Agenda

Melissa Rogers serves as Special Assistant to President Biden and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. From 2013-2017, Rogers served as Special Assistant to President Obama and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. In 2017, President Obama appointed Rogers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council. In 2009, President Obama appointed her as chair of the inaugural White House Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.


Rogers previously served as Visiting Professor at Wake Forest University School of Divinity and as a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Rogers is author of Faith in American Public Life (2019) and co-author of Religious Freedom and the Supreme Court (2008). She has received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from both Wake Forest University and the John Leland Center for Theological Studies. Rogers holds a J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Baylor University.

Lynn Pasquerella was appointed president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities in 2016, after serving as the eighteenth president of Mount Holyoke College.She has held positions as Provost at the University of Hartford and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Rhode Island, where she taught for more than two decades. A philosopher whose work has combined teaching and scholarship with local and global engagement, Pasquerella has written extensively on medical ethics, metaphysics, public policy, and the philosophy of law. Her most recent book, What We Value: Public Health, Social Justice, and Educating for Democracy, examines the role of higher education in addressing some of the most pressing contemporary issues at the intersection of ethics, law, and public policy.

Pasquerella is immediate past president of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and the host of Northeast Public Radio’s The Academic Minute. She is a graduate of Quinebaug Valley Community College, Mount Holyoke College, and Brown University. Her awards and honors include receiving the William Rogers Alumni Award and the Horace Mann Medal from Brown University; the STAR Scholars Network North Star Lifetime Achievement Award; Mary Baldwin University’s Algernon Sydney Sullivan Service to Humanity Award; Quinebaug Valley Community College Champions Award; and the Mount Holyoke Alumni Association Elizabeth Tophan Kennan Award. Pasquerella holds honorary degrees from Elizabethtown College, Bishop’s University, the University of South Florida, the University of Hartford, the University of Rhode Island, Concordia College, Mount Holyoke College, and Bay Path University and was named by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education as one of America’s top 35 women leaders. She serves on the boards of the Lingnan Foundation, the National Trust for the Humanities, the Olin College of Engineering, and Handshake.

Eboo Patel is a civic leader who believes that religious diversity is an essential and inspiring dimension of American democracy. Named “one of America’s best leaders” by U.S. News and World Report, Eboo is Founder and President of Interfaith America, the leading interfaith organization in the United States. Under his leadership, Interfaith America has worked with governments, universities, private companies, and civic organizations to make faith a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division.

Eboo served on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council, has given hundreds of keynote addresses, and has written five books, including We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy. He is an Ashoka Fellow and holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship. Eboo lives in Chicago with his wife, Shehnaz, and their two sons.

Danielle Allen is James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. She is a professor of political philosophy, ethics, and public policy and director of the Democratic Knowledge Project and of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation. She is also a seasoned nonprofit leader, democracy advocate, national voice on AI and tech ethics, distinguished author, and mom.

A past chair of the Mellon Foundation and Pulitzer Prize Board, and former Dean of Humanities at the University of Chicago, she is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and American Philosophical Society. Her many books include the
widely acclaimed Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship Since Brown v Board of Education; Our Declaration: a reading of the Declaration of Independence in defense of equality; Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A.; Democracy in the Time of Coronavirus; and Justice by Means of Democracy. She writes a column on constitutional democracy for The Washington Post.

Outside the University, she is a co-chair for the Our Common Purpose Commission and Founder and President for Partners In Democracy, where she advocates for democracy
reform to create greater voice and access in our democracy, and to drive progress towards a new social contract that serves and includes us all. Her personal website is available at www.americatheindivisible.org.

A visionary leader and internationally renowned political scientist and management scholar, Daniel Diermeier is the ninth chancellor of Vanderbilt University.

Since joining Vanderbilt in 2020, Chancellor Diermeier has led an ambitious program of advancement and growth and reaffirmed its long-standing commitment to free expression and civil discourse. He has driven efforts to become the destination for leading faculty and the most promising students, to create a culture of radical collaboration and personal growth for Vanderbilt’s faculty, students and staff and to expand Vanderbilt’s global presence.

He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Guggenheim Foundation. He has published five books and more than 100 research articles, mostly in
the fields of political science and economics and management, but also in other fields, including linguistics, sociology, psychology, computer science, operations research and applied mathematics.

Before arriving at Vanderbilt, Chancellor Diermeier served in leadership and faculty roles
at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and at the University of Chicago, where he served as dean of the Harris School of Public Policy.

