Meet Our Graduate Student Fellows 2024-2025
Foster Blowers - Hailing from East Tennessee, I grew up in the city of Johnson City. I am a second year MDiv and also a part of the United Methodist Church. For my whole life I have been immersed in the Christian tradition. Growing up in the evangelical church, with all its faults, I was taught and still believe that the Bible and Jesus’ ministry and teaching has the capacity to change the world for better. At the same time, I felt the pressures of our economic system on me, my community, and the environment. Being a full-time worker since I became a legal adult and speaking to my fellow workers wherever I was at, there was always this sense of helplessness. There was a belief that even though they were being exploited for their labor, this was the only way to live. The church, instead of offering a different way of living, or even resistance to a system the gives little to no dignity to the worker, encouraged them to keep going and working since what really mattered was if you were right with God, not however if you were suffering in the here and now, both at work and in your own home. This began my long journey of both deconstructing and reconstructing my faith in light of the many experiences at work (and in the academy). I began to question a God who cares more about my soul and whether I believed the “correct” thing rather than those who are suffering on a daily basis, even more than me and my community in other parts of the United States and around the world. I began a mission to deepen my understanding of the Bible and God in light of our current global economic and ecological crisis so I can hopefully, in the future, construct alternate theologies that will lead to the flourishing and thriving of all people.
Demarius V. Brinkley - Demarius is a second-year Master's of Theological Studies candidate at Vanderbilt Divinity School, concentrating on Religion and Economic Justice. As a Wendland-Cook Fellow for the 2024-2025 academic year, Demarius is exploring the intersection of faith, economics, and justice, drawing on their background in political advocacy and their experiences as a Pastoral Intern at Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis. He is a first-generation college graduate from Madison, Georgia, and an alum of Morehouse College, Demarius brings a commitment to amplifying Black liberation and addressing systemic economic inequalities through the lens of theology.
Meet Our Graduate Student Fellows 2023-2024
Jaziah Masters (he/him) - Jaziah Masters is a first-year student at Vanderbilt Divinity School. A native of Dallas, Texas Masters holds degrees from Baylor University and George Washington University. Masters is passionate about public service and has interned in both the Texas House of Representatives and the United States House of Representatives. Prior to Vanderbilt, Masters served as the advocacy and outreach manager at the Baptist Joint Committee (BJC) a faith-based nonprofit in Washington, DC.
Rachel Salmon (she/her) - Rachel is many things but, first and foremost, she is a dreamer, using her theological imagination as fuel to stay hopeful. Rachel is in her second year of the Masters of Divinity program with concentrations in Religion, Gender and Sexuality, and Chaplaincy, Rachel hopes to become a hospital chaplain after graduating from Vanderbilt Divinity School. She is deeply concerned with the ways in which human and non-human health and flourishing are impacted by the systems within, and created by, capitalism.
Grey Kenna (she/her) – I am a photographer and graduate student pursuing my Master of Theological Studies and my M.Ed. in Community Development & Action. I previously studied psychology, art, and religious studies at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. I became involved with the Wendland-Cook Program because I want to deepen my practical understanding of economic and ecological justice frameworks while also exploring theologies that can enliven and sustain them. As an artist, I am particularly interested in how imagination and creative expression can function as resources for resilience in long-term justice work.
Meet Our Graduate Student Fellows 2022-2023
Madeleine Lewis (they/them) - I am a friend, organizer, family member, and student. I was born and raised in the Tennessee Valley, in what is now known as northern Alabama. I have been involved in labor and environmental justice struggles throughout the southeastern United States for more than eight years, focusing on building political power with working people. I studied religion and applied mathematics at the University of Alabama. After graduating from college, I worked as a union organizer for adjunct faculty and graduate students in North Carolina. In my role as a Wendland Cook Fellow, I am particularly interested in studying and participating in church-based movements for redress and reparations, especially as they engage with collective memory projects on the legacies of colonialism and chattel slavery in the United States.
Priscila Alves - Priscila Alves Gonçalves da Silva is Brazilian, she was born and raised in the Coronel Leôncio favela, located in Rio de Janeiro. Daughter of immigrant parents from the Northeast, a region of Brazil known for precariousness, she has a degree in theology (Baptist University of Rio de Janeiro), has a master's and Ph.D. (in progress) in Religious Studies, both at the Methodist University of São Paulo. She is also a graduate student in Pedagogy (Estácio de Sá University), which makes her the first of her interracial family to have an academic background.
