Alumni

Alphabetical by last name.

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z
David W. Machacek
  • BA, Theology, Texas Lutheran College, 1990.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1993.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1998.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Sociology of Religion.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Processes of Social Influence and the Development of Nontraditional Religiosity: Prior Socialization Reconsidered.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Soka Gakkai in America: Assimilation and Conversion.”
  • Current Employment: Financial Services Specialist, Independent Capital Management, Camarillo.
Patrick Mahaffey
  • BA, Religion, Western Michigan University, 1974.
  • MA, Education, Western Michigan University, 1977.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1983.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1988.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Philosophy of Religion, Indian Philosophy, Western Religious Thought, Religion in America.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Religious Pluralism and the Question of Truth: An Inquiry into the Philosophy of Religious Worldviews.”
  • Current Employment: Core Faculty and Associate Chair, Mythological Studies Program, Pacifica Graduate Institute.
Christel J. Manning
  • BA, Economics, Tufts University, 1984.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1991.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1995.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Women in Religion, American Religion, Sociology of Religion.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Towards a Reconceptualization of Conversion to Syncretistic Religion: The Case of Modern American Paganism.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Coming to Terms with Feminism: A Study of Evangelical Protestant, Conservative Catholic, and Orthodox Jewish Women.”
  • Current Employment: Professor, Philosophy & Religious Studies, Sacred Heart University.
Rhonda Parks Manville
  • BA, Journalism, San Francisco State University, 1983.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2000.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Religion in America, Metaphysical Religious Traditions, Women and Religion, Liberation Theology.
  • Current Employment: Director of Marketing, Seattle Humane Society.
Chloe Martinez
  • BA, Religion and English, Barnard College, 2001.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2005.
  • MA, Creative Writing, Boston University, 2007.
  • MFA for Writers, Warren Wilson College, 2009.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Hinduism, Punjab/Rajasthan, Sikh Traditions, Devotional Poetry in South Asia, Bhakti Traditions, Religion and Poetry.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Vrsnis and Other Triads: An Iconographic Genealogy?”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Searching Self: Religious Autobiography in Pre-Colonial South Asia.”
  • Current Employment: Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion, Haverford College.
Tomoko Masuzawa
  • BA, International Christian University, 1975.
  • MA, Religious Studies, Yale University, 1979.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1985.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Discourses of Religion, History of Human Sciences, Modern European Intellectual History.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “The Haunted House of Meaning: Tradition, or the Management of the Sacred Past in Durkheim, Habermas, Benjamin.”
  • Current Employment: Professor of History and Comparative Literature, University of Michigan.
Eric Michael Mazur
  • BA, Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 1987.
  • MA, Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 1989.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1997.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religions.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “‘We hold these truths…’: The Effect of Constitutional Authority on Religious Minorities.”
  • Current Employment: Gloria & David Furman Professor of Judaic Studies, Professor of Religious Studies, Director of American Studies, Virginia Wesleyan College.
Nancy McCagney
  • BA, Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1965.
  • MA, Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1971.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1984.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1991.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Indian Buddhist Philosophy, Philosophies and Religions of India.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “On the Circularity of Descartes’ Argument for the Existence of God.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Nāgārjuna Then and Now.”
  • Retired, Department of Philosophy, University of Delaware. Deceased, 2013.
Photo of Caleb McCarthy
Caleb McCarthy
  • BA, History and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Utah, 2007.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2011.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Islam, Religion and Culture.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Samuel Zwemer and the American Study of Islam.”
Kathryn T. McClymond
  • BA, Harvard University, 1982.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1995.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1999.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Hinduism, Judaism, Comparative Study of Religion, Religion and Literature.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Interpreting the Agnicayana: An Assessment of Current Vedic Ritual Studies.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “In the Matter of Sacrifice: A Polythetic Approach to Sacrificial Ritual.”
  • Current Employment: Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies, Georgia State University.
Andrea McComb