From 2016 until 2020, he was the University of Chicago’s provost, responsible for all academic and research programs across the university.

Throughout his career, Diermeier has been an adviser to governments, nonprofits and leading companies, mostly in the area of crisis management. He is a board member of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the Field Museum and Argonne National Laboratory.

A native of Berlin, Germany, and a first-generation college graduate, Diermeier earned a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in political science from the University of Rochester. He also holds master’s degrees in political science from the University of Munich and in philosophy from the University of Southern California.

Laurie L. Patton is the 17th president of Middlebury, and the first woman to lead the institution in its 224-year history. Patton joined Middlebury in 2015 after serving as dean of Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Durden Professor of Religion.

In her inaugural address, Patton described a vision of a Middlebury that would actively engage with the most challenging issues facing society and challenged the community “to have more and better arguments, with greater respect, stronger resilience, and deeper wisdom.”

In 2022, under Patton’s leadership, Middlebury received a $25M grant to begin the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation—the largest programmatic grant in the college’s history. The initiative views the study and development of conflict transformation skills as a liberal art and supports wide-ranging initiatives in high school, undergraduate, graduate, global, and experiential learning, where students learn and practice different approaches to conflict management and resolution.

Her “Energy 2028” Initiative will make Middlebury the first school of its size to be powered entirely by renewable fuels in 2028.

Patton is an authority on South Asian history, culture, religion, and religion in the public square. She is the author or editor of ten books and more than 60 articles and has translated the classical Sanskrit text, The Bhagavad Gita. She is also the author of three books of poems, most recently House Crossing, in 2018 from Station Hill Press.

From 1996 to 2011, Patton served on the faculty and administration at Emory University, where she was the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Religions and the inaugural director of Emory’s Center for Faculty Development and Excellence in the Office of the Provost. Patton began her career at Bard College in 1991.

Patton earned her BA from Harvard University in 1983 and her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1991. She has served as president of the American Society for the Study of Religion in 2011, and the American Academy of Religion, made up of over 9000 members, in 2019. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018 in two categories, philosophy and religion and educational leadership.

Lori S. White is the 21st President of DePauw University. She is the first female and the first person of color to serve as the President of DePauw.

Dr. White has spent over 40 years working in higher education. Prior to her arrival at DePauw University she served as the Vice President for Student Affairs and clinical professor of education at Southern Methodist University, and has also worked at the University of Southern California, Stanford, Georgetown and San Diego State Universities, and University of California, Irvine.

Dr. White is active nationally in several higher education organizations and has served on the Board of Directors for the Association for Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Foundation. In 2009 she was named a Pillar of the Profession by NASPA. Dr. White was elected chair of the NASPA Board of Directors for 2016-2017. Dr. White, along with five other Liberal Arts College President founded LACRELA—the Liberal Arts Colleges Racial Equity Alliance. She also served on the Bipartisan Policy Center Academic Leaders Task Force on Campus Free Expression.

Dr. White’s areas of emphasis in research and teaching include the student experience in higher education and the preparation and mentorship of new, mid-level and aspiring senior student affairs professionals. She is the author of a number of articles and book chapters and has presented widely at professional meetings. Her most recent publications are in a co-edited volume titled Transformational Encounters: Shaping Diverse College and University Leaders and another titled, Keep Calm and Call the Dean of Students. A Guide
to Understanding the Many Facets of the Dean of Students Role.

Dr. White was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. She earned an undergraduate degree in psychology and English from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in education administration and policy analysis with emphasis in higher education. She also participated in Harvard University's Management and Leadership in Education Program.

Her claim to fame is that she can name the mascot of just about every Division I college (and she is working on learning all of the mascots for Division III).

Najeeba Syeed is the inaugural El-Hibri endowed chair and executive director of the Interfaith Institute at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has been a professor, expert practitioner and public speaker for the last two decades in the fields of conflict resolution, interfaith studies, mediation, restorative Justice, education, social,gender and racial equity. An award-winning educator, she has taught extensively on interreligious education and published articles on faith and community-based conflict resolution, restorative justice, and interfaith just peacemaking.

The Reverend Callista Isabelle (she/hers) serves as the inaugural Director for Religious, Spiritual & Ethical Life at Washington University in St. Louis. In this role she leads interfaithinitiatives for the university, supports dozens of religious and spiritual student organizations and affiliated campus ministries, and provides spiritual support to the student body. Prior to beginning this role at WashU in 2019, Callista served as College Chaplain at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania and as Associate University Chaplain at Yale University. Callista earned her Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School, and a certificate from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. She is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Dr. Ronald S. Rochon became the University of Southern Indiana’s fourth president in July 2018, after eight years serving USI as provost.

