Dr. Javier Viera is the President (2021) and Professor of Education and Leadership at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Dr. Viera is the first person of color to hold the office of president in the seminary’s 168-year history. He has served as Dean, Provost and Professor of Pastoral Studies at Drew University Theological Seminary; as executive minister of Christ Church in New York City; and as chair of his local Human Rights Commission. He is an ordained elder in the New York Conference of The United Methodist Church. Other professional activities include the Wabash Center Advisory Committee, the University Senate and Commission on Theological Education of The United Methodist Church, the Religious Education Association, and the American Academy of Religion. His scholarly interests center on inter-religious dialogue and how learning occurs across religious and ideological differences; adult learning and development, particularly Freirean dialectics and pedagogy; and the history of Latin America, particularly revolutionary and anti-colonial movements in the Hispanic Caribbean. Dr. Viera holds a PhD in Education from Columbia University Teachers College, an STM from Yale University, an MDiv from Duke University, and a BA from Florida Southern College. In 2020, he received the Yale Divinity School Distinction in Theological Education award and is currently completing a PhD in Latin American studies/history from the Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico.

Dr. Alejandro Nava is a Professor of Religious Studies and Classics at the University of Arizona (UA). He received his MA and PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago. His first teaching position was at Seattle University, before joining the faculty at UA, where he teaches courses that include 'Love and World Religions,' 'The Question of God,' 'Religion and Culture in the Southwest,' 'Rap, Culture, and God' and 'Religion in Latin America.' Dr. Nava is the author of The Mystical and Prophetic Thought of Simone Weil and Gustavo Gutiérrez: Reflections on the Mystery and Hiddenness of God (SUNY Press, 2001); Wonder and Exile in the New World (Penn State University Press, 2013); In Search of Soul: Hip-Hop, Literature and Religion (University of California Press, 2017); and Street Scriptures: Between God and Hip-Hop (University of Chicago Press, 2022).

Dr. Luis G. Pedraja is President of Quinsigamond Community College (QCC). He was born in Cuba, and throughout his career, has focused on Latino perspectives, and has published many books and articles exploring how understanding language and culture can promote intercultural dialogue and tolerance. He holds a BA from Stetson University and a PhD in Philosophy and Religion from the University of Virginia. He has been on faculty at the University of Puget Sound and Southern Methodist University, where he also served as a division chair and faculty senator. Additionally, he served as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean at the Memphis Theological Seminary and as Vice President for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. He also led the first program to grant American accreditation to foreign universities and has provided guidance to universities in South America, Asia, and Europe on achieving American higher education standards. Additionally, he has served as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Antioch University in Los Angeles and Interim Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs for Peralta Community College District in California. Dr. Pedraja serves on multiple boards in the region, the state, and the nation, including: United Way, Latino Education Institute, Masshire Central Region Workforce Board, Worcester Regional Research Bureau, and Co-Chair of the Mayoral Commission for Latino Advancement and Education. He was recently appointed to represent the Massachusetts community colleges in the Governor’s newly formed Healthcare Collaborative and serves on the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Commission on Institutional Infrastructure & Technology. Dr. Pedraja lives in Worcester with his wife and daughter.

Gene Fowler is a writer-performer based in Texas. Born into a Dallas showbiz family in 1950, he began performing and writing for theater during the Lyndon Johnson administration. His professional appearances include the White Elephant Saloon (Fort Worth), Contemporary Arts Museum (Houston), the San Antonio Rodeo, Downtown Center for the Arts (Albuquerque), the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Nashville Network. He has written on such subjects as the excavation of a 17th-century French shipwreck on the Texas coast, Ernest Tubb, and rattlesnake folk medicine for Texas Highways, True West, Southwest Contemporary and numerous other publications. In addition to Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves (with Bill Craford; Texas Monthly Press, 1987), his books include Crazy Water: The Story of Mineral Wells and Other Texas Health Resorts (Texas Christian University Press, 1991); Mystic Healers & Medicine Shows: Blazing Trails to Wellness in the Old West and Beyond (Ancient City Press, 1997); Glen Rose, Texas (Somervell County Historical Commission, 2002); Mavericks: A Gallery of Texas Characters (University of Texas Press, 2008); and Metro Music – Celebrating a Century of the Trinity River Groove (TCU Press, 2021). See his illustrated talk, “Diamond King Medicine Show,” on YouTube.

