Helen Alvaré, who received her juris doctorate from Cornell University in 1984 and a master's degree in theology from The Catholic University of America in 1989, is an associate professor at the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America. Since 1987, she has worked at the National Conference on Catholic Bishops, first in the Office of General Counsel and later as the director of information and planning for the bishops' pro-life office. Prof. Alvaré also spoke for the American Catholic bishops in television, radio, print media and public lectures. Prof. Alvaré has testified on behalf of the bishops before federal congressional committees and lobbied members of Congress on federal legislation concerning abortion, health care and welfare reform. Prof. Alvaré previously worked as a staff attorney for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and as an associate at Stradley, Ronon, Stevens and Young in Philadelphia. She is also a member of the Center's Board of Advisors.
Michael Beaty is chair of the Department of Philosophy at Baylor University. He served as director of the Institute for Faith and Learning from 1997 to 2002. After attending the United States Military Academy, Ouachita Baptist University for a B.A., and Baylor University for a M.A., he received his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 1987. He is the co-editor of Christian Theism and Moral Philosophy (Mercer University Press, 1998) and editor of Christian Theism and the Problems of Philosophy (University of Notre Dame Press, 1990). He has published a variety of articles on topics ranging from contemporary metaphysics and epistemology to ethics, social philosophy and philosophical theology. Work sponsored by and for the Lilly Endowment highlights his particular interest in the philosophy of education and the future of Christian higher education. This past spring, Prof. Beaty was a visiting fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, where he also serves as a member of our Board of Advisors.
John Cavadini is associate professor of theology and chair of the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1988. Prof. Cavadini is a scholar of patristic and early medieval theology, with special interests in the theology of Augustine and in the history of biblical exegesis, both Eastern and Western, as well as in the reception and interpretation of patristic thought in the West from the sixth through the ninth centuries. His publications include three books, Miracles in Christian and Jewish Antiquity: Imagining the Truth, (University of Notre Dame Press, 1999); Gregory the Great: A Symposium, (University of Notre Dame Press, 1996); and The Last Christology of the West: Adoptionism in Spain and Gaul, 785-820, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993). His articles have appeared in such journals as Theological Studies, Religious Studies Review, Traditio, Augustinian Studies and American Benedictine Review.
Most Rev. John M. D'Arcy has served as the bishop of the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese for twenty years this May. He began preparation for the priesthood in 1949 at Saint John's Seminary in Brighton, Mass. He was ordained to the priesthood in Boston, Mass. on February 2, 1957. He studied in Rome at the Angelicum from 1965 to 1968 and received his doctorate in spiritual theology in 1968. He served as spiritual director and professor of spiritual theology at Saint John's Seminary from 1968 to 1985. Bishop D'Arcy has a regular column each week in Today's Catholic, the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocesan newspaper.
H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. holds full professorships at both Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University and is a member of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy. He is the editor of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, co-editor of Christian Bioethics, co-editor of the Philosophy and Medicine book series with over sixty volumes in print, co-editor of the book series Clinical Medical Ethics, and editor of the series Philosophical Studies in Contemporary Culture. Engelhardt has authored over two hundred fifty articles and chapters of books in addition to numerous book reviews and other publications. There have been over one hundred twenty reprintings or translations of his publications. He has also co-edited more than 25 volumes and has lectured widely throughout the world. His books include Bioethics and Secular Humanism: The Search for a Common Morality and the second, thoroughly revised edition of The Foundations of Bioethics, which has appeared in Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. A Chinese translation of Bioethics and Secular Humanism appeared in 1998. His most recent work is The Foundations of Christian Bioethics, which appeared in the summer of 2000. Engelhardt is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture.
John Finnis, internationally recognized as one of the late-20th century's leading moral philosophers and the world's leading natural-law theorist, joined the Notre Dame Law School faculty, where he holds Biolchini Family Chair, in 1995. He earned his LL.B. from Adelaide University (Australia) in 1961 and his Ph.D. from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 1965. Currently, Notre Dame shares Professor Finnis with Oxford University, where he has held the positions of lecturer, reader and a chaired professor in law for over three decades. In addition, he has served as associate in law at the University of California at Berkeley (1965-66), as professor of law at the University of Malawi (Africa) (1976-78), and as the Huber Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at the Boston College Law School (1993-94). He is admitted to the English Bar (Gray's Inn). Prof. Finnis has published numerous articles and book segments on the subjects of natural law, the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, Catholic moral teachings and legal philosophy. A number of committees benefit from his leadership in the field of Catholic legal philosophy including the Linacre Centre for Health Care Ethics (governor 1981-96), the Catholic Bishops' Joint Committee on Bioethical Issues (1981-88), the International Theological Commission (1986-92), the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (1990-95), and the Pontifical Academy Pro Vita (2001-present). He also serves as a member of the Board of Advisors of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture.