Rochon’s academic and professional career has focused on advocating for educational excellence, access, equity and equality. He has taught classes on the history of American Education, culturally relevant and responsive teaching practices within Pre-K through grade 12 schools, and organizational leadership within higher educational settings. His body of work has centered on the needs and advancement of diverse learners within underserved schools and communities as well as their integral contributions to the larger society. His commitment to student success has been his lifelong career focus. He cultivates a campus culture where faculty and staff are dedicated to creating a community of care, where students are free to develop intellectually, emotionally, socially and culturally through their educational experiences.

Rochon came to USI from Buffalo State in Buffalo, New York, where he served as the inaugural dean of the School of Education, associate vice president for Teacher Education and professor. He was director and co-founder of the Research Center for Cultural Diversity and Community Renewal at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, as well as interim associate dean and director of the school of education. He also served as chair of the Board of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (Washington, DC). His professional teaching career has included work at Texas A & M University, Washington State University, and University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

President Rochon earned a bachelor’s degree at Tuskegee University and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His doctoral work was in educational policy studies, with an emphasis in educational history and policy analysis.

Rebecca oversees IA’s strategy and programmatic work across U.S. higher education, with a particular focus on partnering with senior campus administrators and higher education associations. Rebecca has worked with IA since 2014 and sees college campuses as a laboratory where students can deepen and challenge their own worldviews and learn to build relationships across divides. Rebecca has worked in higher education for over a decade, including previous roles as the Director of Engagement at Northwestern University’s Fiedler Hillel and Executive Director of the Campus Climate Initiative at Hillel International. Rebecca holds a B.A. in Middle East Studies from Brown University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Rebecca’s writing on religious pluralism in higher education has been published in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Times Higher Education, and the Journal of College and Character.

In her role, Jenan Mohajir focuses on building strategic relationships and program with new partners across IA’s emerging sectors. Inspired by faith and family to work for change at the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and religion, Jenan has served in leadership IA for 15 years where she has trained hundreds of interfaith leaders from diverse backgrounds to foster a vision and practice of civically engaged interfaith leadership. Jenan completed undergraduate work at DePaul University and is pursuing her MA in religious studies at Chicago Theological Seminary. As a natural storyteller, she performs with 2nd Story, Chicago’s premier storytelling company. Jenan proudly lives on the south side of Chicago with her children and loves to collect vintage children’s books.

Frances M. Sweeney, Ph.D., is vice president for mission and professor of Spanish at Saint Mary’s College of California. Motivated by the art and skill of question, Frances is energized by and committed to growth and fullness in life’s changing mosaic, for herself, her students, her colleagues, or entire institutional cultures. Her disciplinary research explores the intersection of Spanish linguistics with best practices in student and faculty development, and she has published in areas of syntax, phonology, stylistics and translation. Frances has held various administrative roles, including academic vice provost, dean for the School of Liberal Arts, acting director of the Center for First Generation to College Students and assistant provost for Institutional Effectiveness.

In her role as vice president for mission, Frances oversees mission and identity initiatives as well as collaborates with the Senior Diversity Officer on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. She is interested in helping educators pursue the questions, “what is the vision and purpose of higher education for today’s global community, and more specifically, what does it mean to be a liberal arts, Lasallian Catholic university in the 21st century?” Her answer, in part, has been to help develop belonging- and equity-driven programs for Saint Mary’s and the Lasallian network of schools in the United States, including creating a summer institute
of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, an Interfaith and Religious Diversity committee at Saint Mary’s and an Interfaith Consortium across the United States Lasallian network, global collaborations on environmental justice, and a comprehensive reframing of support structures for Latinx students and community members as Hispanic Serving Institutions. She serves on the Board of the International Association of Lasalle Universities, a global network of 65 Lasallian institutions, and assists with the summer program in Rome for global understanding and collaboration. Frances serves as a faculty facilitator in the AAC&U and Interfaith America summer institute for Interfaith Leadership in Higher Education. Her emphasis is the integration of spiritual/religious identity with other DEI initiatives.