Paris White (she/her) - I am an ordained pastor in the ELCA, a community organizer, and a dreamer. My dream of a world without suffering brought me to the Church, to the ministry and now to Vanderbilt. As a ThM student, I am taking the year to dive deep into our current economic and climate crisis. As a student, a fellow, and a pastor, my hope is to strategically steer the Church from models of charity to models of solidarity that provide real, concrete alternative systems which will make long-term changes in communities. These alternative systems will center life in all forms and foster new ways of being that allow people and the planet to thrive.
Maria C. Urias (she/hers) - I am originally from Curitiba in Brazil, but was raised in the heart of Appalachia outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. I am a graduate student and non-profit consultant working towards my M.Ed in Community Development and Action and my Masters of Theological Studies. I have gotten to work in various organizing initiatives since I was in undergrad, and am fortunate to currently work with a variety of collective impact and systems change coalitions in my current role as an associate non-profit consultant.
Meet Our Academic Fellows 2021-2022
Wendland-Cook offers a year-long fellowship program for scholars and researchers of matters relating to the intersections of religion, economic justice, class and labor, and environmental justice. The academic fellowship program is meant to provide the support and community for a fellow to engage in necessary research and writing space; to engage with a community of scholars and students investigating matters of economic and ecological justice; and to build a broader professional network of scholars contributing work to this intersection of religion, economics, and ecology. Each fellow contributes a written piece for Interventions, facilitates a training on the Exchanges platform, participates in a public webinar, and facilitates a discussion with Wendland-Cook’s student fellows at one of their weekly colloquies.
Jin Young Choi, Ph.D., is the Baptist Missionary Training School Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. Choi is the author of Postcolonial Discipleship of Embodiment: An Asian and Asian American Feminist Reading of the Gospel of Mark (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and coeditor of the volumes such as Minoritized Women Reading Race and Ethnicity: Intersectional Approaches to Constructed Identity and Early Christian Texts (Lexington Books, 2020) and Faith, Class, and Labor: Intersectional Approaches in a Global Context (Pickwick Publications, 2020).
Chaumtoli Huq is an Associate Professor of Law at CUNY School of Law and the founder/Editor of an innovative law and media non-profit focused on law and social justice called Law@theMargins. Huq’s recent scholarship include: Charting Global Economic Inequalities and Emancipatory Human Rights Responses from the Ground Up on tea workers in Bangladesh, Women’s Empowerment in the Bangladesh Garment Industry, Opportunities and Limitations of the Accord: Need for a Worker Organizing Model in an edited volume titled, Labor, Global Supply Chains and the Garment Industry in South Asia; author of, The War on Terror on Muslim Women and Girls: Forging Transformative Solidarities (Scholar and Feminist Online). You can follow her on twitter @profhuq and follow Law@theMargins work at @lawatmargins
Dr. Charlene Sinclair is the founding director of the Center for Race, Religion, and Economic Democracy (C-RRED) and the program coordinator for the Interfaith Organizing Initiative. Previously, she served as program director for Engaging the Powers at Union Theological Seminary and campaign director for the Center for Community Change. A community organizer for over 20 years, Charlene has helped national and local organizations develop grassroots organizing and political strategies. One of her main areas of interest is dismantling mass incarceration by uniting faith conviction and spirituality in social activism. She serves as a lay minister at the Church on the Hill AME Zion Community. Charlene received her PhD in social ethics from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
Meet Our Graduate Student Fellows 2021-2022
Jacob Gambrell (he/him) is a third year M.Div student with a concentration in religion and economic justice and a certificate in Latin American Studies. He previously studied International Studies and Spanish at the University of Mississippi. As a member of the Churches of Christ, Jacob is interested in how to best translate the work of economic justice into theologically conservative congregations. He is passionate about studying and proclaiming the radical Gospel of Christ as revealed to us in the scriptures. He enjoys smoking meat, watching college football, and spending time in his backyard with friends and his partner, Hannah, and son Manny.
