Co-Directors
David Krueger, Ph.D.
David Krueger, Ph.D. is the executive director of the Dialogue Institute and co-editor of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies. His areas of expertise include U.S. religious history and religious pluralism. He has frequently served as a scholarly contributor on the Science Channel. He has authored a book and several scholarly articles. He teaches for Temple University’s Department of Religion and Osher Life-long Learning Institute. He has served as an academic and administrative director for several residential and virtual institutes involving students, scholars, and professionals.
Zain Abdullah, Ph.D.
Zain Abdullah, Ph.D. is an award-winning scholar and, recently, an Emeritus Associate Professor of Religion and Society and Islamic Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia. His work has earned him multiple awards and consultancies with the Smithsonian Institution and numerous programs sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the US State Department for topics related to religious pluralism, freedom struggles, the US Civil War, intercultural dialogue, race relations, and art and visual culture from the Colonial Era to the late 19th century.
K-12 Teacher-Facilitators
Tim Hall, Ph.D.
Tim Hall, Ph.D. is a K-12 social studies instructional specialist for Vance County public schools, and serves on the North Carolina Department of Instruction Holocaust Elective Writing Team, and the National Council for the Social Studies Task Force: Revitalizing Civic Learning in Our Schools. Dr. Hall will facilitate two pedagogical sessions on site, prepare prompts for other dialogue and workshop sessions, and review the overall curriculum and resource collection to ensure applicability to K-12 educators.
E. J. Hernández Peña, Ph.D.
E. J. Hernández Peña, Ph.D. teaches history and religion at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. He received a Master of Science in Education from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his doctorate in Religion with a focus on Islamic Studies at Temple University. His research interests include Muslim identity formation, Morisco Studies, Islamophobia, the intellectual history of race and racism, and Muslim minorities in Spain and Latin America.
Grant Calder
Grant Calder has forty-plus years of teaching and developing primary source-based curricula in history and German at the independent secondary and college levels. He teaches at Friends’ Central in Wynnewood, PA, has a particular interest in US History of the colonial and early federal period, and has taught with the Dialogue Institute for more than a decade.
Visiting Lecturers
Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez, Ph.D. is Program Manager for Student Programs at Dartmouth's Center for the Advancement of Learning. She researches US Catholicism and American religious history and authored, The Valiant Woman: The Virgin Mary in Nineteenth-Century American Culture. She is researching a book on religion and mental health.
Anthea Butler, Ph.D.
Anthea Butler, Ph.D. is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Chair of the Religious Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Butler focuses on African American religion and history, race, politics, evangelicalism, gender and sexuality, media, and popular culture. She regularly serves as a commentator on the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, The History Channel, and PBS programming.
Brian Blackmore , Ph.D.
Dr. Brian Blackmore is a Quaker educator, historian, and community-organizer who currently serves as the Director of Quaker Engagement at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), an international Quaker peacemaking and social justice organization. Before coming to AFSC, Brian was the Religious Studies Department Chair at Westtown School, a Quaker day and boarding school in West Chester, PA. Brian has written about best practices for teaching about world religions for the Journal of Interreligious Studies and he led the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education’s (CSEE) Summer Institute for Teaching about World Religions for many years.
John Fea, Ph.D.
John Fea, Ph.D. is a Professor of American History and Chair of the History Department at Messiah College and holds a Ph.D. in American History. He is the author or editor of six books and numerous essays. His area of focus includes US History to 1865, Colonial America, and Pennsylvania History.
Katie Oxx, Ph.D.
Katie Oxx, Ph.D. is an associate professor of religious studies at St. Joseph’s University. She is the author of numerous books and articles and contributed to the documentary film, Urban Trinity: The Story of Catholic Philadelphia. Her expertise in mapping and GIS technology is vital in providing technical support for the project.
Rabbi Lance Sussman, Ph.D.
Rabbi Lance J. Sussman, Ph.D., served as Senior Rabbi at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, PA, from 2001–2022. Now, as an active Rabbi Emeritus, he continues to write, teach, and serve the community at large. Sussman has the distinction of being both a rabbi and a scholar, specializing in American Jewish history. Sussman is a prolific writer and has authored three books in the last three years.
Rev. Dr. John Norwood
Rev. Dr. John Norwood is a Christian clergyman, historian, community leader, and activist working in the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape cultural heritage. He served as the first Principal Justice of the Tribal Supreme Court of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation and the General Secretary of the Alliance of Colonial Era Tribes.
Carol Soltis, Ph.D.
Carol Soltis, Ph.D. is a Project Associate Curator of American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her primary work covers the great Philadelphian, Charles Willson Peale, as an American painter, soldier, scientist, inventor, politician, naturalist, and member of the Sons of Liberty.
Linda K. Wertheimer
Linda K. Wertheimer is a journalist, former Boston Globe education editor, and the author of Faith Ed, Teaching About Religion in an Age of Intolerance. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, USA Today, Time, and many other publications. A frequent public speaker on religion, she has appeared on many shows including CBS programming to discuss religion and democracy.