  • BA, Comparative Religious Studies, Hampshire College, 2003.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Native American and Indigenous Religious Traditions, Chican@ and Latin@ Religious Traditions, Native and Christian Interactions in North America.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Universalism and Relativism in the Study of Religion: Linguistic Relativity and its Implications for Indigenous Theories.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Religion and Power among the Eastern Pueblos of New Mexico: Patron Saint’s Feast Days as Sites of Adaptation and Continuity within Colonial and National Contexts.”
  • Current Employment: Lecturer and Undergraduate Adviser, Religious Studies Program, University of Arizona.
David McConeghy
  • BA, Religious Studies, Duke University, 2003.
  • MA, Comparative Religion, Miami University, 2006.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Sacred Space and Spatial Theory, American Religious History, Religion in the American West, Late 20th Century Evangelicalism.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Geographies of Prayer: Place and Religion in Modern America.”
  • Current Employment: Adjunct Instructor, Chapman University; private tutor.
Lucas McCracken
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2023
  • Dissertation: Christianity’s Addiction: Voluntary Enslavement and the Paradox of the Will
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2021
  • MA Thesis: Endless Happiness: Confessions of a Recovering Addict
Nathan McGovern
  • BA, Religious Studies and Physics, Franklin and Marshall College, 2003.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2006.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: South Asian Religions, Buddhism.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Brahmā Worship in Thailand: The Ērāwan Shrine in its Social and Historical Context.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Buddhists, Brahmans, and Buddhist Brahmans: Negotiating Identities in Indian Antiquity.”
  • Current Employment: Blakemore Fellow at the International Chinese Language Program, Taipei, Taiwan.
Mark McLaughlin
  • BA, Ancient Art History, California State University, Long Beach, 1995.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2009.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: South Asian Religions, Sanskrit, Sacred Space.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “The Embodied Nature of the Hindu Temple: Vedic Roots, Linga Installation, and the Minaksi-Sundaresvara Temple of Madurai.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Lord in the Temple, Lord in the Tomb: The Hindu Temple and Its Relationship to the Vākarī Samādhi Shrine Tradition.”
  • Current Employment: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Religion, Denison University.
David L. McMahan
  • BA, Philosophy and Psychology, Kent State University, 1987.
  • MA, Religious Studies, Florida State University, 1991.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1998.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Buddhism in South Asia, Mahayana Buddhist Literature.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Empty Vision: Ocular Metaphor and Visionary Imagery in South Asian Mahayana Buddhism.”
  • Current Employment: Professor, Religious Studies, Franklin & Marshall College.
James D. McNamara
  • BA, Theology and Psychology, Georgetown University, 1974.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1976.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1985.
  • Areas of Study at USCB: South Asian Religions.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Tīrtha-śrāddha at the Tristhalī: Pilgrimage to Perform the Hindu Ancestor Rituals.”
  • Current Employment: Executive Director, Development and Alumni Department, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Daniel Michon
  • BA, Political Science and Latin American Studies, Bowdoin College, 1992.
  • MEd, Secondary Education, John Carroll University, 1994.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2002.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2007.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: South Asian Religions, Ancient India, Material Culture, Archaeology.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “Mapping the World: The Mahabharata and the Hermeneutics of Place.”
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Material Matters: Archaeology, Numismatics, and Religion in Early Historic Punjab.”
  • Current Employment: Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Claremont McKenna College.
Matt Miller
  • BA, Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 1994.
  • MA, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 1999.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: American Metaphysical Religions.
  • Title of Master’s Thesis: “‘A Damn Good American’: William Kullgren, the Cultic Milieu, and the Problem of Unorthodoxy.”
  • Current Employment: Higher Education Reporter, Lansing State Journal, Lansing, Michigan.
John Lardas Modern
  • BA, Religious Studies, Princeton University, 1993.
  • MA, Comparative Religion, Miami University (Ohio), 1996.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2003.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: American Religious History, American Literature, Cultural History of Religion.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Specters of Moby-Dick: A Particular History of Cultural Metaphysics in America.”
  • Current Employment: Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Franklin and Marshall College.
Rico G. Monge
  • BA, English, Pomona College, 1998.
  • MDiv, Eastern Christian Studies, St. Vladimir’s Seminary, 2005.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, 2013.
  • Areas of Study at UCSB: Asceticism and Mysticism in Christianity and Islam, History of Christian Thought (Western and Eastern), Philosophy and Religion, Religion and Film/Literature.
  • Title of Doctoral Dissertation: “Asceticism and the Affirmation of the World.”
  • Current Employment: Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego.
Christopher Morales

PhD, UC Santa Barbara, 2022

Adam Morrison

Area: Religions in North America, Islamic Studies, Law and Religion

Christine Murphy