Alli Koehler - I am a second-year MDiv student at VDS with a concentration in Religion and Economic Justice. I recently graduated from Centre College where I majored in Religion, and I am currently seeking deacon's ordination in the United Methodist Church. I am a native of the Nashville area and am grateful for the opportunity to be home for this part of my journey as I learn more about the intersections of faith, justice, and community. As a part of my project with Wendland Cook, I will be partnering with West End United Methodist Church where I will investigate and encourage the active role of the church in issues of economic justice.
Ludwig Beethoven J. Noya is a Ph.D. candidate in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, a Theology & Practice Fellow, and a Master Teaching Fellow in Hebrew at Vanderbilt University. His previous degrees are from Boston University, Ecumenical Theological Seminary, and the Adventist University of Indonesia. Ludwig also studied Hebrew courses at Harvard University and Boston College, Archaeology at Tel Aviv University, and Hittite at Leiden University as a visiting student. Before coming to the U.S., he taught in a junior high school and a seminary in Indonesia. Ludwig’s dissertation project explores Sabbath narratives through postcolonial, gender, and class analysis along with the ancient and modern imperialist utilization of the concept of rest.
George Schmidt, PhD Admission Year 2020 - George is the husband of Larissa Romero and the son of Judy and Steve Schmidt. He was born along the banks of the Ohio River in southern Indiana. He is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary under the watchful eye of James Cone. After seminary, George worked as a community organizer in New York City. George is ordained by the Disciples of Christ and served as a chaplain in both the prison and hospice setting. A number of years ago he was commissioned into the United States Navy as an officer and a military chaplain where he served with the navy, the marines, and the coast guard. He is on the board of directors for the Institute for Christian Socialism. His doctoral research primarily revolves around a genealogy of corporate personhood. It seeks to imagine new ways of forming theological movements and moments that have the potential to form pluralist assemblages of multiple action directed primarily at the stranglehold of corporate power.
Courtney Sells is from Livingston, TN and a 2nd year M.Div. student. My passion lies within economic sustainability and equitable rights for folks experiencing harsh labor conditions. I’m excited to be a member of the Wendland-Cook Program and look forward to learning more about Economic Justice and Religion.
Molly Williams - Molly is in her final year of the M.Div. degree with concentrations in chaplaincy and religion and economic justice. As a Wendland-Cook fellow, she hopes to continue exploring how communities of faith can embrace justice work that is rooted in solidarity, mutuality, and care. In Nashville, Molly belongs to Glendale Baptist Church, works as a hospital chaplain, and is involved in community organizing with Workers’ Dignity.
Yaheli Josue Vargas-Ramos is a Th.M. first year. student at Vanderbilt Divinity School. I am interested in studying how the intersections between religion, theology, and class, can play a role in favor of justice. Prior to this program, I have a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico and a master's degree in religion (M.A.R.) from the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico. Besides the classroom, I love riding my bike and playing basketball.
Our Graduate Student Fellows 2020 - 2021
click on photos for fellows’ bios
John Aden, MDiv 2021: John is passionate about exploring the dynamic intersections of theology, ethics, and economics. His work with the Wendland-Cook Program centers around the role of religious communities in economic justice efforts. He is involved with the Economic Equity and Jobs task force at Nashville Organized for Action and Hope and adult education programs at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
Perrin Bailey, MTS 2021: Perrin is a candidate for ordination as a deacon in the United Methodist Church. She is a native Kentuckian who now calls the St. Louis area home. Perrin's academic work focuses on disrupting notions of Christian supremacy in multi-faith spaces. She has practical experience in this area through Americorps work in Central Appalachia, time as a special ed paraeducator, as well as traditional positions in church leadership. Through the Wendland Cook program, Perrin hopes to focus on how working for economic justice can be a powerful way to build healthy, beloved, multifaith communities.
Shameka Nicole Cathey, PHD, MDiv 2021: Shameka is driven by a deep desire to foster peace and to encourage people to live in right relationship with God, people, and the land. Shameka currently serves on the faculty of American Baptist College where she teaches African American politics and social justice. As a Wendland-Cook fellow, Shameka is interested in the intersections of food, faith, and justice. Her goal is to assist African American faith leaders in creating and advocating for more redemptive food systems in the communities they serve.