Jeanne Heffernan is an assistant professor in the Department of Humanities and Augustinian Traditions at Villanova University. From 1999-2004, she was an assistant professor in the Social Science Division of Pepperdine University, taking a year off during her time there for a visiting research fellowship at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Prof. Heffernan graduated with a B.A. in history from Georgetown University, and she earned both her M.A. and Ph.D. in government from the University of Notre Dame. She spent two years serving as the associate director of the Erasmus Institute at Notre Dame while earning her degree. Prof. Heffernan wrote her dissertation on Christianity and modern democracy, focusing on the work of Reinhold Niebhur and Yves Simon. She has taught political theory, American government, Christian political thought, Constitutional law and interpretation, public policy and Great Books. She edited Christianity and Civil Society: Catholic and Neo-Calvinist Perspectives (forthcoming from Lexington Books, a division of Rowman and Littlefield). Prof. Heffernan has been honored with the Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence from Pepperdine University, the Bradley Foundation Fellowship from the University of Notre Dame and the Coakley Medal for Academic Excellence from Georgetown University. Her articles have appeared in the Journal for Peace and Justice and Perspectives on Political Science. She has spoken at numerous academic conferences.
David Lyle Jeffrey is distinguished professor of literature and humanities at Baylor University. He has worked and taught at Baylor since 2000, serving as provost from 2003-2005. He holds a B.A. from Wheaton College and a Ph.D. from Princeton. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1996. Named Inaugural Professor of the Year at the University of Ottawa in 1995, he has also been Guest Professor at Peking University (Beijing) since 1996. He served as Department Chair of English both at the University of Victoria and the University of Ottawa, and has taught also at the Universities of Rochester, Hull (UK) and Regent College. Prof. Jeffrey is general editor and co-author of A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature (1992). Among his other books are The Early English Lyric and Franciscan Spirituality (1975); By Things Seen: Reference and Recognition in Medieval Thought (1979); Chaucer and Scriptural Tradition (1984); English Spirituality in the Age of Wesley (1987; 2001); English Spirituality in the Age of Wyclif (1988; 2001); People of the Book: Christian Identity and Literary Culture (1996; Chinese translation in 2002); with Brian J. Levy he has edited The Anglo-Norman Lyric (1990); and with Dominic Manganiello he has edited and co-authored Rethinking the Future of the University (1999). Prof. Jeffrey's current research interests involve the relationship of biblical humanities to literary and artistic expression. A book relating to literature, entitled Houses of the Interpreter, was published in 2003, and a long-term team project to create a dictionary of biblical tradition in western art is next on his agenda.
Ralph McInerny, professor of philosophy and director of the Jacques Maritain Center at Notre Dame, holds degrees from the St. Paul Seminary, University of Minnesota and Laval University. He has taught at the University of Notre Dame since 1955 and since 1978 has been the Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies. He is author of two dozen scholarly books and many more scholarly essays, as well as numerous general interest works. He is expert in the work of Thomas Aquinas, Soren Kierkegaard and Jacques Maritain, and has written and lectured extensively on ethics, philosophy of religion and medieval philosophy. McInerny is editor of an acclaimed series of translations of Aquinas's commentaries; for many years, he directed Notre Dame's prestigious Medieval Institute. In his spare time, he founded, edited and wrote for Crisis, a journal of lay Catholic opinion, and penned over fifty novels, including the well-known Father Dowling mystery series. He has appeared on William Buckley's Firing Line and National Public Radio, and has lectured in nine countries, spanning three continents. He has served as president of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, the Metaphysical Society, the American Maritain Society and the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. He is a fellow of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. His Gifford Lectures, delivered in Glasgow in 1999-2000, were published under the title Characters in Search of Their Author (University of Notre Dame, 2001). He was recently appointed to membership on President Bush's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Prof. McInerny is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture.
