Meet the Staff
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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, Political Evil: What It Is and How To Combat It (2001), 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 AAR's Committee on the Public Understanding of Religion and 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.
Nichole M. Flores
Graduate Research Assistant
Nichole M. Flores is a Margaret O’Brien Flatley Fellow in theological ethics at Boston College. Her research interests include Catholic social thought, public theology, theories of justice, and U.S. Latina/o theology and ethics. She is currently writing her dissertation on U.S. Latina/o public theology and the role of religious narrative and symbols in U.S. public life. In addition to administrative responsibilities at the Boisi Center, Nichole leads the Boisi Center Symposium on Religion and Politics, a discussion group for undergraduate and graduate students. Nichole is a contributor to the Millennial Journal, a project of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, and a North American contributor to the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church Forum. She 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 Latino/a Working Group of the Society of Christian Ethics (SCE). She earned a A.B. in government from Smith College and a M.Div. from Yale Divinity School.
Conor Kelly
Graduate Research Assistant
Conor is a third 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.
Kevin Durazo
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Kevin is a senior in the college of Arts and Sciences. He is a double major in theology and philosophy. He became deeply interested in Christian ethics while studying church history and the current issues facing Catholicism while in Rome during the summer of 2011, and after influential immersion trips to Mexico City and Cuernavaca, Mexico in 2011 and 2013. Some of his research interests include the way Christian identity conditions moral formation, theological social ethics, and how globalization challenges ethics and moral thinking. Kevin looks forward to continuing his theological studies as a promotion of social justice.
Jo Kassel
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Jo is a senior 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.
Mary Popeo
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Mary is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. An International Studies major, she focuses her studies on East Asian culture and religion, with particular attention to Japan. Her research interests include the link between spiritual attitudes and education in Japan's secular society, as well as the role of religion in cultivating Japanese identity. After spending the summer in Japan researching Nagasaki's Christian history, Mary looks forward to broadening her knowledge of world religions this year.
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Sarah is a senior in the college of Arts and Sciences. She is a history major with a minor in Hispanic studies. Sarah became fascinated by Latin American history and politics during her semester in Argentina and through her work as a Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington, D.C during the summer of 2012. Her research interests include social movements and education as well as the intersection of national identity, politics, and natural resource development.