The Catholic University of America

STRS Welcomes New Faculty

STRS is delighted to welcome four new faculty members for the upcoming year.

Drs. Christopher Ruddy and Joseph White join the faculty as tenure-track associate professors.

Dr. Ruddy was formerly associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and also taught at St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota. A graduate of Yale College and Harvard Divinity School, he received his doctorate in systematic theology from the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of two books, The Local Church: Tillard and the Future of Catholic Ecclesiology and Tested in Every Way: The Catholic Priesthood in Today's Church (both Herder & Herder). He writes regularly for America and Commonweal, and his articles and reviews have appeared in The Catholic Historical Review, Christian Century, Horizons, Josephinum Journal of Theology, Logos, Origins, and Worship. His theological interests include ecclesiology, ecumenism, Vatican II, la nouvelle théologie, and the relationship of Christianity and culture. New York natives, he and his wife, Deborah, have three sons, Peter, Luke, and John.

Dr. White, a native and longtime resident of Indianapolis, specializes in American Catholic history. He holds the B.A. (Indiana University), M.A. (Butler University), Ph.D. (University of Notre Dame), and M.L.S. (Indiana University). He was a faculty fellow at the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, University of Notre Dame, 1981-1988, working in the area of the history of Catholic seminary education. He is the author of eight monographs on American Catholic Church History including the award winning The Diocesan Seminary in the United States. (University of Notre Dame Press). His books and articles have addressed seminary education, dioceses, parishes, religious communities, immigrants' religious life, and historic religious sites. He has been associate editor of the U.S. Catholic Historian since 1986. In addition to having been at CUA as visiting associate professor last year Dr. white had been an instructor at Marian College (Indianapolis), St. Meinrad School of Theology, and Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis. With wife Rebecca he enjoys parenting three young sons. Dr. White joins the faculty as an associate professor.

Dr. Patricia Powers is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago, having attained her PhD this past May. Specializing in Christian Ethics and particularly bioethics, her dissertation was entitled, "This Kind of Life: Toward an Ethic of Vulnerability for Bioethics." She has taught classes on various subjects including bioethics, scripture, and history. Dr. Powers also served from 2006-2007 as a post-doctoral research scholar at the Center for Genetic Research Ethics and Law, Case Western Reserve University where her research focused on "Protecting Human Subjects in Genetic Enhancement" and "Controlling Human Aging: Alternative Rationales and Implications." Her combination of theory and practice in the biomedical field will be a unique asset to the students in CUA's School of Nursing.

In addition, we have a new teaching fellow joining us as part of CUA's newly created First Year Experience. A brand new initiative at the University, the First Year Experience supports incoming Freshmen through their first two years of study here in learning communities of eighteen and as they take courses together in Philosophy (two semester), English and in the STSR Course (second semester) "Faith Seeking Understanding." Dr. Margaret Schreiber recently received her STD in liturgical studies from STRS. She also has a Doctor of Ministry degree in Liturgical Spirituality and Catechesis from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. For four years she was an instructor at Springfield College in Illinois, teaching New Testament, Old Testament, and World Religions. Her research interests include Christian Initiation Rites in Non-Roman Liturgical Sources.