# People ## expand\_more ## Leadership [### Charles M. Stang ](/people/charles-stang) Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions Professor of Early Christian Thought ![Professor Charles Stang in a dress shirt and gray blazer](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-09/ProfessorStang2_web.jpg?itok=8ZAj7_Ud) [### Francis X. Clooney, S.J. ](/people/francis-x-clooney-sj) Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, 2010-17 Parkman Professor of Divinity Professor of Comparative Theology ![Frank Clooney smiling into the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-09/frankclooney_dec2023.png?itok=y1uG5hIt) ## Advisory Board [### Davíd Carrasco ](/people/david-carrasco)Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America, with a joint appointment with the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences ![David Carrasco looking into the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/Screenshot%202025-08-29%20112018.png?itok=TzDY3Dza) [### Dan McKanan ](/people/dan-mckanan-0)Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association Senior Lecturer in Divinity ![Dan McKannan](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/Dan%20McKannan%20Headshot.jpg?itok=4czWhhJj) [### Kimberley Patton ](/people/kimberley-patton)Professor of the Comparative and Historical Study of Religion ![Kimberley Patton, wearing academic robes, gesturing and looking out into an audience](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/Screenshot%202025-08-29%20112536.png?itok=_j2njBYB) [### Mayra Rivera ](/people/mayra-rivera)Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Religion and Latinx Studies ![Mayra Rivera smiling into the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/Screenshot%202025-08-29%20111723.png?itok=HM0fZ9wy) ## Staff [### Deborah Blackwell ](/people/deborah-blackwell) Communications Specialist ![Deborah Blackwell](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-08/DeborahBlackwell_180x220.jpg?itok=-IwCFPpl) [### Isabel Fredricks ](/people/isabel-fredricks) Web and Admin Assistant (LHT) ![Isabel Fredricks smiling into the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-11/IMG_5569%202.jpeg?itok=fUlbwLtw) [### Sarah Iannotti ](/people/sarah-iannotti-0) Administrative Coordinator ![Sarah Iannotti smiling into the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/hds_cswr/files/si_photo.crop_.1website.jpg?itok=edmYOJt-) [### Bhaswar Khan ](/people/bhaswar-khan) Assistant Director ![Bhaswar Faisal Khan](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-08/Bhaswar%20Faisal%20Khan_Image.JPG?itok=tGQe8p5A) [### Laurie Sedgwick ](/people/laurie-sedgwick) Events Coordinator ![Photo of Laurie Sedgwick smiling into the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/hds_cswr/files/capture_-_0152.sedgwick.400.400.jpg?itok=AG1GQub8) [### Gosia Sklodowska ](/people/gosia-sklodowska) Executive Director ![Gosia E. Sklodowska](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-03/06122023-gosiasklodowska-004_0.jpg?itok=VMnDo4U4) ## Core Researchers [### Adam Bremer-McCollum ](/people/adam-bremer-mccollum) Research Associate, Texts and Translations of Transcendence and Transformation ![Adam Bremer McCollum](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-04/Adam%20Bremer%20McCollum_0.jpg?itok=Sr1TPwkj) [### Russell Powell ](/people/russell-powell) Research Associate, Transcendentalism ![Russell Powell looking into the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/PowellR_headshot.jpg?h=aaa6c43a&itok=dWn6FKzT) [### Aaron Michael Ullrey ](/people/aaron-michael-ullrey) [aaron\_ullrey@hds.harvard.edu](mailto:aaron_ullrey@hds.harvard.edu)Research Associate, Transcendence and Transformation, Writing and Editing Specialist ![Aaron Ullrey](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/hds_cswr/files/aaron_ullrey_400x400.jpg?itok=dnxDOZR3) ## Affiliated Researchers [### Frederique Apffel-Marglin ](/people/frederique-apffel-marglin) Research Affiliate ![Frederique headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-05/Frederique%20Appfel-Maglin.jpeg?itok=Q4YE4Jkp) [### Helen Berger ](/people/helen-berger) Research Affiliate ![Photo of Helen Berger smiling into the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-09/Helen%20Berger_photo.jpg?h=d1453653&itok=C_HPS0_k) [### Phyllis Cole ](/people/phyllis-cole)Research Associate, Transcendentalism Initiative ![Phyllis Cole](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-07/image1.jpg?itok=nHP26UPZ) [### Richard Higgins ](/people/richard-higgins) Associate, Transcendentalism Initiative ![Richard Higgins' Image](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-05/RH2.jpg?h=2baa4184&itok=jCZHsksH) [### John Kaag ](/people/john-kaag) Associate, Transcendentalism Initiative ![John Kaag](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-08/John_Kaag.jpg?itok=iNoOGVHw) [### Nicholas Low ](/people/nicholas-low) Associate, Transcendentalism Initiative ![Nicholas Low headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/hds_cswr/files/nicholaslow_400x400.jpg?itok=2gUHFpEi) [### Megan Marshall ](/people/megan-marshall) Associate, Transcendentalism Initiative ![Megan Marshall looking into the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-03/MM%20author%20photo%20head%20shot%20Sarah%20Putnam.jpg?itok=65sQgv8x) [### Francesco Piraino ](/people/francesco-piraino) Associate ![Francesco Piraino headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/hds_cswr/files/francescopiraino_400x400.jpg?itok=og4MZAJD) [### Sarah Schorr ](/people/sarah-schorr) Artist in Residence ![Sarah Schorr](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-08/Sarah-Schorr-400x400.jpg?itok=meS_Jw-Y) ## Student Assistants [### Alyjan Daya ](/people/alyjan-daya) Student Assistant ![Alyan Daya smiling into the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-04/IMG_2498.JPG?itok=9CHYlV-U) [### Gio DiRusso ](/people/giovanni-dirusso) Student Assistant ![Gio DiRusso headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/hds_cswr/files/giodirusso_400x400.jpg?itok=vRhTJYtQ) [### Charles Zacks ](/people/charles-zacks) Student Assistant ![Charles Zacks' Image](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-05/image%202.jpeg?h=0a606728&itok=f31qZFLY)