The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

World Religions in Greater Boston Research Associate

PJ is a candidate in the Master of Education program at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education where he studies healthy learning environments with a focus on the role of background (spirituality, race and culture) and context (family, school and community). Before his arrival at Harvard, he served the Bahá’í Faith at its World Center in Haifa, Israel. Originally from Newton, Massachusetts, PJ received his BA from Tufts University with a major in American Studies. At the Pluralism Project, PJ researches the Bahá’í Faith for World Religions in Greater Boston.

Case Study Research Associate

Vaughn is a Master of Divinity student at Harvard Divinity School focusing on religion in America and African American religious history. He graduated from Dartmouth College with an AB in Religion. Vaughn is interested in the presentation and popular reception of theological discourse in political movements. At the Pluralism Project, Vaughn focuses on researching and developing theological case studies that concern interreligious conflict.

Film Initiative Research Associate

Josh is currently pursuing a Master of Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School, where he focuses in comparative theology. Originally from Las Vegas, he received a BA in Philosophy, with minors in Communication Studies and English, from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. During his first year at Harvard, Josh researched the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries, and the Boston branch of Soka Gakkai International. Josh is now writing an interfaith relations curriculum for implementation in local churches. At the Pluralism Project, Josh is working with film as a medium for advancing pluralism.

Senior Research Associate

Kate received her BA from Connecticut College in 2008 with a double major in Religious Studies and English. She is currently a Master of Theological Studies student at Harvard Divinity School, focusing on Religion, Ethics and Politics. Kate’s interests lie in the intersection of religion and culture, particularly as related to issues of religious accommodation, religion and the media, and sacred space. At the Pluralism Project, Kate manages staff email and assists with Project events and research.

Senior Research Associate

Polly has been active for many years in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, as a lay leader within the United Church of Christ. She currently serves as Vice-President of the Board of Directors for Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries, and as Chair of the Commission for Ecumenism for the Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ. In 2004, she received a Masters in Ecumenical Studies from the University of Geneva for studies at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Religion from Carleton College, in Minnesota, and a Masters of Divinity degree from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA. Her areas of interest include the history of the ecumenical movement, the history of interpretation of the Gospel of John, Jewish-Christian relations, and Boston’s religious history. At the Pluralism Project, Polly conducts research on Christianity for World Religions in Boston, and assists with the Case Study Initiative.

Senior Research Associate

Sarah is a Master of Theological Studies student at Harvard Divinity School focusing on religious studies and education. She graduated from Transylvania University, a small liberal arts college in Lexington, Kentucky, with a degree in Elementary Education and Religion. Sarah is interested in religion as a category of cultural relevance in students’ lives as well as Hindu and Christian religious practices in the United States. At the Pluralism Project, Sarah focuses on the Case Study Initiative and assists with other administrative tasks.

Senior Research Associate

Katie is a Master of Theological Studies student at Harvard Divinity School with a focus on Islamic Studies. She received her BA from Vassar College, with a major in Religion and a minor in Arabic, and studied in Morocco and Egypt. Katie’s academic interests include Muslim identity construction, cultural forms of religious life, and religious orthodoxy in Islam. At the Pluralism Project, Katie will conduct research on other multi-religious societies, provide research assistance to the Director, and will pursue projects on Islam in America.

Senior Research Associate

Kimberly received her Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School in 2009 and her BA in Religious Studies and Political Science from Connecticut College in 2007. She is interested in the role of religion in public life and coverage of religion in the media. As a senior research associate at the Project, she works primarily on Religious Diversity News.

Student Film Affiliate

Lina Verchery is a Frank Knox Fellow, a Master of Divinity candidate in Buddhist Studies at Harvard Divinity School and a fellow at the Harvard Film Studies Center. She has been active in the area of interfaith outreach for several years, working on the “Woodenfish Program” in Taiwan since 2005, having founded the Montreal Interfaith Outreach Initiative that same year with a grant from Canadian federal government and having acted as director of the “Youth and Religion” branch of the global congress “World’s Religions After September 11th” in 2006. Lina also makes films that explore religious issues, having most recently wrote and directed La Trappe/The Trap, a bilingual documentary short about Buddhist monks and Acadian lobster fishermen on Cape Breton island for the National Film Board of Canada, which won “Best French-Canadian Short Film” at the Festival International du Cinéma Francophone en Acadie (FICFA) in 2008. Lina co-wrote and co-directed De Midi à Minuit, a documentary short about cab drivers in Montréal which won first prize in the Alliance Française’s Concours Senghor: a fully-financed trip to the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Her current work, undertaken with the support of the Pluralism Project and the Harvard Film Studies Center, is a theological exploration of God and religion through the eyes of the homeless congregants of Cambridge’s Outdoor Church.