Dr. Theresa L. Torres, a second-generation Mexican American, is Associate Professor of Sociology and Race, Ethnic and Gender Studies (REGS) in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). Her areas of expertise are Latinx Studies (in the United States, particularly Kansas City), Gender Studies, Immigration Studies, Ethnic Studies, Religious Studies, and Anthropology. Using ethnographic field studies, her current research is on the impact of religion and spirituality in the lives of Latina Leaders and the role of Latinas in religious and civic organizations. She holds a BA in Secondary Education from Benedictine College; an MA in Pastoral Studies in Mexican American Culture and Theology from Boston College; and a PhD in Religious Studies, Theology, and cognate in Anthropology and Latino Studies from Catholic University. Dr. Torres is the author of The Paradox of Latina Religious Leadership in the Catholic Church: Las Guadalupanas of Kansas City (Palgrave MacMillan, 2013), a book on Latina spirituality and resilience based on interviews of Latina leaders. 

Dr. Theresa A. Yugar is a Peruvian American scholar in religion whose scholarly focus is on women, ecology, and climate change on a global level. She is a graduate of Harvard University with a master’s degree in Feminist Theology and has a PhD from Claremont Graduate University in the field of Women Studies in Religion. Her research interests include creating counter narratives in course curriculum, reclaiming the native indigenous cosmology within a Buen Vivir ecological framework, reimagining Andean colonial frameworks, and reflecting on 17th century Novohispaña Latina woman Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in a contemporary U.S. context. 

Dr. Yugar is the Chief Editor for the book, Valuing Lives, Healing Earth: Religion, Gender, and Life on Earth (Peeters, Belgium, 2021), which focuses on women who embody commitments to healing the earth rendered vulnerable by problematic social systems in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. She is also the author of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Feminist Reconstruction of Biography and Text (Wipf and Stock, 2014). She is the scriptwriter for the TED-Ed Lessons Worth Sharing "History’s Worst Nun," which has been viewed nine million times since its publication in November 2019. Dr. Yugar has also been recognized by The Peruvian Consulate, in Lima, with a diploma for organizing the Santo Niño de la Mascaipacha (Holy Child of Cuzco) cultural event at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, in Los Angeles, which reclaims the “ancestral cult of the Peruvian Andes.”

Bill Crawford was born in New York City and attended the prep school Phillips Academy, Andover, and Harvard, where he received his undergraduate degree in the Comparative Study of Religion. He also earned an MBA in management from the University of Texas - Austin and worked briefly in the oil industry. For more than thirty years, Crawford lived in Austin, Texas where he worked as a media producer, writer, ghost writer and editor. He is a frequent contributor to the Austin Chronicle, Texas Monthly, and a number of other publications. Crawford has written or co-written more than a dozen books, including The United States Border Patrol (Putnam, 1965); Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves (with Gene Fowler; Texas Monthly Press, 1987); Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire (with Joe Nick Patoski; Little, Brown, 1993); Cerealizing America: The Unsweetened Story of American Breakfast Cereal (with Scott Bruce; Faber & Faber, 1995); Texas Death Row: Executions in the Modern Era (Longstreet Press, 2000); Austin: A Pictorial History (American Historical Press, 2001); All American: The Rise and Fall of Jim Thorpe (Wiley, 2003); and Please Pass the Biscuits, Pappy (University of Texas Press, 2004). Several of his books have been optioned by the film industry. He has also ghost written or edited more than three dozen other publications, including memoirs, business histories, and self-help books. Crawford is the creator of The Dad Show, a talk-radio show for parents that ran for fifteen years on Austin radio and was funded by Child Incorporated, a manager of Head Start programs. Additionally, he spent five years working as a volunteer court-appointed special advocate for children in foster care with the organization CASA of Travis County. He worked on The Texas Quiz Show, a game show about Texas history for seventh-grade students who take Texas history in school. Crawford has also appeared as a humorous commentator on Fox News Channel, Fox and Friends, MSNBC, and C-SPAN, as well as Westwood I radio networks and dozens of other radio stations across the country. Crawford currently lives in a small town in Nuevo León, Mexico, where he writes creative non-fiction, swims, rides his bike, and drinks tequila.

The grandson of agricultural workers and day laborers, Danny Ballon-Garst was born and raised in San Diego, California, along the San Ysidro/Tijuana border, where his dad pastored an Apostolic church. As a scholar, Ballon-Garst is interested in studying the relationship between religion and social change, and he pursues his research questions primarily through a historical lens. In his doctoral studies, Ballon-Garst is conducting a historical study of black and brown queer Pentecostals and Evangelicals in the United States in the twentieth century, drawing connections from these historical movements and actors to current queer religious movements, including queer transnational religious movements in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Prior to pursuing a career in academia, he practiced law at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and at a corporate law firm in Los Angeles. Ballon-Garst holds BA and JD degrees from the University of Southern California, and an MTS from Harvard Divinity School.