Kevin Brown occupies dual roles as the Vice-President of Student Development and Success as well as Chief Diversity Officer. In these capacities, he spearheads Spring Arbor's endeavors to embody and celebrate the rich diversity of God's kingdom, while guiding students in navigating the communal journey of campus life. Over the past four years, he has shepherded Spring Arbor University's initiatives in fostering unity across various backgrounds through the Bridging the Gap (BTG) program.

Bridging the Gap begins with a simple yet profound invitation to its participants: The intention is to take seriously the things that others hold dear. “If it matters to you then it
will matter to me; we are not here to convince anyone they are wrong or try to change them; and we are curious why people think the way they do and rather than thinking we are diminished by listening carefully to ideas we might disagree with, we trust that we are enhanced by it.”

At Spring Arbor University, Kevin champions the belief that “engagement across difference can both help us clarify and strengthen who we are, illuminate things we may not have understood and by bringing a bit of humanity to how we understand the “other” instill some spiritual and moral health to a society in need of healing.

Throughout his career, Kevin has provided invaluable counsel to multiple university Presidents, focusing on matters of diversity, intercultural relations, and community engagement.

He holds a bachelor's degree in Sociology from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and furthered his education with a master's degree in communication and leadership from Spring Arbor.

Outside of his professional endeavors, Kevin finds fulfillment in family life alongside his wife Nancy and their three children: Landon, Sydney, and Joshua.

Dr. Eric Castillo (he/him/él) is a second-generation Xicano from Yanaguana/San Antonio, Tejas, a social justice practitioner, and scholar helping to create a just, compassionate, and liberated world.

Committed to the lifelong practice of solidarity and peacemaking, he co-leads and cocreates opportunities where people can collectively flourish and work towards positive and sustainable social change. His community organizing background focuses on immigration, education equity, and racial justice and he facilitates community healing circles, truth, healing, and transformation programs, along with various community-based projects such as the First Peoples Project, CompassionateUSA, and the Black Westside History Project.

Dr. Castillo received his Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of New Mexico and was an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship and Middle Eastern Studies Faculty Fellowship recipient. He currently holds a Racial Healing Practitioner Fellowship with the National Compadres Network, funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. His most recent publication, “A Comprehensive Guide to the Introduction and Implementation of Equity Standards and Guidelines Across Diverse Industries” was published in fall 2023 through the Journal of Engaged Research.

Other publication includes “Justice in Action: Decolonial and Anti-Racist Work Inside/Outside the Master’s House,” appears in the book Deconstructing Constructs of Whiteness in Higher Education: Narratives of Resistance from the Academy, published in 2022. His forthcoming peer-reviewed article, “Myth and Monument in Old Town Albuquerque: Southwest Pietà and the War of Presiding Histories” will be published in 2024 in Regeneración: A Xicanacimiento Studies Journal. His co-authored book chapter titled, “The First Peoples of Yanaguana/San Antonio” will be published in 2024 in the Strengthening Campus Communities through the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Framework book in partnership with the American Association of Colleges and Universities through Routledge Press.

Dr. Maria Dixon Hall serves as the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer of Southern Methodist University. Dr. Dixon Hall joined SMU after earning a Ph.D. in organizational communication from the University of Missouri-Columbia; a Th.M. in homiletics from Emory University; an M.Div. from Emory University; and a B.S. in marketing from the University of Alabama.

Dr. Dixon Hall has been recognized throughout her SMU career by students and peers alike for her passion for teaching and research, Dixon Hall has received the 2005–2006 Willis M. Tate Award for service to the student body; the 2009 Golden Mustang Award for outstanding teaching and research by junior faculty; the 2010 Rotunda Award for outstanding teaching; and the 2011 “M” Award, SMU’s highest award for outstanding service to the University. In 2023 the US Congressional Foundation presented her with the Education Champion Award.

Dr. Dixon Hall began developing SMU’s Cultural Intelligence Initiative in 2016 as a practical, effective alternative to traditional diversity training. Now trademarked as CIQ@SMU, it is the primary training for faculty, student, and staff. In addition to the development of SMU’s
Diversity and Inclusion curriculum, Dixon Hall has served as a consultant to Southwest Airlines, The United Methodist Church, and several universities throughout the US on their diversity efforts. Her work has been featured in a number of national publications including TIME.

Dr. Dixon Hall, a dedicated member of the Kappa Chi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She is also an ordained clergy member of the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Married to Rev. Dr. Jeff Hall, Senior Pastor of Cochran Chapel United Methodist Church they work to wrangle their brilliant but feral children, Carnell (14), Harmony (12), and Faith (10).

