Our People
Founding Director
Barbara A. McGraw, Founding Director, is Professor of Social Ethics, Law, and Public Life at Saint Mary's College of California, and is the author and editor of works on religion and public engagement, and interfaith leadership. Previously a Skadden Arps corporate finance attorney, she holds a Ph.D. in Religion and Social Ethics and J.D. form the University of Southern California.
Center's Saint Mary's College Internal Advisory Board
Center's External Advisory Board
Diana L. Eck is Director of The Pluralism Project and Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies and Frederic Wertham Professor of Law and Psychology in Society at Harvard University. She is the author of many books on religious pluralism and is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the National Humanities Medal from President Clinton and the National Endowment for the Humanities for her work on American religious pluralism and the American Academy of Religion’s Martin Mary Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University in the Comparative Study of Religion.
Eboo Patel is the founder and Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based institution building the global interfaith youth movement. He was appointed by President Obama to the Advisory Council of the Obama White House’s Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Initiatives. A recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize, and named to the Top 50 Power and Influence List by The NonProfit Times, he is the author of numerous books on interreligious understanding and engagement and is a frequent speaker in prestigious venues on those topics, including TED and the Nobel Peace Prize Forum. As a Rhodes scholarship recipient, he holds a doctorate in the sociology of Religion from Oxford University.
Brother Gerard is an Australian member of the De La Salle Christian Brothers. Fluent in French, Spanish, Italian and German, he served two periods on the staff of the International Lasallian Center in Room, which he directed from 1982-1986. Twice elected to the General Council of the De La Salle Christian Brothers (1986-1993 and 1993-2000), he has worked with displace member of his congregation all over the world. In the United States, he is a foundation presenter of the Buttimer Institute and the Lasallian Leadership Institute. He conducted post-graduate studies at London University and holds a doctorate from Lancaster University, specializing in the study of world religions.
Kenneth D. Wald is emeritus Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Samuel R. "Bud" Shorstein Professor of American Jewish Culture & Society, and former director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Florida. He is the author of numerous books and articles on religion and politics in the United States, as well as serving as editor of the Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics for Cambridge University Press. He has been a Fulbright Professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a visiting scholar at several prestigious universities, including Harvard University and Haifa University (Israel). He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Washington University-St. Louis.