in philosophy from Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada. Molin has spent the past year at the London School of Economics earning their first master’s degree in Gender Studies. During their time at ��ϲ��, Molin served on the Student Government Association, worked in the Gender and LGBTQIA+ Center as the inaugural Healthy Masculinities & Relationships student assistant, and coordinated and directed ��ϲ�� Volunteers.

Molin was inspired to reapply for Fulbright after being named a semifinalist for a Fulbright grant to the United Kingdom last year. “In all honesty, after going through the process last round, part of my decision to apply this time was just from how useful the process itself was, especially as I was looking to apply to graduate programs anyway,” they explain. Embarking on the process a second time led Molin to Canada and Memorial University, where they are eager to engage with new scholars and explore the natural beauty of Newfoundland.

This degree from Memorial, paired with Molin’s first graduate degree from the London School of Economics, will no doubt pave the way for a promising academic career. “I hope to pursue a PhD in an interdisciplinary, theory-based program and hopefully go on to become a professor,” they say. “Who knows what will happen, but I know for certain I want to teach theory, we’ll see where that will take me though!”

Molin’s constellation of ��ϲ�� mentors includes Jodean Schmiederer, Lauren Guilmette and Liza Taylor.

Eliana Olivier ’24

With majors in environmental and ecological sciences and Spanish and a minor in Latin American Studies, Eliana Olivier has received a Fulbright grant to teach English in Colombia. The Honors Fellow and is from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Pursuing an ETA in Colombia is a natural extension of Olivier’s ��ϲ�� involvement. Internationally, she spent a semester abroad in the Dominican Republic. Back on campus, she served as an environmental justice intern with the Office of Sustainability. “I applied to the program in Colombia because I was excited about the opportunity to engage with a new culture and because of my interest in the Spanish language and Latin America, specifically,” she explains. “I also applied because of all of the ecological diversity of Colombia, and I thought it would be a great place to further pursue my environmental interests.”

Olivier’s ��ϲ�� mentors include Kelly Harer and Ricardo Mendoza. “I have had so many incredible professors and mentors who have helped me to succeed and grow in the past four years,” she says. In the future, she plans to attend graduate school.

In addition to these students, five seniors and alumnae have been named alternates for various Fulbright grants. Alternates are still in the competition and have the chance to be promoted to finalists (recipients of the grant) up until the official start of the grant period. We will update this story as we continue to hear news of their progress.

Those who were selected as alternates are:

Heeba Chergui ’22

An alumna from the Class of 2022, Heeba Chergui has been selected as an alternate for a Fulbright grant to teach English in Albania for the second time. Earlier this year, Chergui was selected as one of ��ϲ��’s first Rangel Graduate Fellows.

At ��ϲ��, Chergui majored in international and global studies, minored in leadership studies and was a Leadership Fellow. She dedicated her academic and experiential pursuits to the study of the Middle East and North Africa and received the Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship to study abroad in Amman, Jordan, where she interned with a peacebuilding nongovernment organization. These experiences were invaluable in helping her to receive , which will train and prepare her for a career in the Foreign Service through the State Department.

Her ��ϲ�� mentors include Kevin Bourque, LD Russell, Sandy Marshall and Maritza Gulin.

Bethany Marzella ’24

Bethany Marzella, a member of the Class of 2024 with a major in international and global studies and six minors (peace and conflict studies, political science, interreligious studies, geography, Islamic studies, and Middle East studies) has been selected as an alternate for a Fulbright research grant to Oman. Marzella’s proposed project in Oman would be a continuation of her undergraduate research on sectarian conflict.

At ��ϲ��, Marzella was a Phi Beta Kappa Multifaith Scholar whose work focused on the Middle East. She spent a semester abroad in Amman, Jordan, which she cites as the most influential experience she had while an undergraduate. In the future, she is eager to attend graduate school abroad in a field related to politics and international studies.

Marzella’s constellation of ��ϲ�� mentors includes Sandy Marshall, Tom Kerr, Summeye Pakdil, Amy Allocco and Allegra Laing.

Sarah Mirrow ’24

An economics and applied mathematics double major and a French minor from the Class of 2024, Sarah Mirrow has been selected as an alternate for a Fulbright grant to pursue a master’s degree in economics from University College Dublin in Ireland. She is from Arlington, Virginia.

At ��ϲ��, Mirrow was an Honors Fellow and Lumen Scholar who pursued two years of rigorous research about how access to abortion clinics impacts female educational attainment. She chose to pursue a Fulbright grant in Ireland specifically because the country has experienced abortion legislation upheaval in the past 10 years that presents a unique research opportunity.

Mirrow’s ultimate goal is to pursue a doctorate in economics. Her most influential ��ϲ�� mentors include Steve Bednar and Karen Yokley.

Claire Przybocki ’24

Claire D. Przybocki ’24

Claire D. Przybocki, a member of the Class of 2024, has been selected as an alternate for a Fulbright grant to teach English in Poland. At ��ϲ��, Przybocki was a double major in international and global studies and economics with minors in Islamic studies, interreligious studies, and leadership studies. She was also a Leadership Fellow, a Multifaith Scholar, a Maryland Public Service Scholar, and served as the vice president of ��ϲ��’s Arabic Language Organization.

Pryzbocki’s time as a Multifaith Scholar, where she spent two years researching refugee resettlement in Poland, plus her experience working with international nongovernment organizations, motivated her to apply for this grant to teach English in Poland. In the future, she plans to attend graduate school to prepare her for a career in migrant resettlement. Her constellation of ��ϲ�� mentors includes Brian Pennington, Amy Allocco and Sandy Marshall.

Multifaith Scholars | Today at ���ϲ����� | ���ϲ�����

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