Rajiv Vinnakota is the seventh president of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation). Prior to joining Citizens & Scholars in July 2019, Raj served as the Executive Vice President of the Youth & Engagement division at the Aspen Institute, a new venture focusing on youth leadership development, civic engagement, and opportunity. Before work at the Aspen Institute, he was the cofounder and CEO of The SEED Foundation, the nation’s first network of public, college-preparatory
boarding schools for underserved children. Raj remains on the board of The SEED Foundation.

A graduate and former trustee of Princeton University, Raj has dedicated his career to educating, empowering, and supporting America’s youth, particularly those from disadvantaged communities. His work as a social entrepreneur and non-profit leader has earned him national recognition in the form of prestigious fellowships from Echoing Green, The Ashoka Foundation and the Aspen Institute, as well as awards such as Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson Award, Harvard University’s Innovation in American Government Award, and Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life award.

Raj is a board director for two public companies, Enovis Corporation and ESAB, and serves as chair of the nominating & governance committee for each of these boards. In addition to being a former trustee and executive committee member for Princeton University, Raj is the former national chair of its annual giving committee and former executive committee member for its Aspire capital campaign.

At Princeton, Raj majored in molecular biology and also earned a certificate of studies from the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs & Public Policy. He and his family live in Maine.

Jonathan Alger has served as president of James Madison University (Virginia) since July 2012, where he has led the development and implementation of a new vision and strategic plan focused on engaged learning and civic and community engagement. He is a nationally recognized speaker and writer on higher education law and policy and has taught classes at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He is a past member of ACE’s Board of Directors and currently serves as vice chair of the board of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, chair of AGB’s Council of Presidents, and member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. He is past chair of Campus Compact, the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, and the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Alger has served as a mentor for many aspiring higher education leaders through the American Council on Education Fellows program.

President Alger graduated with High Honors from Swarthmore College and Honors from Harvard Law School. He has previously served in law and policy positions at Rutgers University, the University of Michigan, the American Association of University Professors, and the U.S. Department of Education. He began his career as a labor and employment lawyer at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

Nicholas V. Longo is a chair and professor of Global Studies and a faculty fellow for engaged scholarship at the Center for Teaching Excellence at Providence College, where he was the 2022 recipient of the Innovation in Teaching Excellence Award. Nick also co-directs the Dialogue, Inclusion, and Democracy (DID) Lab which focuses on using deliberative, community-based pedagogies to promote equity and democracy. Nick is a faculty mentor and board member of College Unbound, a college working to re-invent higher education for returning adult learners. He is also a deliberative dialogue fellow for Campus Compact, and recently served as a faculty consultant for AAC&U’s Institute for Engaged and Integrated Learning. Nick's publications include Why Community Matters: Connecting Education with Civic Life (SUNY Press) and several co-edited volumes, including Creating Space for Democracy: A Primer on Dialogueand Deliberation in Higher Education (Stylus) and Deliberative Pedagogy: Teaching and Learning for Democratic Engagement (Michigan State University Press). He was awarded the Early Career Research Award from the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSCLE) in 2009 and holds a Master’s in Public Affairs and a Ph.D. in education from the University of Minnesota.

Michael Whitenton is a Lecturer in the Honors College at Baylor University where his teaching focuses on bridge-building, interfaith cooperation, and rhetoric.

Michael is the recipient of an Institutional Impact Grant with Interfaith America, which helped establish the university’s Bridgebuilding Fellows Program, a student-led initiative that seeks to support a culture of bridging at Baylor by empowering students to connect meaningfully across deep difference, forging genuine friendships in the process. Michael is also the co-recipient of an Advancing Religious Pluralism Grant through Interfaith America, which will help Baylor expand its curricular and co-curricular interfaith initiatives.

Michael is the recipient of numerous teaching awards and recognitions and currently serves as one of ten Baylor Fellows, who are recognized across the university for “pedagogical
innovation, inspirational teaching, and the cultivation of these among Baylor faculty.”

Regardless of the context, Michael’s teaching aims at providing students with process-oriented transformative learning experiences that express the interrelatedness of the humanities and the social sciences and prepare students for lives of empathetic, service-oriented leadership wherever their individual callings might take them.

Michael also has a research profile in the study of ancient & cognitive rhetorics, emotions, and early Christianity through the integration of more traditional research methods with work from linguistics, cognitive psychology, social psychology, and narratology. He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles, as well as two books on these topics:
Configuring Nicodemus: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Complex Characterization (Bloomsbury 2019) and Hearing Kyriotic Sonship: A Cognitive and Rhetorical Approach to the Characterization of Mark’s Jesus (Brill 2016).

