Strategic Plan: RPL Forward

Diane L. Moore is the founding faculty director of Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School, a Lecturer on Religion, Conflict, and Peace at Harvard Divinity School, a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions, and a Faculty Affiliate of the Middle East Initiative and the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. She focuses her research on enhancing the public understanding of religion from the lens of critical theory.

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Kristen Anderson is the Administrative Dean of Harvard Divinity School (HDS) at Harvard University. She is responsible for the strategic management and coordination of all administrative operations of the School. Previously, she was Chief Financial Officer of HDS with oversight of all aspects of the School's financial operations, including financial planning and analysis, risk management and compliance. 

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Judy Beals is the Program Director of Religion and Public Life. She is responsible for strategic planning, fundraising, program development, external relations and oversight of day-to-day operations of RPL. Workign with Diane L. Moore, she provides overall leadership in building the institutional foundation, strategy and sustainability of RPL and its core initiatives - the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative (RLPI) and the Religion, Conflict and Peace Initiative (RCPI). 

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Steven Harris is a PhD candidate in the Religions of the Americas subfield. His research interests lie at the historical intersection of antebellum black religious thought and Calvinistic theology. Along with his consideration of a potential diasporic black Calvinist tradition—and its attendant intellectual history—he also studies broader evangelical, social, and political histories of the 18th and 19th centuries. Steven received his BS degree from Vanderbilt University, an MDiv from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and an MAR from Yale Divinity School.

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Susan Hayward is the Associate Director for the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative (RLPI) which advances an ambitious agenda of curricular and programmatic activity to advance religious literacy across a wide range of professional fields of public engagement. Working across Harvard graduate schools and in partnership with HDS and other Harvard faculty as well as a network of professional Fellows and professional organizations, Susan is responsible for setting and executing strategy for the RLPI through a program of coursework, a practitioner Fellows program, student experiential learning opportunities, annual symposia, public events, and online training opportunities.

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David F. Holland joined the HDS faculty in 2013. A renowned scholar of American religious history, he casts a broad and inclusive net in understanding the deep intellectual, theological, and cultural currents driving New England church history. Holland earned a BA in history from Brigham Young University and an MA and PhD from Stanford University.

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Ralph James is a member of the Harvard Divinity School's Dean's Council where he has served for the past six years. Ralph previously held major roles at Harvard Business School, serving as Executive Director of University Relations, Executive Director of External Relations and Executive Director of Executive Education. Retired since 2018, Ralph has devoted his time to philanthropy, private investing and being a grandfather. 

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Gregory Khalil, a Palestinian-American social entrepreneur, is the co-founder and President of the Telos Group, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit that equips American leaders and their communities to better engage seemingly intractable conflict. Much of Telos’ work has centered on the role of faith leaders and culture shapers in America’s relationship to Israel/Palestine and the broader Middle East. Prior to founding Telos, Greg lived in Ramallah, the West Bank, where he was legal and communications advisor to the Palestinian leadership on peace negotiations with Israel. Greg is a former non-resident Fellow with the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative of the RPL.

Deborah Jian Lee is an award-winning journalist, radio producer, and author of Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism. She is an editor and reporter at The Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a nonprofit journalism organization supporting independent journalists covering economic inequality in America. Deborah is a current Religious Literacy and the Professions Fellow with the RPL.

Hilary Marcus is a Senior Organizational Development Consultant and ICF-certified executive coach at Harvard’s Center for Workplace Development (CWD).  In this role, she consults with schools and departments on strategic planning, employee engagement, culture change, and Diversity,  Inclusion and Belonging (DIB). Hilary also co-designed and co-leads CWD’s Team Coaching Program.<embed>

Sejal H. Patel has worked as a federal prosecutor, a public defender, and a civil rights investigator/adjudicator for 21 years. A graduate of Northwestern Law School and Harvard Divinity School, she also speaks and writes about the intersection of law and ethics. 

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Hilary Rantisi is the Associate Director of the Religion, Conflict and Peace Initiative (RCPI), which seeks to combine a complex understanding of religion with a policy approach on timely issues in the Middle East region. Working across Harvard in collaboration with partners in the Middle East, Rantisi is responsible for setting and executing strategy for the RCPI through a robust program of coursework, a practitioner Fellows program, student experiential learning opportunities, annual symposia, public events, and online training opportunities. Rantisi also co-instructs the annual January term course Learning in Context: Narratives of Displacement and Belonging.

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Tom Stanton is the chair of the Harvard Divinity School Dean’s Council where he has served for the past ten years. He is a Senior Partner of Squire Patton Boggs LLP, one of the world’s largest global law firms with over 1,500 lawyers based in 45 offices and 20 countries, where he served for 20 years as chair and CEO He is also the managing director of The Roundtable Collaborative LLC, which organizes and leads discussion roundtables for the chief executive and chief operating officers of more than 50 global law firms.

Lori Stevens is the Associate Dean for Development and External Relations (DER) at HDS. Her prior work includes more than a decade at Harvard, at FAS and the Chan School, and 11 years learning development and growth strategy at two entrepreneurial nonprofits: The Mission Continues, a national nonprofit organization that empowers veterans to serve their communities in new ways, and Citizen Schools, which partners with under-resources middle schools to provide hands-on learning experiences and career mentors. Lori has a BA in anthropology from the College of Williams and Mary and a EdM from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. 

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