Faculty & Staff

Tel:(415) 422-5971
jaaquino@usfca.edu

Jorge Aquino

Assistant Professor

Jorge Aquino is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. His specialties include Latin American theology and religious history, liberation theology, race theory and faith-based social movements. Additionally, Professor Aquino chairs the Chican@/Latin@ Studies minor. He is currently finishing a book on the Christian roots of racism in the history of the Americas. Dr. Aquino earned his Ph.D. from The Graduate Theological Union and came to USF in 2005.

Tel:(415) 422-5726
blacksk@usfca.edu

Stephen Black

Adjunct Professor

Stephen Black is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. His interest is in the intersection between classical Greco-Roman culture, philosophy, and religion, and their influence on the emergence and development of Christianity in the Later Roman Empire. Dr. Black is currently translating the homilies of John Chrysostom, a late fourth century bishop of Constantinople. He received a Ph.D. from The Graduate Theological Union in History with an emphasis in Late Antiquity and came to USF in 2001.

Tel:(415) 422-2912
embrigham@usfca.edu

Erin Brigham

Adjunct Professor

Erin Brigham is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. Her area of specialization is Catholic studies and Social Thought. Additionally, she is the faculty coordinator of research in the Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought. Dr. Brigham received a Ph.D. from The Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley and came to USF in 2008.

Tel:(415) 422-5031
ldube@usfca.edu

Lilian Dube

Associate Professor

Lilian Dube is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco where she teaches courses in feminist theology and the interaction of African theology, religion, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. She received her D.Th. from Stellenbosch University and came to USF in 2006. Dube will be a visiting professor at UTS, Columbia University, fall 2012

Tel:(415) 422-2378
ajhahntapper@usfca.edu

Aaron Hahn Tapper

Assistant Professor

Aaron J. Hahn Tapper is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. His interdisciplinary interests are American Jews, American Muslims, comparative religions, history of religions, the interplay between politics and religion and the Israel-Palestine Conflict. Additionally, Professor Hahn Tapper recently co-edited the volume Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, and Complexities. He is the Director and Chair of the SWIG Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice. Dr. Hahn Tapper earned his Ph.D. from University of California, Santa Barbara and came to USF in 2007.

Tel:(415) 422-5555
jhanvey@usfca.edu

James Hanvey

Lo Schiavo Chair in Catholic Social Thought

James Hanvey specializes in systematic theology and Catholic Social Thought and Ignatian Spirituality. He received his doctorate from Oxford University on the Hegelian metaphysics of Trinitarian Theology and has taught systematic theology at Heythrop College, University of London. 

Tel:(415) 422-5176
ahidayatullah@usfca.edu

Aysha Hidayatullah

Assistant Professor

Aysha Hidayatullah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. Her areas of specialization are Islam, gender, and sexuality. Currently, she is completing her first book, tentatively titled Qur'an, Woman, and the Unspoken: The Beginnings and Ends of Feminist Interpretation of the Qur'an. She received a Ph.D. from University of California, Santa Barbara and came to USF in 2008.

Tel:(415) 422-2314
nphinerman@usfca.edu

Nate Hinerman

Adjunct Faculty

Nate Hinerman is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and the School of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of San Francisco. His areas of expertise include death, dying, and aging, responses to human suffering, and special topics in philosophy of religion. Additionally, he serves as Chair of the San Francisco Bay Area End of Life Coalition, and serves as a psychotherapist helping clients with experiences of loss. Dr. Hinerman also annually organizes local and international conferences on community-based models of hospice and palliative care. He received a Ph.D. from The Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley and came to USF in 2004.

Tel:(415) 422-6817
kendalld@usfca.edu

Daniel Kendall

Professor

Daniel Kendall, S.J., is a Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. His interests are Scripture and Christology. In addition to his numerous publications, he is the Book Review Editor for Theological Studies. Fr. Kendall received his doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome) and came to USF in 1979.

Tel:(415) 422-5184
lorentzen@usfca.edu

Lois Lorentzen

Professor

Lois Lorentzen is a Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. Her areas of specialization include religion and immigration, environmental ethics, and gender and violence. Additionally, Lois has published or edited numerous books including, Religion on the Corner of Bliss and Nirvana: Faith, Politics and Identity in New Migrant Communities and the forthcoming three volume series Hidden Lives and Human Rights in the United States: Understanding the Controversies and Tragedies of Undocumented Immigration. She has served as Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, Director of the Center for Latino/a Studies in the Americas, and Chair of the Department of Theology/Religious Studies. Professor Lorentzen received a Ph.D. from the School of Religion at the University of Southern California and came to USF in 1991.