Rebecca Rhodes Blackburn is a PhD student in Biblical Hermeneutics at Chicago Theological Seminary. Her research centers contemporary hermeneutical strategies in biblical studies, including womanist, queer, mujerista, and feminist approaches. Blackburn cultivates tools for self-critical engagement of the biblical text in historically centered Christian communities. In addition to her research, she is involved in various projects related to interreligious dialogue and cooperation. She currently serves as a fellow for the Tri-Faith Initiative’s inaugural Emerging Clergy Seminar. Before her PhD work, Blackburn worked in higher education, promoting student success and community thriving. She has experience teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Blackburn holds a Bachelor’s in social work and a Master’s in spiritual formation and leadership; these degrees work together to keep her attuned to strategies that support the material, social, and spiritual conditions of the communities to which she belongs. Blackburn is a member of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and is Program Operations Manager at Interfaith America. Outside of her studies, she enjoys exploring Chicago on foot and getting lost in good stories.

Rev. Dr. José Francisco Morales Torres is Associate Professor of Comparative Theology & Philosophy at Chicago Theological Seminary. As a historical and comparative theologian, he places historical voices into conversation with historically marginalized voices, within and beyond the Christian tradition, offering radical re-articulations of the affirmations of faith for today’s realities. His research interests include: comparative and contextual approaches to historical theology; the development of Christian doctrines; Jewish-Muslim-Christian encounters in medieval philosophy and theology; liberation theologies; and the history of Latin American and Caribbean philosophy. Thoroughly interdisciplinary in his approach, Rev. Dr. Morales weaves together comparative theology, history of thought, and philosophy (especially existentialism and phenomenology). His most recent book is Wonder as a New Starting Point for Theological Anthropology: Opened by the World (Lexington Books, 2023), which proposes a new theological anthropology informed by the experience of wonder. Rev. Dr. Morales is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). His ministry experience is broad, including congregational pastorate, advocacy, community organizing, wider denominational leadership, and education. He holds a BA from Judson University, an MDiv from McCormick Theological Seminary, and a PhD from the Claremont School of Theology. Rev. Dr. Morales is married to Rev. Daphne M. Gascot Arias, also an ordained Disciples of Christ minister, who is currently working on her PhD in Hebrew Bible. They share life and laughs with their daughters Daphne Magnolia and Yael Marie.

Dr. Dominick S. Hernández is Associate Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He teaches on an array of topics, including biblical wisdom, ancient Near Eastern literature, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Previously, he taught at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (where he directed the seminary’s Online Hispanic Program), Moody Bible Institute, and Israel College of the Bible. Dr. Hernández holds a BS in Kinesiology from West Chester University of Pennsylvania; an MA in Physical Education from the Teachers College at Columbia University, where he focused on curriculum and teaching in the biobehavioral sciences; an MDiv focused on Old Testament/Hebrew Bible from Princeton Theological Seminary; and a PhD in Hebrew Bible at Bar-Ilan University (Ramat Gan, Israel), where he was trained in Semitic Philology. He also received ministerial training at the Calvary Chapel School of Ministry in Costa Mesa, CA. During this time, he was ordained at Calvary Chapel Voyage in Fountain Valley, CA and served as the congregation’s youth pastor. Dr. Hernández is the author of Proverbs: Pathways to Wisdom (Abingdon, 2020), Illustrated Job in Hebrew (GlossaHouse, 2020), Engaging the Old Testament: How to Read Biblical Narrative, Poetry, and Prophecy Well (Baker, 2023), as well as forthcoming commentaries on Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (Cascade) and Song of Songs (Eerdmans). He is committed to the church, having served in English, Spanish, and Hebrew-language ministries in the United States and abroad. Learn more about Dr. Hernández at: domshernandez.com.

