Lance E. Nelson, Ph.D., is professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and chair of the department.  He teaches courses in world religions and religious traditions of Asia.  Nelson’s research specialization is in Hindu religious history, focusing on classical systems of Hindu theology and the relation between Hindu religious practice and environmental concern.

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Maria Pilar Aquino, S.T.D., joined the USD Theology and Religious Studies faculty in 1993. Her primary areas of teaching and research are liberation theologies, social ethics, and feminist theologies, with special interests in intercultural approaches, conflict transformation, and religious peacebuilding studies. Currently, she serves both on national and international editorial boards of prominent theological journals.  Aquino has served as the first woman president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States, of which she is also a co-founder. She is internationally renowned for her pioneering work in Latin American and U.S. Latina feminist theologies of liberation.

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Susie Paulik Babka, Ph.D., is excited to be a part of the community at USD that seeks to intertwine Beauty with Justice.  Beauty is that which draws us out of ourselves toward something deeper; Justice is the practical work of transforming this world into the world intended by God: a world that celebrates the dignity of every human being, our inherent interdependence, and the worth of all creation.

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J.A. Colombo, Ph.D., joined the department of Theology and Religious Studies at USD in 1984.  Currently, he holds the rank of professor.

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Bahar Davary, Ph.D., has been a member of the faculty at USD since 2005. She is an associate professor of Religious Studies and an affiliate member of the Ethnic Studies program. Davary offers undergraduate courses on world religions, Islamic faith and practice, diversity courses and Honors courses, as well as preceptorials. She has team-taught a study abroad course Negotiating Religious Diversity in India. At the graduate level she has taught Comparative Religious Ethics at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice. She will be team-teaching an Honors course, Women in Confucianism and Islam.

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Mary Doak, Ph.D., teaches courses in Christian theology.  Her specializations include liberation and political theologies, theologies of democracy and religious freedom, the goal of human life and history from a Christian perspective, and theologies of the church.  Her research focus has been on the political and practical implications of Christian faith, especially in the contemporary context of the United States.  Her current research project explores the challenges to discipleship faced by the church in the 21st century.

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Orlando Espín, Th.D., has been a member of the USD faculty since 1991. He is professor of systematic theology in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. He is also director of USD's Center for the Study of Latino/a Catholicism, which he founded in 1994.  Espín has twice served as president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (of which he was one of the founders), and has also served on the boards of directors of the Catholic Theological Society of America and of the Hispanic Summer Program in Religion and Theology. Espín has received an honorary doctorate and an honorary professorship. He founded and was first chief editor of the Journal of Hispanic/Latino Theology. He is active in the San Diego Latino/a community, as well as nationally in Latino/a theological research and educational projects.

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Russell Fuller, Ph.D., joined the faculty of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies in 1992.  He is a professor of biblical studies with a specialty in the area of Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the religion of ancient Israel.

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Florence M. Gillman, Ph.D., has been a member of USD’s faculty since 1986. She  previously also served as chair of the department of Theology and Religious Studies and as Coordinator of the Ppogram in Interdisciplinary Humanities. Gillman teaches the courses entitled Introduction to Biblical Studies, Pauline Theology, The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and the World of the Bible. Her research interests include the New Testament world, women in the Pauline churches and the history of earliest Christianity.

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Aaron Gross joined the faculty in 2009. He is a historian of religions who focuses on modern and contemporary Jewish traditions. His dissertation theorizes the significance of "the question of the animal" for the study of religion and considers contemporary Jewish and South Asian food practices. At USD he is developing a broad array of courses in the study of Jewish traditions exploring the systems of knowledge, forms of expressivity, religious practices, and inter-religious engagements of Jewish communities in different historical periods and geographic regions. He co-chairs the Consultation on Animals and Religion at the American Academy of Religion. He has spent more than two years in South Asia (India, Nepal, Sri Lanka) doing research or nonprofit work. 

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Evelyn Kirkley, Ph.D., has been teaching at USD since 1995.  She is an advisor to PRIDE, USD’s organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, queer, and questioning undergraduate students and allies.  She has also served as co-director of the Gender Studies Program and director of the Faculty and Curriculum Development Program.  She teaches about the history of Christianity and other religious movements, especially in the United States.  Her research focuses on alternative religious movements (often called "cults" or "sects") in the United States and intersections between religion and gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation. 

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Louis Komjathy, Ph.D., is a teacher-scholar of Daoism, Chinese religions, and comparative religious studies with an emphasis on contemplative practice and mystical experience. He also holds the position of research associate in the Institute of Religion, Science and Social Studies of Shandong University (PRC), wherein he conducts research on the history of Daoism in Shandong. In addition to his departmental and university commitments, he serves as founding co-chair of the Daoist Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion and as founding co-director of the Center for Daoist Studies.

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Dennis W. Krouse, S.T.D., has been a member of the faculty since 1974. He  specializes in the areas of liturgical studies and sacramental theology.

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Father Ron Pachence, Ph.D., joined the faculty in 1981. He has served as department chair, founding director of the Institute for Christian Ministries, and director of graduate programs in the department. He is active in shared governance, having served on numerous committees and as chair of the University Senate. His teaching expertise is in the areas of Catholic theology and world religions. Pachence is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Turkey) and a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia.

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Maria Pascuzzi, S.T.D., has been a member of the faculty since 2000.  She teaches undergraduate courses on the critical study of the Bible, especially in the area of New Testament. Currently, Pascuzzi also serves as the director of the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture. In this role, she is primarily concerned with developing programs for the university community which promote engagement with the Church’s intellectual tradition and explore its contributions to the arts and sciences.

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Patricia A. Plovanich has been a member of the faculty since 1990. She is Assistant Professor of Systematic theology. In the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, she offers undergraduate courses in theological topics such as Jesus in Christian Tradition, the Problem of God, and Catholicism in the United States. Her research interests are theology of Cardinal Walter Kasper and the European theologians who pioneered many of the themes of the Second Vatican Council.

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Emily Reimer-Barry, Ph.D, has been a member of the Theology and Religious Studies faculty since 2008. She teaches undergraduate courses in Catholic theology, Christian ethics, sexual ethics, and ethical responses to HIV/AIDS. Her research interests include women’s experiences of HIV/AIDS, cross-cultural analysis of gender roles and marriage traditions, ethnography and ethical methodology, and the intersection of public health and Catholic social teachings.

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Karen Teel, Ph.D., has been a member of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies since 2007. Her courses in Christian and Catholic theology invite students to consider biblical, historical, and contemporary - especially liberationist - perspectives on the essential beliefs of Christianity.  Teel’s research interests focus on Christian anthropology and theological responses to racism, leading her to emphasize current liberation movements such as black and womanist theologies.

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Karma Lekshe Tsomo, a specialist in Buddhist studies, has taught at USD since 2000. She offers classes in Buddhist Thought and Culture, World Religions, Comparative Religious Ethics, Religious and Political Identities in the Global Community, and Negotiating Religious Diversity in India. Her research interests include women in Buddhism, death and dying, Buddhist feminist ethics, Buddhism and bioethics, religion and politics, and Buddhist transnationalism. She integrates scholarship and social activism through the Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women and Jamyang Foundation, an innovative education project for women in developing countries, with 15 schools in the Indian Himalayas, Bangladesh, and Laos.

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