Honors Program
Faculty
Honors Program Faculty |
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Rev. Dr. John Ranieri
Director of the Honors Program
Thomas and Ruth Sharkey Professor of Humanities
Professor of Philosophy
Fr. Ranieri is interested in the relationship between the biblical tradition and political philosophy. Influenced by the thought of René Girard, he has been exploring the role of violence in philosophy and religion. In addition to Girard, Fr. Ranieri also has a special interest in the work of Bernard Lonergan. Fr. Ranieri is the author of Eric Voegelin and the Good Society (University of Missouri Press, 1995). He has published "Modernity and the Jewish Question: What Leo Strauss Learned from Nietzsche," which can be found in Politics and Apocalypse (Michigan State University Press, 2007). His book, Disturbing Revelation: Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin, and the Bible, has recently been published by University of Missouri Press, 2009.
Associate Professor of Religion
Let me tell you a little about myself. I am an alumnus of Seton Hall (class of 1962), and I have been a member of the faculty of the Department of Religion since 1964. I served as Dean of Freshman Studies at the University from 1987 to 1996, acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1997, interim provost of the University in 1997-98, and am now back in full-time teaching, and very much involved in the University's efforts in developing information technology and in developing and implementing our new Core Curriculum.
My roots at Seton Hall go very deep: my father was an alumnus, and so were all my uncles. I have been involved in all sorts of activities at Seton Hall over the years. Beyond teaching a number of courses in Religious Studies, I have taught the IDIS 1501 Peoples and Cultures of America course, several versions of Freshman Seminars, and both the Classical Cultures and Medieval Cultures colloquia in the Honors Program. I have been adviser to several student organizations over the years; at present I am faculty adviser to the New Jersey Phi Beta chapter of Phi Kappa Theta fraternity (since 1973), and to FLASH, the Filipino student organization.
Dr. David Bénéteau
Associate Professor of Italian
Director, Italian Studies Program
My main interests are in Medieval and Renaissance Italian Literature; I work on early prose translations from French and I am preparing a critical edition of a text entitled "Li fatti de' Romani", dated 1313, for the Italian publisher Edizione Nazionale degli Antichi Volgarizzamenti. I have been at Seton Hall since 1992, and before that I received my Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. I grew up in Italy and then lived ten years in French Canada.
I also teach Italian Melodrama and the Medieval colloquium of the Honors Program. I have also taught CORE 1101 The Journey of Transformation and CORE 3101 Engaging the World. I am currently chair of the Faculty Senate.
Associate Professor of Classics
Director. Program of Classical Studies
I received my A.B. and Ph.D.
in Classics at
I serve on the Executive Committees of
the American Association for Neo-Latin Studies, and of the New Jersey Classical
Association, as well as on the Board of Directors of the Classical Association
of the Atlantic States.
I wrote and administer the New Jersey Latin Test for
Teacher Certification for the State Department of Education.
Since 1993 I have hosted a Latin and Greek reading group at
my dining room table on Friday afternoons.
Dr. Raymond Capra
Assistant Professor of Classics
I began teaching in the Department of Classical Studies in
2006 replacing Fr. Eugene Cotter who had been at Seton Hall University since
1965. I teach all levels of ancient Greek, and also a full range of Classical
Studies courses in translation.
My research centers on Epic and Lyric
poetry of the ancient Hellenic world, in particular the western poets
Stesichorus and Ibycus and their reevaluation of the Homeric tradition. I am
particularly interested in the role of the poet as an agent in the formation of
cultural identity from Homer to Dante.
Dr. Colleen Conway
Professor of Religion
Colleen Conway earned her PhD in New Testament Studies from Emory University in Atlanta. Her research interests have focused on the construction of gender in the the New Testament texts, both from a literary perspective and from a socio-historical perspective. Her first book, Men and Women in the Fourth Gospel: Gender and Johannine Characterization (Scholars Press, 1999) explored the role of the female characters in the narrative of the Gospel of John. Her recent book, Behold the Man: Jesus and Greco-Roman Masculinity (Oxford Press, 2008), examines the way the New Testament authors responded to cultural ideals about manliness in their presentations of Jesus. Dr. Conway has also published several articles on the Gospel of John dealing with both literary and historical questions in the Journal of Biblical Literature, Biblical Interpretation, and other volumes. She is currently co-authoring a college textbook titled Introduction to the Bible: Sacred Texts and Imperial Contexts, to be published with Wiley Blackwell Press.
