Graduate Alumni & Placement
The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin has graduated seventeen doctoral students since its first entering PhD cohort in 2011. Twelve of our alumni have academic jobs: four former students have tenure track positions, three graduates are Visiting Assistant Professors at Amherst College, Bowdoin College, and Drury University, two are Lecturers at Washington University in St. Louis and UC Riverside, and three are current or former Postdoctoral Fellows at the University of Alberta-Augustana, George Mason University, and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
2021
Nathan Leach
Title of Dissertation: Revelation and Divination: Performative Access to Divine Knowledge in Oracles, Mysteries, and the Apocalypse of John
Current position: The University of Texas at Austin – Research Fellow, Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins (starting Fall 2021)
Josefrayn Sánchez-Perry
Title of Dissertation: They Give the Sun to Drink: The Life and Labor of Nahua Ritual Specialists
Current position: Loyola University Chicago – Assistant Professor, Department of Theology (starting Fall 2021)
2020
Jaimie Gunderson
Title of Dissertation: Affecting Corinth: Grief and Other Feelings in 2 Corinthians
Current position: George Mason University, Department of Religious Studies – Postdoctoral Fellow
Jay Henriques
Title of Dissertation: Magical Art Vs. Divine Nature: Competition Over Miracles And The So-Called "Divine Man" Tradition In The Second Sophistic And Beyond
Current position: Trinity University, San Antonio, TX, Department of Religion – Teaching Fellow
Ryan Fitzgerald
Title of Dissertation: Forged In Blood: The Christian Third Race And The Parting Of The Ways
Current position: St. Edward's University, San Antonio, TX, Department of Religious & Theological Studies – Adjunct Lecturer
Sung Soo Hong
Title of Dissertation: Epistolary Psychagogy in the Letter of James
Current position: Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary – Visiting Assistant Professor of New Testament
2019
Jin Kim
Title of Dissertation: Reinventing Conversion: The Lukan Literary Efforts To Construct The Concept Of 'Christian Conversion' In The Acts Of The Apostles
Current position: Oklahoma State University, Department of Religious Studies – Assistant Professor
Michel Sunhae Lee
Title of Dissertation: Contesting The Sabbath: A History Of Weekly Sacred Times In America, 1848-1920
Current position: Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists Project – Editor
2018
Katharine Batlan
Title of Dissertation: Christ In The Constitution: Contesting Amendment Proposals and Religious Liberty In The United States, 1863-1975
Current position: University of Alberta, Augustana Campus, Chester Ronning Center for the Study of Religion and Public Life – Former Postdoctoral Fellow
Benjamin Cox
Title of Dissertation: Gods Without Faces: Childhood, Religion, And Imagination In Contemporary Japan
Current position: Westborough, MA – Independent Scholar
Bradley King
Title of Dissertation: Domesticating Eve: Women And Creation Rhetoric In The Second-Century Pauline Tradition
Current position: First United Methodist Church, Austin, TX – Associate Pastor
Joshua Urich
Title of Dissertation: Unmasked: The Practice Of American Skepticism
Current position: Bowdoin College, Department of Religion – Visiting Assistant Professor
2017
Anthony (Tony) Keddie
Title of Dissertation: Revelations of Ideology: Apocalyptic Class Politics in Early Roman Palestine
Current position: University of British Columbia, Vancouver Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Biblical Studies – Associate Professor
Elena Kravchenko
Title of Dissertation: Orthodox Women in America: The Making of the Conservative-Liberal Subject
Current position: Washington University - St. Louis, Department of Religious Studies – Lecturer
2016
Michael Flexsenhar
Title of Dissertation: Slaves Of Christ: Caesar's Household And The Early Christians
Current position: Rhodes College, Department of Religious Studies – Visiting Assistant Professor
Megan Case
Title of Dissertation: War, Kidnapping, Dismemberment, And Exchange: (Im)proper Regulation Of Bodies In Judges 19-21
Current position: Drury University, History, Philosophy & Religion Department – Visiting Assistant Professor
Justin Doran
Title of Dissertation: The Heargelt Spirit: Capitalism, Affect, And Pentecostal Modernity In The Americas
Current position: Middlebury College, Department of Religion – Assistant Professor
Michael Amoruso
Title of Dissertation: Walking With The Dead: Transit, Transfer, And Transformation In Sao Paulo's Devotion To Souls
Current position: Occidental College, Department of Religious Studies – Assistant Professor
