Meet Our Co-Conveners
Director, Religious Studies Program
jkilde@umn.edu
Jeanne Kilde, a cultural historian of religion in the United States, holds a Ph.D. in American Studies. Her research focuses primarily on religious architecture and space although she has also written on the history of religion and higher education in America in Nature and Revelation: A History of Macalester College (University of Minnesota Press 2010). Kilde directs the Religious Studies Program and serves as its Director of Undergraduate Studies as well. She teaches courses on theory and method in the study of religion and on the intersections between gender and religion.
Virajita Singh
Associate Vice Provost, Office of Equity and Diversity
Senior Research Fellow/Adjunct Assistant Professor Center for Sustainable Building Research
singh023@umn.edu
Virajita Singh is Associate Vice Provost in the Office of Equity and Diversity (OED) where she brings her expertise in design thinking, and partnership studies to catalyze and support equity and diversity work of colleges and other academic units at the University of Minnesota. Trained as an architect, Virajita is also Senior Research Fellow and faculty member in the College of Design and the Center for Sustainable Building Research. Inspired by her long-standing interest in the topic of religion, Virajita has taught architecture courses on campus and as study abroad experiences that explore the intersection of architecture, environment, religion and religious spaces.
Our Collaborators
| Bhushan Aryal | Assistant Professor, Writing Studies | UMN-Crookston | |
| David Beard | Professor, Rhetoric | UMN-Duluth | |
| Richard Bohannon | Assistant Professor, Individualized and Interdisciplinary Study | Metropolitan State University | |
| Penny Edgell | Professor, Sociology | UMN-TC | |
| Kirsten Fischer | Associate Professor, History | UMN-TC | |
| Caity Frail | Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical Care and Health Systems | UMN-TC | |
| Katharine Gerbner | Associate Professor, History | UMN-TC | |
| Aisha Ghani | Assistant Professor, Anthropology and Religious Studies | UMN-TC | |
| David Gore | Professor, Communication | UMN-Duluth | |
| Jennifer Gunn | Associate Professor, History of Medicine; IAS Director | UMN-TC | |
| Mark Hulsether | Professor, Religion | University of Tennessee, Knoxville | |
| Cristina Lopez | Educational Technologies Consultant, LATIS | UMN-TC | |
| Robert Osburn | Executive Director | Wilberforce Academy | |
| Miray Philips | Graduate Student, Sociology | UMN-TC | |
| Travis Pickell | Associate Director of University Engagement | Anselm House | |
| Julie Rashid | Librarian | UMN-TC | |
| Julie Showers | Director, Office of Conflict Resolution | UMN-TC | |
| Susannah Smith | Managing Director, IAS | UMN-TC | |
| Artyom Tonoyan | Adjunct faculty member, Institute for Global Studies | UMN-TC | |
| Elizabethada Wright | Professor, Writing Program | UMN-Duluth |
Our Partners and Funders
The IAS provided generous funding for RPUC in 2019-20 along with following funding in 2020-21. Staff members Brianna Menning and Abby Travis have helped with innumerable tasks, and IAS managing director Susannah Smith is a regular member of the collaborative.
The Religious Studies Program has provided staff support and additional funding.
The Office for Equity and Diversity and its Institute for Diversity, Equity and Advocacy (IDEA) provided the 2020-21 grant award for the “Religious Diversity on the UMN Campus: Connecting Student Insights and Advancing Faculty Conversations: initiative of the RPUC.
The Digital Arts, Sciences, & Humanities (DASH) program supports faculty and students looking to employ digital methodologies and technologies in their teaching, research, and creative work, and provides support for RPUC’s website.