Dr. Karen Gevirtz
Associate Professor of English
Dr. Marian Glenn
Professor of Biological Sciences
Dr. Glenn teaches courses in the Department of Biological Sciences: Ecology, Microbial Ecology, and General Biology, and in the Humanities Honors Program. She is also involved in the University Core Curriculum and the Environmental Studies program. Her current research activities are in integrative science and bridging the gap between the sciences and humanities. She is active in civic environmental education.
Michael Mascio
Assistant Professor of Classics
Professor of Religious Studies
Dr. Murzaku specializes in
Ecclesiastical History, especially Byzantine and Catholic Church History. At
Her first book,
Catholicism, Culture and Conversion: The History
of the Jesuits in
Dr. Dermot Quinn
Professor of History
Before coming to Seton Hall in 1990 he taught at Amherst College in Massachusetts and at Oxford University. He has degrees from Trinity College, Dublin and Oxford University. His first book, Patronage and Piety: English Roman Catholics and Politics, 1850-1900, was published in 1993 by Stanford University Press. Another book, Understanding Northern Ireland, was published by Baseline Books, also in 1993. Professor Quinn is a native of Derry, Northern Ireland. He has published articles and reviews in Recusant History, The Chesterton Review, The American Historical Review, Labor History, The Review of Politics, The Welsh History Review, and other scholarly journals. Professor Quinn's third book, The Irish in New Jersey: Four Centuries of American Life, was published by Rutgers University Press in 2004, winning New Jersey Author award for scholarly non-fiction in 2005.
Dr. Cherubim Quizon
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Dr. Quizon looks at how ideas of nation, ethnicity and the
self relate to symbols and their transformation whether approached as art,
popular imagery, or material culture. Her expertise on textiles and the Bagobo
of the Philippines combines multi-site fieldwork with a historical evaluation of
early 20th century American museum collections. She has examined the subaltern
voice of people on anthropological display at World's Fairs (Philippine Studies
2004), analyzed tropes of indigenism and dictatorship in 20th century painting
(Asian Studies Review 2005), and explored the use of ethnography for
within-community psychological research (Journal of Counseling Psychology 2005).
Her recent works include an ethnographic account of Bagobo cognitive categories
of �modern� and �traditional� clothing that do not coincide with the perspective
of outsiders (Ethnology 2007), an overview of loom and fiber technology in
Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific (Paths of Origins, edited by P. Benitez-Johannot,
ArtPost Asia 2008), and an article on Southern Philippine textiles in the
Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion (forthcoming Berg 2010). Her current
research looks into how the Bagobo move in and out of transnational social
spaces, including displays of people in the 21st century, while continuing her
engagement with Mindanao ikat textiles in early Southeast Asian culture history.
Dr. Peter Savastano
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Dr. Savastano's research and writing focus on the
intersection/clash of religion and sexuality; vernacular Christianity (or "folk"
Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy) and the devotional and ritual practices
associated with it; the cult of the Virgin Mary and the saints in both Roman
Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Dr. Savastano also studies
Christian monasticism both in late antiquity and its 21st century context;
contemplative life, practice and pedagogy and the negative effects of
globalization and information technology on the human capacity of wonder and
awe; the lives and works of Thomas Merton, Bede Griffiths, and Henri Le Saux --
Roman Catholic mystics, social reformers and pioneers of inter-religious
theology, dialogue and practice; and the relationship between altered states of
consciousness, ritual, healing and religion in western and eastern religious
traditions and in Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santeria.
Associate Director of the Honors Program
Professor of Philosophy
I have been teaching at Seton Hall University since 1980 after receiving my Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research in New York City. My scholarly interests include the philosophy of St. Augustine, medieval thought, the works of Hannah Arendt and feminist theories. In 1995 I co-authored Hannah Arendt: Love and Saint Augustine (with Joanna V. Scott) published by the University of Chicago Press.
I am an associate professor in the Philosophy Department. For nine years I was director of the Program overseeing its current expansion to 130 students from Arts & Sciences, Business, Education, and Human Services and the new School of Diplomacy and International Relations. In my spare time, I do sea kayaking and am an avid amateur birder.
Dr. Robert Waters
Assistant Professor of Music