David Buckley named director of the Boisi Center

David Buckley, associate professor of political science and the Paul Weber Endowed Chair in Politics, Science, and Religion at the University of Louisville, has been named director of Boston College’s Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life effective this summer, announced Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean Gregory Kalscheur, S.J.

Buckley succeeds Theology Professor Mark Massa, S.J., who is stepping down as director at the end of this academic year after leading the Boisi Center since 2017.

Established in 1999 with an endowment from Geoffrey T. Boisi ’69 and his wife Rene (Isacco) Boisi ’69, the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life creates opportunities where a community of scholars, policy makers, media, and religious leaders can connect in conversation and scholarly reflection around issues at the intersection of religion and American public life. The hope is that such conversations can clarify the moral consequences of public policies in ways that help to maintain the common good while respecting America’s increasing religious diversity.

A faculty member at Louisville since 2013, Buckley is the director of the Center for Asian Democracy, which promotes research, student opportunities, and community engagement that advances the understanding of democracy in Central, Southern, Southeast and East Asia. Under his leadership, the center has engaged in successful scholar-practitioner partnerships with organizations such as the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and the United States Institute of Peace. He served as a senior advisor for the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs, a role that connected him with a wide variety of leaders from diverse religious traditions and religious policy advocates with an interest in strengthening global democracy, addressing climate change, and responding to immigration and refugee resettlement.

Buckley’s research is focused on the relationship between religion and democratic backsliding and the shifting place of religion in American politics. His most recent book is Blessing America First: Religion, Populism, and Foreign Policy in the Trump Administration, which documents the impact of populist politics on religion’s role in U.S. foreign policy bureaucracy. His first book, Faithful to Secularism: The Religious Politics of Democracy in Ireland, Senegal and the Philippines, analyzed the emergence of secular democracy in cases with politically active religious majorities. Each book received the International Studies Association’s Book Award for Religion and International Relations (in 2026 and 2018, respectively). His forthcoming book, co-authored with Steven Brooke, is Protection at the Margins: How the Catholic Church Shielded Communities from Populist Violence in the Philippine Drug War.

“David Buckley brings to Boston College a strong record as a scholar of religion and politics, experience as a successful center director, and a grounding in policy through his work at the U.S. State Department and the program on faith and politics at the Center for American Progress,” said Fr. Kalscheur. “With a research agenda centered in the relationship between religion and maintaining healthy democracies, and having been formed by his own experience of Jesuit education, Professor Buckley will be a great addition to the BC community and a tremendous leader for the Boisi Center at this moment in our national life.”

“I’m thrilled with the opportunity to lead the Boisi Center in this crucial period for American democracy, and to join the Boston College community,” said Buckley, who will also be a Political Science faculty member. “Religion has no doubt played a part in the challenges facing democracy today, in the United States and around the world. However, from Minneapolis to Manila, we see that religious leaders, networks, and ideas retain a crucial role in strengthening democratic institutions to serve the common good. I’m excited to build on the multidisciplinary community of scholars, students, and practitioners around the Boisi Center who take up these urgent topics.”

Buckley holds a doctorate in government from Georgetown University, a master’s degree from Queens University Belfast in Northern Ireland, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia.

He is past chair of the American Political Science Association’s Religion and Politics Section, where he oversaw the convening of a workshop on religion and democratic fragility with scholars of American and comparative politics. Buckley’s scholarship and writings have appeared in outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, America, and Commonweal.

“The Political Science Department is excited that David Buckley will join Boston College as the next Boisi Center director,” said Political Science Professor and Department Chair Gerald Easter. “He is already established as one of the country’s leading scholars of religion and politics. He will no doubt bring dynamism and vision to the Boisi post. In addition, Buckley will bolster the ranks of the comparative politics faculty and enhance our department’s reputation as a national leader in the study of religion and politics.”