Francisco Garcia Jr., PhD Admission Year 2019, Graduate Research Fellow: Francisco is a Chicano from Los Angeles, born to Mexican immigrant parents. He is also a priest in the Episcopal Church. Prior to church ministry he worked in the labor movement in various organizing, negotiating, and leadership capacities with workers in both the public and private sectors. His work over the last ten years has focused on congregation-based ministry and interfaith community organizing/advocacy around immigrant rights, housing rights, and racial and economic justice issues. His doctoral research entails developing a theology of organizing rooted in the liberation tradition in order to better equip communities of faith to address the pressing justice issues of our time.
Bridget Hall, PhD Admission Year 2019: Bridget Hall is a doctoral student in Ethics and Society and a Theology and Practice Fellow at Vanderbilt University. She holds a Masters of Divinity from Emory University Candler School of Theology and a Bachelors of Arts in History and Religion from Greensboro College. Bridget serves as an Ella Baker Trainer for the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School, which provides her the kinds of opportunities to develop and refine a praxis of liberation, care, and justice for children, families, and communities effected structural oppression. Bridget is interested in the intersections of race, class/economics, gender, and violence and the experiences of black children and women. She seeks to develop an ethic of care that addresses the multifaceted and intersectional oppression and violence that black children from economically deprived families and communities face in their everyday lives.
Robert Kell, MTS 2021: Robert is a native Appalachian, economic and social justice organizer, Earth advocate and queer farmer. Robert is interested in how faith shapes participation in public life and is especially interested in how communities of faith can build new economies and be stewards of ecological justice. He is a community organizer who has built campaigns around health care, racial justice, education, and environmental issues in Appalachian Virginia.
Sam Morehead, MDiv 2022: Sam the Wendland-Cook communications intern and is a native of Western Kentucky, and grew up witnessing the effects of rural poverty on local communities. Following a calling felt towards those communities, Sam is currently active with Murray FUMC's HELP ministry, connecting hurting people in Calloway County with both direct assistance from the church and with outside resources available throughout the community. Sam also serves as pastor at Oakland UMC, and is pursuing ordination as a deacon in the United Methodist Church.
Adulin Prophete, ThM 2021: Adulin Prophete is a native of Haiti and an advocate for environmental justice and public policy. Adulin serves as the director of Actions de la Société Civile, president of Citizens for Green Community, and founder of Environmental Stewardship Education Program. Adulin is committed to actively participating in the struggles of individuals and groups for a healthier, more just, more humane, and more ecologically wholesome world.
Htoi San Lu, PhD Admission Year 2018: Htoi is a Ph.D. student in Theological Studies and a Theology and Practice Fellow in the Graduate Department of Religion at Vanderbilt University. Prior to her doctoral studies, she has earned three Masters degrees in theological studies from Union Theological Seminary in New York, Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Kachin Theological College in Myitkyina, Burma/Myanmar. Her research interest is guided by a postcolonial feminist theology through which Htoi explores Kachin diasporic life in the U.S. and around the globe. Born and raised in Burma/Myanmar to a mixed ethnic Kachin and Shan family with different religious backgrounds, she is also interested in the politics of difference and theology of otherness. Her education and ministerial experiences mutually shape her way of doing theology and enhance her awareness of injustice to those who are marginalized and powerless at multiple levels.
George Schmidt, PhD Admission Year 2020: George is the husband of Larissa Romero and the son of Judy and Steve Schmidt. He was born along the banks of the Ohio River in southern Indiana. He is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary under the watchful eye of James Cone. After seminary, George worked as a community organizer in New York City. George is ordained by the Disciples of Christ and served as a chaplain in both the prison and hospice setting. A number of years ago he was commissioned into the United States Navy as an officer and a military chaplain where he served with the navy, the marines, and the coast guard. He is on the board of directors for the Institute for Christian Socialism. His doctoral research primarily revolves around a genealogy of corporate personhood. It seeks to imagine new ways of forming theological movements and moments that have the potential to form pluralist assemblages of multiple action directed primarily at the stranglehold of corporate power.
Molly Williams, MDiv 2022: Molly is interested in exploring the intersections of social movements, collective care, and healing justice. As a Wendland-Cook fellow, Molly hopes to learn how faith communities can move towards justice work that is rooted in solidarity instead of charity. In Nashville, Molly belongs to Glendale Baptist Church, and she is involved in community organizing with Workers’ Dignity.