Tel:(415) 422-6601
sam_mickey@yahoo.com

Sam Mickey

Adjunct Professor

Sam Mickey is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. His area of specialization is ecological consciousness in philosophies and religions. Additionally, he works for the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale and is in the process of editing a book, Integral Ecologies: Natures, Cultures, Knowledges, and Our Planetary Future. Mr. Mickey is finishing a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Integral Studies in Philosophy and Religion and came to USF in 2008.

Tel:(415) 422-6415
mtmiller2@usfca.edu

Mark Miller

Assistant Professor

Mark T. Miller is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. His focus is systematic theology, particularly anthropology, soteriology, political theology, Trinity, and Christology. Additionally, Professor Miller teaches in Catholic Studies, Philippine Studies, and the Saint Ignatius Institute. He received his Ph.D. from Boston College and came to USF in 2008.

Tel:(415) 422-5837
nagarajan@usfca.edu

Vijaya Nagarajan

Associate Professor

Professor Vijaya Nagarajan teaches courses on Hinduism, Religion and Environment, Spiritual Autobiography, and Community Internships. Her scholarship has centered on the multivalent meanings in the kolam, a women's ritual art in southern India. She is currently working on her book, Feeding a Thousand Souls: Women, Ritual and Art in southern India---The Kolam (Oxford University Press). Her other research projects include: On the Languages of the Commons; Tree Temples, Mangroves and Temple Forests; and Twins and Hinduism in the California Diaspora. She has been active in the American Academy of Religion and in the environmental movement in India and the United States.

Tel:(415) 422-5093
nelsonj@usfca.edu

John Nelson

Professor

John Nelson is a Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco.  His areas of specialization are East Asian religions, contemporary Buddhism, cultural anthropology, globalization, secularism, and Asian Studies. Professor Nelson is the author of two books on Japanese Shinto, numerous articles, and a video documentary on Yasukuni Shrine. He is the co-editor of the Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Religions (Brill, 2012) and has recently completed a book titled Experimental Buddhism: Innovation and Activism in Contemporary Japan, to be published by the University of Hawaii Press in fall 2013.  Professor Nelson received a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley and came to USF in 2000.

Tel:(415) 422-5299
vapizzuto@usfca.edu

Vincent Pizzuto

Associate Professor

Vincent Pizzuto, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of New Testament and Chair of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. He received his Ph.D. (STD) in New Testament Exegesis from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium (2003).As a biblical theologian trained primarily in historical-critical methodology, Pizzuto seeks to demonstrate the relationship between New Testament exegesis and Christian theology as they impact some of the most pressing and controversial issues in our Church and society today. Pizzuto has published and presented internationally in the areas of New Testament christology, same-gender marriage, climate change, interreligious dialogue, and contemplative Christian spirituality. Likewise, he has introduced courses into USF's curriculum that incorporate the study of scripture in light of the Christian contemplative tradition and its relevance for contemporary theological concerns. In 2011, Pizzuto was appointed to the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches, where he is engaged in exploring ecumenical relations among Christian churches in the United States. He has appeared as a theological consultant on the National Geographic channel and served as a panelist on NPR. In July 2006, Professor Pizzuto was ordained to the priesthood in the Celtic Christian Church in which he has founded and ministers to a Christian contemplative community, New Skellig, in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to his teaching, Professor Pizzuto offers workshops, retreats and lectures on Christian contemplative practice, biblical spirituality, Cosmic christology, gay/lesbian spirituality and Celtic Christianity.

Tel:415 422 6650
skloot@usfca.edu

Esti Skloot

Adjunct Professor

Adjunct Professor, grew up in Israel where she studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and received her teacher's credentials from the Hebrew Teachers' Seminary. She received her BA in music from Sonoma State University, and her MA in creative writing at the University of San Francisco. Prof. Skloot also directs Ulpan San Francisco, an intensive three-week, multi-level Hebrew-immersion program that is offered to the community each summer.

Tel:(415) 422-5419
twangchuk@usfca.edu

Tsering Wangchuk

Assistant Professor

Tsering Wangchuk is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. His areas of specialization include the intellectual history of Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist Studies, and history of religions. He has published articles with several peer-reviewed journals. He teaches classes on Buddhism and Himalayan religions and cultures. He is also the Blum Chair in Himalayan Studies. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville and came to USF in 2011.