Rev. Wilson Miscamble, CSC, has been a member of the history faculty at Notre Dame since 1988. The Australian native graduated from the University of Queensland in Brisbane in 1973 and did further graduate study before coming to Notre Dame to pursue a doctorate in history, which he received in 1980. He returned to Australia and worked as an analyst in the Office of National Assessments in the Prime Minister's Department for two years before making his way back to Notre Dame to join the Congregation of Holy Cross. He earned his M.Div. in 1987 and was ordained a priest in 1988. From 2000-2004, he served as rector of Moreau Seminary at Notre Dame. Fr. Miscamble's research and teaching interests include American foreign policy during and immediately after World War II, and Catholics and American Foreign Policy in the 20th Century. He has published numerous articles and books, including George F. Kennan and the Making of American Foreign Policy, 1947-1950 (Princeton, 1992), which received the Harry S. Truman Book Award. He is also the co-editor of American Political History: Essays on the State of the Discipline (University of Notre Dame Press, 1997). In addition to his work in history, Fr. Miscamble has researched and published several articles on Catholic higher education, including "Meeting the Challenge and Fulfilling the Promise: Mission and Method in Constructing a Great Catholic University," which appeared in The Challenge and Promise of a Catholic University by president emeritus of Notre Dame Fr. Theodore Hesburgh.
Donald Schmeltekopf served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Baylor University for twelveyears before retiring in 2003. Prof. Schmeltekopf has remained at Baylor as a professor of philosophy, pursuing a project of leadership development among Christian colleges and universities throughout the United States. Prof. Schmeltekopf earned his B.A. from Baylor and holds a master of divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from Drew University. He also did post-graduate study at Princeton University. Prior to joining the Baylor administration in 1990 as vice provost, he served as vice president for academic affairs, dean of the faculty and provost at Mars Hill College in North Carolina. He has been a program officer for the National Endowment for the Humanities and has served on the philosophy faculty at Union College in New Jersey. Currently a member of the executive committee for the American Council on Education Council of Fellows, Prof. Schmeltekopf serves on several editorial and advisory boards.
Robert Sloan served as president of Baylor University from 1995 through the spring of 2005. He earned his B.A. at Baylor and then attended Princeton Theological Seminary, where he earned his M.Div. in 1973. He conducted post-baccalaureate research in church history at the University of Bristol, England, from 1973-74 and earned the Doktor der Theologie from the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 1978. Sloan joined the faculty of Baylor's Department of Religion in 1983 after holding teaching positions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth from 1980-83. In 1990 he became the first holder of the George W. Truett Chair in Evangelism at Baylor, and in 1993 he was appointed dean of Truett Seminary, where he remained until being named president in 1995. From 1980-1995 Sloan served as interim pastor of more than 20 churches throughout Texas (plus one in Oklahoma) while holding full-time academic positions at SWBTS and Baylor. From 1991-92 he was president of the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies. In his academic capacity he has held membership in numerous professional societies, including the Society of Biblical Literature, the Southwest Biblical Seminar, the Institute for Biblical Research, the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion and Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas. He has authored two books, assisted with editing several others,and has published more than 50 articles and chapters for scholarly or ecumenical journals and publications. He has presented numerous academic papers and received awards and grants for his scholarship. He has been involved in numerous organizations related to higher education, including the Baylor College of Medicine, the Big 12 Athletic Conference Board of Directors, the board of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas, the Group of 6 (the six major athletic conferences), and the American Association of Presidents of Independent College and Universities.
Rev. Kevin Wildes, SJ has served as president of Loyola University New Orleans since July 1, 2004. Fr. Wildes is an expert in medical ethics and has extensive teaching and research experience, having taught at Loyola College in Maryland, University of Houston, Georgetown University Medical Center and Georgetown University. Prior to his appointment as president, Wildes was an associate dean of Georgetown College at Georgetown University and an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy of Georgetown University. He held a secondary appointment as assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He also served as a senior research scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown. After entering the Society of Jesus in 1976, he was ordained a priest in 1986. Wildes holds advanced degrees in theology from the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., and in philosophy from Fordham University and Rice University. He received a doctorate from Rice University in 1993; and his dissertation was on the foundations of bioethics. He serves as associate editor of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, as associate editor of the Philosophy and Medicine book series, and as co-editor of the Clinical Medical Ethics book series and the book series Philosophical Studies in Contemporary Culture. He was a founding editor of The Journal of Christian Bioethics. Wildes is the author of Moral Acquaintances: Methodology in Bioethics. He is also the editor or co-editor of four books: Birth, Suffering, and Death: Catholic Perspectives at the Edges of Life; Critical Care and Critical Choices: Catholic Perspectives on Allocating Resources in Intensive Care Medicine; Choosing Life: A Dialogue on Evangelium Vitae; and Infertility: A Crossroad of Faith, Medicine, and Technology. He has also delivered a number of invited lectures and papers and has written widely on bioethics and public policy.
