Meet the Staff
boisi center for religion and american public life
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Alan Wolfe is the founding director of the Boisi Center and Professor of Political Science at Boston College. He is author of more than a dozen books, including, most recently, The Future of Liberalism (2009), Does American Democracy Still Work? (2006), Return to Greatness (2005), The Transformation of American Religion: How We actually Practice our Faith (2003), Moral Freedom (2001) and One Nation After All (1999). Widely considered one of the nation's most prominent public intellectuals, he is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Washington Post, The New Republic and The Atlantic, and has delivered lectures across the United States and Europe. (more...)
Curriculum Vitae
Courses at Boston College
Recent Articles
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Erik Owens is associate director of the Boisi Center and adjunct assistant professor of theology and international studies at Boston College. His research explores a variety of intersections between religion and public life, with particular attention to the challenge of fostering the common good of a religiously diverse society. His interdisciplinary scholarship bridges the fields of theological ethics, political philosophy, law, education, international studies and public policy. He is the co-editor of three books: Gambling: Mapping the American Moral Landscape (2009), Religion and the Death Penalty: A Call for Reckoning (2004) and The Sacred and the Sovereign: Religion and International Politics (2003), the last of which was called a "must read" by Foreign Affairs in 2009. Co-chair of the American Academy of Religion's Religion and Politics section, he also sits on the steering committee of the AAR's "Religion and Public Schools: International Perspectives" group. He received his Ph.D. in religious ethics from the University of Chicago, an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School, and a B.A. from Duke University. Before joining the Boisi Center, Owens received research fellowships from the Spencer Foundation and the University of Virginia’s Center on Religion and Democracy; taught at the University of Chicago and DePaul University; and worked for the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, as well as the City of Chicago’s Board of Ethics.
Curriculum Vitae
Courses at Boston College
Susan Richard
Administrative Assistant
Susan Richard serves as the Boisi Center's Administrative Assistant. With her degree from Johnson and Wales University, she has the educational training to plan and organize the many events the Boisi Center sponsors each semester. Susan is also currently training in web site management.
Brenna R. Strauss
Graduate Research Assistant
Brenna McMahon is graduate of St. John's College, Santa Fe, and a sixth year Ph.D. student in Political Science at Boston College. She is currently writing her dissertation on ancient Greek political science, with a focus on the education and regulation of women in ancient Sparta. Before joining the Boisi Center, she was a Jack Miller-Veritas Fellow in the Department of Political Science. During 2009-2010, she served on the executive committee as secretary for the Inaugural Department of Political Science Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference entitled "The Politics of Human Rights." In 2008, she received the Donald White Award for excellence in teaching at Boston College. Brenna's research interests include the political philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, as well as early modern political philosophy, especially Montesquieu, and American political thought. In addition to administrative responsibilities at the Boisi Center, Brenna designed and leads the year-long Boisi Center Symposium on Religion and Politics, a discussion group for undergraduate and graduate students.
Conor Kelly
Graduate Research Assistant
Conor is a second year Ph.D. student and a Flately Fellow in Theological Ethics. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (BA, MTS), where he completed an honors thesis addressing the intersections of theology and law in the definition of personhood. His research interests include the concrete application of ethics to everyday life and the practice of moral formation. His work at the Boisi Center will focus on our Fall 2012 conference on religion and liberal education.
Claire Kairys
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Claire Kairys is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences majoring in International Studies with a minor in Philosophy. She is a tutor at the Connors Family Learning Center and a council member in 4Boston Volunteers. Inspired by her study abroad experience in Ecuador, Claire is writing a senior thesis on the effectiveness of Ecuador’s conditional cash transfer program as a mechanism for poverty reduction within the country’s large indigenous population.
Jo Kassel
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Jo is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a political science major with minors in both Philosophy and International Studies, with a concentration in International Cooperation and Conflict. Some of her research interests include youth in society and the role of education, particularly in the Middle East, as well as Islam in political life and the Arab Spring, which she spent time researching in the Summer 2010. Strongly influenced by her participation in the Boston College Arrupe program and subsequent trip to El Salvador in January 2010, Jo hopes to integrate her concern for social justice into her future research.
Nichole M. Flores
Web Specialist
Nichole is a third year Ph.D. student and a Margaret O'Brien Flatley Fellow in Theological Ethics at Boston College. She earned an A.B. in Government from Smith College and an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School, where she was awarded the Dwight-Hooker Fellowship for Theological Study. Her research interests include public theology and the common good, theological aesthetics and ethics, interfaith and ecumenical ethics, and U.S. Latina/o religion and politics. Nichole is the Associate Member Representative to the Board of Directors for the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS) and student convener of the Latina/o Working Group of the Society of Chtistian Ethics. Before joining the Boisi Center, Nichole maintained websites for the Boston College Office for Institutional Diversity and the Academic Advising Center.