Meet the Staff

boisi center for religion and american public life

Alan Wolfe

Director

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 Does American Democracy Still Work? (Yale University Press, 2006), One Nation After All (Penguin, 1999), Return to Greatness (Princeton University Press, 2005), The Transformation of American Religion: How We actually Practice our Faith (Free Press, 2003), and Moral Freedom (W.W. Norton & Company, 2001). Widely considered one of the nation's most prominent public intellectuals, he is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Washington Post, and Atlantic Monthly, and has delivered lectures across the United States, Europe and Middle East. (more...)

Curriculum Vitae
Courses at Boston College
Recent Atricles

Erik Owens

Erik Owens

Assistant Director

Erik Owens is Assistant Director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theology 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 scholarship is fundamentally interdisciplinary, bridging the fields of theological ethics, political philosophy, law, education, and public policy. Currently at work on a book about civic education and religious freedom in American public schools, he is also the co-editor of three books: Gambling and the American Moral Landscape (2009, with Alan Wolfe), Religion and the Death Penalty: A Call for Reckoning (2004) and The Sacred and the Sovereign: Religion and International Politics (2003). He earned his Ph.D. in religious ethics at 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.

John Crowley-Buck
Graduate Research Assistant

John is a second year M.A. student in the Department of Theology at Boston College. He attended BC as an undergraduate and received his B.A. in Theology and English. Prior to his Boston College experience, John graduated from Boston College High School in 2001. John’s academic interests lie in the practical application of moral and ethical principles to international and domestic politics and public life. He is also interested in religious pluralism and the application of religious pluralism to politics and public life. He intends to pursue his Ph.D. in Political Theology upon completion of his M.A.

Outside of academia, John worked as a volunteer English teacher in Machala, Ecuador from September 2005 to August 2006 through the Harvard-based volunteer program, WorldTeach. John’s favorite pastimes include traveling, skiing, sailing, rock climbing and dance.

Suzanne Hevelone
Graduate Research Assistant

Suzanne Hevelone is currently completing her Ph.D. in Theology at Boston College. She has a B.A. in Philosophy from Gordon College and an M.St. in Ecclesiastical History from Oxford University. Her dissertation explores the connections between hagiography and sermons, focusing on the work of the 13th-century Dominican Jacobus de Voragine. In particular, she is concerned with the transmission of virtue to lay audiences. Her other scholarly interests include the ongoing definition of orthodoxy and heresy through the early and medieval church and the use of images in theological pedagogy. Her presentations include a poster at the International Medieval Sermon Studies Society Symposium in Hungary (July 2006) and a paper in Orvieto, Italy (May 2005). In addition to her work at the Boisi Center, Suzanne is an adjunct professor at Gordon College, Wenham, MA. She is also the proud aunt of three little girls.

Hillary Thompson
Graduate Research Assistant

Hillary Thompson is a second-year Ph.D. student in American Politics at Boston College. She holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College (1999) with majors in political science and philosophy. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., Hillary spent 5 years as an economic consultant providing expert testimony and analysis for telecommunication regulatory and merger proceedings. Her academic interests lie in constitutional law and American political culture.

When not living and breathing American politics, she can be found sea kayaking off the New England coast or skiing in the Rocky Mountains.

Isabelle Martinez
Web Specialist

Isabelle Martinez serves as the Boisi Center's web specialist since Spring of 2007. She is currently a sophomore (Class of 2010) at Boston College and is pursuing a major in Economics and Philosophy with a minor in Italian.