Dr. Whitenton earned a Ph.D. in Religion from Baylor University and a B.S. in Community Health from Texas A&M University. In his spare time, you will find him either playing with his family or running around Waco.

Dr. Quincy A. Bevely was appointed as the inaugural vice president for institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion at Providence College (PC) in the Summer of 2023. Dr. Bevely also serves as an Adjunct Professor at PC. He has facilitated courses in Global Studies, Elementary and Special Education, the Development of Western Civilization, and the Graduate Studies Program in Higher Education. Further, Dr. Bevely co-directs the Dialogue, Inclusion, and Democracy (D.I.D.) Research Lab and Community D.I.D. Walls across PC's campus. The D.I.D. Lab critically engages PC community members with disputed questions using a deliberative, reflective, and community-based practice to foster civic discourse across differences.

Tina Grace, a program manager, is partnering with Interfaith America to implement Bridging The Gap, a program designed to reduce polarization by equipping people with skills to find common ground. Tina is a Spring Arbor University business graduate. Before Interfaith America, they worked closely with the homeless population, worked with youth at multiple summer camps, and led multiple mission trips in New York City and Atlanta. Outside of Interfaith America, you will see Tina spending their free time traveling, cooking, and working closely with hurting communities to build a foundation of strength and love.

Jenn Hoos Rothberg leads Einhorn Collaborative, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to addressing America’s growing crisis of connection by advancing the science and practice of empathy, mutual understanding, and relationship building in the United States. Jenn, who joined in 2007, oversees all aspects of the foundation in partnership with its Founder and Trustee, David Einhorn, including setting strategic priorities and building collaborative partnerships that advance our ability to embrace our differences, see our common humanity, and solve our country’s biggest challenges together. Jenn is a member of the Council on Foundations Board of Directors, the Town School Board of Trustees, Cornell University Council, the NationSwell Council, and the Leap of Reason Ambassadors Community.

She received her Master’s in Regional Planning and Bachelor’s in Urban and Regional Studies with Honors from Cornell University. She lives in NYC with her husband, two children, and cockapoo, Zucca.

Michael Murray is the President of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations and Senior Visiting Scholar in Philosophy at Franklin and Marshall College (Lancaster, PA). Before this, Dr. Murray served as Senior Vice President of Programs at the John Templeton Foundation. Michael has held academic appointments at Oxford University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Andrew Delbanco is Alexander Hamilton Professor of American Studies at Columbia University and president of the Teagle Foundation.

His most recent book, The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America’s Soul (2018), a New York Times notable book, was awarded the Anisfield-Wolf prize for “books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and human diversity,” the Lionel Trilling Award, and the Mark Lynton History Prize, sponsored by the Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation at Harvard, for a work “of history, on any subject, that best combines intellectual or scholarly distinction with felicity of expression.”

Among his other books, Melville: His World and Work (Knopf, 2005) was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in biography. College: What it Was, Is, and Should Be (Princeton University Press, 2012; 2d edition 2023), has been translated into several languages. His essays appear in The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, and other periodicals, on topics ranging from American literature and history to contemporary issues in higher education.

Mr. Delbanco earned his A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. He has been a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2001. That same year he was named “America’s Best Social Critic” by Time Magazine. In 2006 he was honored with the Great Teacher Award by the Society of Columbia Graduates, and in 2013 he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

In 2012, he was awarded a National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama. In 2021 and 2022 he served as president of the Society of American Historians. In 2022, he delivered the Jefferson Lecture, “the highest honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.”

Dr. Mariko Silver is the president and CEO of the Henry Luce Foundation. She was previously the president of Bennington College. During the Obama administration, she served the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as acting assistant secretary and deputy assistant secretary for international policy. Dr. Silver also served under Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as the policy advisor for economic development, innovation, and higher education. Prior to her government service, Dr. Silver was instrumental in the transformation and expansion of Arizona State University, leading work on economic development policy and metrics, science, technology and innovation policy, state K-12 and higher education policy, sustainability science, and global health. Dr. Silver is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She serves on the boards of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), Council on Foreign Relations, Philanthropy New York, and the Migration Policy Institute. Dr. Silver holds a PhD in Economic Geography from UCLA; MSc, Science and Technology Policy from SPRU, University of Sussex (UK) and BA, History from Yale University.