This Portfolio site is intended to serve as a resource for students and faculty of the DU/Iliff Joint PhD Program in the Study of Religion. 

Faculty Director:

Dr. Mark K. George

303-765-3168

mgeorge@iliff.edu 

Assistant Faculty Director:

Dr. Sandra Dixon

303-871-2753

sandra.dixon@du.edu

Program Manager: 

Dr. Rhonda Eaker

303-765-3136

rhonda.eaker@du.edu

The JDP is managed by the leadership of both the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology.  On the DU side the program reports to Dr. Keith Miller, Associate Provost, Graduate Education.  On the Iliff side, the program reports to Dr. Boyung Lee, Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty. 

The DU/Iliff Joint Ph.D Committee (the JDP Committee) serves as the main governing body of the Joint Ph.D. Program.  This Committee makes decisions regarding curricular matters, certain JDP petitions, program assessment, and program policies.  

The committee members for 2022/23 are as follows:

Dr. Antony Alumkal (Iliff Rep)
Dr. Lynn Schofield Clark (DU Rep)
Dr. Nader Hashemi (DU Rep - winter, spring 2023)
Dr. Marco Nathan (DU Rep - fall 2022 only)
Dr. Eric Smith (Iliff Rep)

 

Dr. Sandra Dixon (Staff Rep)
Dr. Rhonda Eaker (Staff Rep)
Dr. Mark George (Staff Rep)

 

Dr. Boyung Lee (Iliff Co-Dean)
Dr. Keith Miller (DU Co-Dean)

2022/23 JDP Meetings

JDP meetings are on Fridays from 1:00 – 3:00 pm.

Dear JDP Community, 

 As so many have expressed so poignantly over the past week, we add to the chorus our grief, pain, and strong sense of injustice in the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others. Our hearts go out to their families and friends. Black Lives Matter!

We also recognize the pain of a nation that seems as if it might finally face its racism as a thing of the present as well as the past. This hits close to home, for racism is a part of every American institution, from our political, social, and economic systems to our educational system and to the Joint Doctoral Program. As scholars and teachers for whom social justice and public good are the watchwords of our particular institutions, we hold ourselves accountable to do more. Speaking our solidarity with our students, friends, colleagues, and alumni of color must be only the first act.  

What more can we do as individuals and as a community to change the history of hatred, bigotry and bias that is woven into the fabric of American life? As the Black Lives Matter website urges, Take Action:

1. stand up in protest
2. vote for candidates who will take action and hold them accountable
3. engage in scholarship for social change and justice
4. teach in ways that create conditions in which students of color thrive
5. humbly listen and learn from people of color
6. write our senators, congress people, governor, mayors, and council members to bring about change
7. educate ourselves to become better allies and employ the support of allies when possible
8. offer tangible support and comfort to those suffering
9. encourage friends, family, and acquaintances to take action with us
10. in the words of Fr. Bryan Massingale, a black Catholic priest and theologian at Fordham University, “Finally, pray.Yes, racism is a political issue and a social divide. But at its deepest level, racism is a soul sickness.” Without neglecting any other action, activate whatever spiritual power you access through whatever means you normally employ.

In deep sorrow and unshaken determination,

Annette Stott, Mark George, Rhonda Eaker