Emmy Pérez, Texas Poet Laureate 2020, has lived in the Texas borderlands for 24 years and is originally from Santa Ana, California. She is a graduate of Columbia University (MFA) and the University of Southern California (BA). ​Pérez is currently a full professor of creative writing at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV)–formerly University of Texas-Pan American–where she also serves as department chair, teaches in the MFA and undergraduate creative writing programs, and holds the Dr. Robert S. Nelsen Endowed Professorship in Mexican American Studies (2021-2024). For five years, Pérez held various administrative positions—interim director, associate director, and acting director—with UTRGV's Center for Mexican American Studies (B3 Institute), and she is an affiliate faculty member of the Mexican American Studies academic program. ​Over the years, she has also served as a creative-writing workshop facilitator in community-based programs and adult and juvenile detention centers; she has taught writing at three border region HSI institutions, beginning at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and El Paso Community College. 

Pérez is the author of the poetry collections With the River on Our Face (University of Arizona Press, 2016) and Solstice (Swan Scythe Press, 2003, 2011, 2019). Her latest collection, Paper america: New and Selected Poems  (TCU Press, 2025) is forthcoming. Her poetry has also been published with the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series and Split this Rock's The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database, and appeared in journals such as Prairie Schooner, North American Review, Indiana Review, and Pilgrimage Magazine; and anthologies such as Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology (University of Georgia Press), Other Musics: New Latina Poetry (University of Oklahoma Press), Orange County: A Literary Field Guide (Heyday), ​What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy & Outrage (Northwestern U. Press), The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry (University of Arizona Press), and A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line (University of Iowa Press).

Pérez is the recipient of a 2022 United States Artist Fellowship, a 2020 Poets Laureate Fellowship with the Academy of American Poets while serving as Texas Poet Laureate 2020. Other honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown; the inaugural Modesta Avila Award from LibroMobile in her hometown Santa Ana, the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation Award; and residencies at MacDowell, the Ucross Foundation, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Since 2008, she has been a member of the Macondo Writers' Workshop for socially engaged writers and was part of the inaugural cohort of CantoMundo fellows in 2010. In El Paso, she was a member of the Women Writers' Collective and, in 2017, co-founded Poets Against Walls writing collective in the Rio Grande Valley. She also served as the 2021 Consulting Artist-in-Residence with UT San Antonio's Democratizing Racial Justice Mellon Foundation grant in collaboration with the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. 

Dr. Jeff Ming Liou is the National Director of Theological Formation for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, where he received his PhD in Theology and Culture.  Dr. Liou has written papers and contributed book chapters on race and justice, Asian American Christianity, theological ethics, and political theology. He is the co-author (with Robert Chao Romero) of Christianity and Critical Race Theory: A Faithful and Constructive Conversation (Baker Academic, 2023). Ordained in the Christian Reformed Church of North America, Dr. Liou has served as a campus minister, pastor, and university chaplain. 

Dr. Robert Chao Romero is an attorney, ordained minister, and faith-rooted community organizer. He is also associate professor in the UCLA departments of Chicana/o, Central American, and Asian American Studies in Los Angeles, California and as director of the Brown Church Initiative at Fuller Theological Seminary. Dr. Romero earned his PhD from UCLA in Latin American history and his Juris Doctor from UC Berkeley. His research explores the little-known history of Asian-Latinos, as well as the role of Christianity in social justice movements in Latin America and among U.S. Latinas/os. Dr. Romero is the author of several books, including The Chinese in Mexico, 1882-1940 (The University of Arizona Press, 2012); Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity (IVP Academic, 2020); and co-author of Christianity and Critical Race Theory: A Faithful and Constructive Conversation (Baker Academic, 2023). The Chinese in Mexico received the Latina/o Studies book award from the Latin American Studies Association, and Brown Church received the InterVarsity Press Readers’ Choice Award for best academic title. 

The Rev. Francisco J. García is a PhD candidate in Theological Studies, Ethics and Action at Vanderbilt University in the Graduate Department of Religion, and a Graduate Research Fellow at the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt Divinity School.

A Chicano from Los Angeles, born to Mexican immigrant parents, he also serves as an Assistant Chaplain at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Chapel in Nashville, Tennessee. Informed by his work in community, faith, and labor organizing, The Rev. García’s doctoral project entails developing theologies/ecclesiologies of organizing—rooted in Latinx, Christian, and interfaith liberation traditions—reimagining the church as a social movement that challenges the pressing structural injustices of our time and constructs alternatives.

