Faculty and Mentor Biographies

Dr. Ali Asani is Professor of Indo-Muslim Languages and Cultures   at Harvard Divinity School. He is the author of several books and articles, including the forthcoming Infidel of love: Exploring Muslim understsandings of Islam, and has worked to improve American understandings of Islam by conducting workshops for high school and college educators.

Eva Abbamonte is the chairperson of the Middle Division Hist­ory Department at the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, New York, where she helped to develop and regularly teaches an 8th grade course entitled “Legacies of the Ancient World,”  that explores the role of religion in ancient societies and to­day’s New York. 

Dr. Morris L. Davis is a historian of American religion, with a specialization in Christianity. He is currently Associate Professor of the History of Christianity and Wesleyan/Methodist Studies at Drew University Theological School.  The author of The Methodist Unification: Christianity and the Politics of Race in the Jim Crow Era, his research and writing explores how conceptions of race were formed within Christianity in the United States.

Dr. Hasia Diner is the Paul and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish history at New York University and Director of the Goldstein Goren Center for American Jewish History.  She is the author of numerous books, including Lower East Side Memories: A Jewish Place in America, Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration, and The Jews of the United States: 1654-2000. 

Sasha Elias received her MA in Early Education from New York University, and has worked as teacher and teacher-trainer in a range of settings.  She taught middle-school English and social studies for nine years, including five years at the Bank Street School for Children, where she helped design a full-year sixth grade course exploring the nature of belief in living religions.

Dr. Charles Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum and a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center.  He is the author or co-author of six books and countless articles on religious liberty, religion and education, and other First Amendment issues.  He has been a leading policy voice in developing consensus guidelines on religious liberty in American public schools.

Dr. Elizabeth McAlister is Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University.  Her book, Rara! Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and its Diaspora, explores the spiritual and political dimensions of Haiti’s Lenten carnival.  She has also produced three CDs of Afro-Haitian religious music, and has worked to educate the American public about Afro-Caribbean religious traditions.

Dr. Annabella Pitkin is Assistant Professor of Religion at Lehigh University.  She has lived and traveled extensively in the Himalayan region, China, India, and Nepal, and has conducted research on Tibetan Buddhist modernity, Buddhist ideals of renunciation, miracle narratives, and biographies.  She is now working on a book titled Beggar Modern: Modernity, Renunciation, and Love in the Life of a 20th Century Tibetan Buddhist Saint. 

Lexi Salomone is the Assistant Director of the Pluralism Project - a research, teaching, and public education initiative at Harvard University, that helps Americans engage with the realities of religious diversity.  Among other responsibilities, she trains teachers and community leaders to use the Pluralism Project’s innovative case-study method for the study of religious pluralism.  She holds an MTS from Harvard Divinity School, as well as a BA in philosophy and religious studies at Colgate University.

Mary Katherine Sheena is a Lead Teacher and Education Consultant for Face to Faith, a project of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.  She supports teachers throughout the US, helping their students to learn essential dialogue skills and engage with global religious diversity. Prior to working with F2F, Mary Katherine taught for six years in the Theology Department at Regis High School in Manhattan.

Dr. Josef Sorett is Assistant Professor of Religion and African-American Studies at Columbia University, and the founding director of Columbia's Center on African American Religion, Sexual Politics, and Social Justice.  His forthcoming book Spirit in the Dark: A Religious History of Racial Aesthetics explores the role of religion in debates about black art and culture.

Kiran Thadani is the Head of Generation Global, a project of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.  She works with secondary school teachers and students in Generation Global (formerly known as Face to Faith) to teach dialogue skills, and promote peer-to-peer learning across religious and cultural lines.  She holds a BA in International Affairs and Sociology from Georgia Tech, and has previously worked on youth development and diversity issues at the Posse Foundation and elsewhere.

Dr. John Thatamanil is Associate Professor of Theology and World Religions at Union Theological Seminary.  His research has explored comparative theology, theologies of religious pluralism, and Hindu-Christian dialogue.  He is the author of The Immanent Divine: God, Creation, and the Human Predicament, and is working on a book titled, Religious Diversity After "Religion": Rethinking Theologies of Religious Pluralism.

Marnie Weir is Director of Public Education and Visitors Services at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where she develops education programs for students of all ages. Marnie earned her MS in Museum Education, with a certificate in elementary education, from Bank Street College of Education, and also holds a BA in Art History from Hobart & William Smith Colleges.

Kathy Wildman Zinger teaches world history at Newton South     High School, in Newton, MA.  Prior to teaching at Newton South, she taught in Fairfax County, VA, where she worked with colleagues to develop a widely emulated full-year world religions course.  She is a frequent speaker and trainer on the study of religion in American public schools.