Berkley Center

R. Scott Appleby is the Marilyn Keough Dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs and a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. He co-directs, with Ebrahim Moosa and Atalia Omer, the Contending Modernities project, which explores the interaction among Catholic, Muslim, and secular forces in the modern world. Appleby is a graduate of Notre Dame and has both his master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago.

Thomas Banchoff is director of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and serves as vice president for global engagement at Georgetown University, where he is a professor in the Department of Government and the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Patrice Brodeur is an associate professor in the Faculty of Theology and the Sciences of Religions at the University of Montreal, as well as senior adviser at the International Dialogue Centre in Vienna, Austria. He has over 30 years of experience in interreligious and intercultural dialogue.

The Right Reverend John Bryson Chane, D.D. retired as the eighth bishop of Washington within the Episcopal Church in 2011. He graduated from Boston University and Yale Divinity school and has been awarded honorary degrees from Virginia Theological Seminary, Yale Divinity School, and Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge. An expert on interfaith dialogue and scholarship, he has spoken with and studied alongside many religious leaders in Tehran and Qom at the invitation of former President Khatami. He was a participant in the Christian-Muslim Summit at the Washington National Cathedral in March 2010. Chane has been identified as one of the 150 most influential leaders in the District of Columbia by Washington magazine and as one of the 50 most prominent leaders in the worldwide Anglican Communion by London Telegraph. He served as a trustee of the World Faiths Development Dialogue until 2019.

Jeffrey Haynes is emeritus professor of politics at London Metropolitan University. His areas of expertise are religion and international relations, religion and politics, democracy and democratization, development studies, and comparative politics and globalization. His publications include more than 40 books, including Faith-based Organizations at the United Nations (2014) and the Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics (2016, second ed.).

Dr. Samia Huq is a research fellow at the Centre for Peace and Justice at BRAC University as well as an associate professor and interim dean of humanities and social sciences at BRAC University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She obtained her Ph.D. from Brandeis University, where her research explored women’s religious discussion groups in urban Bangladesh. Her current research includes cultural activism of Bengali Muslims of East Pakistan and the impact of secondary secular and madrasa education on gendered norms and practices. Dr. Huq has worked on the Global Life Stories Project with Musawah: For Equality in the Muslim Family, and is one of Musawah’s global advocates. In addition, she coordinates the BRAC University-Georgetown University Speakers' Forum series on faith and development.

Thomas Laird (Tom) Jones has worked with Habitat for Humanity International (HBHI) since 1991, serving first as vice president and founding managing director of HBHI's Washington Office before becoming in 2005 ambassador-at-large in the office of the CEO. He serves on HFHI’s Senior Leadership Team. He has represented HFHI in the ONE Campaign, InterAction, and as a leader in the new HFHI Advocacy Initiative; he currently leads the HFHI Interfaith Exploration. Jones is also a frequent public speaker and has appeared on radio and television. In the academic world, he has served as vice president for a theological seminary and faculty member at two seminaries, as well as as on the national staff of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Prior to his tenure with HFHI, Jones served as pastor of large Presbyterian congregations in Kentucky, Florida, and Washington, DC. He has earned B.A., M.Div., Master of Theology, and Doctor of Ministry degrees and has received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.

Mark Juergensmeyer is professor of sociology, affiliate professor of religious studies, and the director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His most recent works include Global Rebellion: Religious Challenges to the Secular State (2008), Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence (2003), and Gandhi’s Way (2005). Juergensmeyer is an expert on religious violence, conflict resolution, and South Asian religion and politics. He was previously president of the American Academy of Religion and chairs the group on Religion and International Affairs for the Social Science Research Council. Juergensmeyer received the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for contributions to religion in 2003.