Student Alumni Profiles

I stumbled into the field of religious studies when I was a sophomore at GSU and haven’t looked back since! Now I am an assistant professor of religion at Boston University, where I teach courses on religion in the U.S., religion and medicine, and theory and methods. I recently published my first book, After the Wrath of God: AIDS, Sexuality, and American Religion (Oxford University Press, 2015). I think back often to my time at GSU and about how lucky I was to be a student in the religious studies program.

I joined Emory University in 2010 as the Director of Information Technology in the Woodruff Health Sciences Center.  I design, implement, and maintain the enterprise applications and IT infrastructure of the center.  My experience spans over 20 years in the field of information technology in both higher education and corporate sectors. The Religious Studies program gave me a great appreciation for viewing religion both in practice and as a belief system.

I am the Director of Tutor Services at Applerouth Tutoring, a national organization that works helps high school students study and apply to colleges throughout the world. I found my love of teaching while in the Religious Studies program at Georgia State and went from there to get a Masters at Teaching from Georgia State as well, and currently use those skills to train hundreds of teachers and tutors yearly on how to help students want to learn. I still get to work with students studying history every year, and enjoy working knowledge I learned while in the Religious Studies program into the lessons.

Currently, I am working in Fes, Morocco at Amicitia American School, as the Head of the Debate team to over 70 International Students as well as teaching Introduction and advanced Philosophy. Clearly my MA degree has helped me get to where I am. I will soon be moving to Dubai, where I am currently looking for a job, but am extremely certain that I can find a teaching job that will let me teach and study religion, philosophy, current events, critical thinking, politics and everything that Georgia State taught me to love.

I enjoyed the M.A. program tremendously. It was exciting to read and discuss fresh perspectives within this field. I now have a greater academic understanding of ways to examine religion, and I feel well-poised to use this knowledge going forward, personally and professionally.

I graduated in 2010, and I helped start Hess Academy in 2012. We are a private progressive school for students PreK – 8. I teach yoga and science for all grades. Teaching your children is the most fun and demanding job I’ve ever had and l love almost every minute of it. My MA in religious studies provided me with many invaluable critical thinking skills and experiences that enable me to help my students learn and develop in ways well beyond their years. Because my work was centered around cognitive science and religion I gained insight into the workings of the brain that help me deeply understand children and how they learn. I’m grateful every day for the time I spent at Georgia State in religious studies.