Nancy Gavilanes is an accomplished writer, a gifted communicator, and a passionate evangelist and Bible school instructor who loves to encourage, empower, and inspire women of diverse backgrounds to walk by abounding faith. She has been on short-term missions trips to five countries. Gavilanes has hosted several events and conferences and has spoken to numerous groups, including to Christians working at the United Nations and students at Nyack College. She has a master’s degree in journalism from New York University and has authored five Christian-living books and devotionals. Her new book is God-Given Dreams: 6 Ways to Live Your Divine Purpose (NavPress, 2024). She has also written for The New York Times, the SpiritLed Woman’s and Charisma’s magazine websites, among other publications. Gavilanes is currently the host of the Abounding Faith for Today podcast and a contributing writer for Our Daily Bread Ministries.  She attends Times Square Church in New York.

Luz E. Herrera is a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Experiential Education at Texas A&M School of Law. As dean, Herrera promotes entrepreneurial efforts to address the access to civil justice gap. Before entering academia, Herrera ran her own practice and founded Community Lawyers, Inc., a non-profit organization that encourages access to affordable legal services and develops innovative opportunities for legal professionals in underserved communities. These experiences have influenced her scholarship, which promotes legal “low bono” service-delivery models and post-graduate support programs for lawyers starting their own law firms. Herrera currently serves as a special advisor for the American Bar Association’s Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities. Prior to her current position, Herrera was the Assistant Dean for Clinical Education, Experiential Learning and Public Service at UCLA School of Law. She has also taught as a visiting clinical professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, as an assistant professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, as a visiting professor at Chapman University School of Law, and as a Senior Clinical Fellow at Harvard Law School. In her various academic positions, Herrera encouraged innovation and promoted access to justice through experiential learning. Her honors include an Academic Leadership Award from the Hispanic National Bar Foundation and Notre Dame Law School’s Graciela Olivarez Award. Herrera holds an AB in Political Science from Stanford University and a JD from Harvard Law School, where she served on the Editorial Board of the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

Willian Olmos lives Christian values ​​and the Gospel, and is a follower of the spirituality of Brother Carlos de Foucauld. He is a researcher of Venezuelan pre-Columbian art. He also creates artistic paintings, crafts, and percussion instruments. In Venezuela, Olmos is a primary school teacher in the ​​visual arts at a state school and is a promoter of culture, reading, and writing. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Education, with honorable mention in the Visual Arts, a Master's degree in Curriculum Development, specializing in Participatory Research for Local Development, and a doctorate in Educational Sciences. From 2018 to 2023, he served as coordinator of the Charles de Foucauld Secular Fraternity of the Americas and is a member of the Charles de Foucauld Secular Fraternity's international team. Olmos lives in Venezuela with his wife Elsy Mayela Seijas.

Elsy Mayela Seijas is committed to the values of the Gospel and the spirituality of Saint Carlos de Foucauld. She writes stories, designs mini gardens, and makes jewelry. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Education, with a specialty in participatory research for Local Development, and a doctorate in Educational Sciences. She works as a researcher in participation methodologies and accompaniment of training processes. In 2002, she retired from Venezuela’s National Institute of Prevention, Health, and Occupational Safety, having served as a promoter and trainer in occupational health. From 2018 to 2023, she served as the coordinator of the Charles de Foucauld Secular Fraternity of the Americas and is a member of the Charles de Foucauld Secular Fraternity’s international team. She lives in Venezuela with her husband Willian Olmos.

Dr. María Carrión holds a joint appointment in Religion and Comparative Literature at Emory University, where she has organized several conferences, including "Spain Before Spain. Encounters Between Muslims, Jews, and Christians (1500-1700).” She formerly held a Visiting Professorship at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (UPRRP), where she also served as Dean of Graduate Studies at the School of Humanities. Dr. Carríon specializes in the cultural and religious production of Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries, with a particular focus on questions of drama, law, and architecture. She has also published articles and translations on the literature and culture of the Hispanic Caribbean. Her work analyzes religious and cultural matters in the many worlds of latinidad, ranging from Andalusi gardens and religious branding, to devotion and the sacred. Dr. Carrión has presented her work in the US, Spain, South America, Romania, and the former Yugoslavia, and her essays have been published in the US, Spain, France, and South America. Her books include Subject Stages. Marriage, Theatre, and the Law in Early Modern Spain (Toronto University Press, 2010) and Arquitectura y cuerpo en la figura autorial de Teresa de Jesús [Architecture and Body in the Authorial Figure of Teresa de Jesús] (Anthropos, 1994). She is currently working on a digital monograph exploring correspondences of nature and belief in 16th-century European dried gardens. Dr. Carrión holds a BA from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez; two MA degrees from University of Tennessee, Knoxville and one from Yale University, where she also earned an MPhil and a PhD.