Residential Ministry

Dr. Vanessee Burns

Methodist

Dr. Vanessee Burns is an ordained Elder with almost 30 years of pastoral experience. She is a former Prison Chaplain clinically trained through residential work in the VA and Mental Health Hospital systems. Dr. Burns is a certified clinical counselor. She possesses a BA, in English, from the University of Georgia, Athens, an M.Div., in Ethics of Old Testament and Biblical Languages, from the Phillips School of Theology at The Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta, a D.Min., in Pastoral Care, from Hood Theological, Salisbury, NC, and a Post Baccalaureate Certificate, in Marriage and Family Therapy, from North Central University. Dr. Burns has led mission teams to Jamaica, Haiti, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt.

Rev. Katherine Tuttle

Lutheran

Katherine Tuttle is a Rostered Minister with Metro DC Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.  She received her MDiv from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2015 and completed a hospital chaplain residency the following year at Rush University Medical Center.  She has prior experience as a Resident Minister at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.   Katherine was ordained in 2019 and served as the pastor of a PC(USA) and ELCA federated church outside Spokane WA until 2022 when her family relocated to the Metro DC area. Currently, she is called to serve as interim pastor of St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Southwest DC.

Katherine lives with her husband Dr. Jake Tuttle, who teaches in the Philosophy department at Georgetown University, and their two small children. In her free time, Katherine loves baking bread, walking, reading, spending time with her family, and playing the ukulele very poorly.

Rev. Mark Bosco, S.J., Ph.D.

Roman Catholic

Mark Bosco, S.J., Ph.D., is Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University and holds an appointment as a Professorial Lecturer in the Department of English. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Fr. Bosco joined Georgetown after fourteen years at Loyola University Chicago, where he was a tenured faculty member with a joint appointment in the Departments of Theology and English. He was also Director of Loyola’s Joan and Bill Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage from 2012 to 2017. At Loyola, Fr. Bosco lived in residence at Fordham Hall and provided students with spiritual guidance and home-cooked meals.

Sophia Funari

Roman Catholic

Sophie is a lay ecclesial minister in the Catholic Church (feel free to ask her what that means!). Her full-time job is with the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. serving women who have had abortions and training parish leaders how to facilitate support groups. Sophie earned her B.A. in Religious Studies and a B.S.W. in Social Work from Saint Mary’s College in South Bend, IN. Before moving to D.C., she received her Master of Divinity from the University of Notre Dame. She lives in Copley Hall with her husband, Joe, and their pet hamster, Fran. She loves people, traveling, and Mediterranean food.

Sherie Gayle

Protestant (Church of Christ)

Sherie Gayle is pursuing a PhD in Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown. In 2018, she was appointed Women’s Ministry Leader within the Greater Baltimore Church which coincided with the completion of a Master of Theological Studies at Loyola University Maryland. 

She has given many talks on the role of women in authority and advocates for the advancement of women in general and minority women in particular. When she is not functioning in her capacity as a minister or a student, she is living her best life-consuming books of all kinds, writing, taking pretty pictures, vlogging, playing guitar, traveling the world (pre-COVID 19), keeping her plants alive, and patronizing local minority-owned businesses.

Rev. TauVaughn Toney

Baptist

Rev. TauVaughn Toney (Rev. T) comes to Georgetown University with a wealth of ministry experience in the Church and academe. Previously, he served as the Minister to Youth and Young Adults and Digital Media Specialist at Trinity Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio, and a campus minister at Hallelujah Church at Princeton University. Rev. T holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Howard University, a Master of Divinity, and a Certificate in Black Church Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary, and is ordained in the American Baptist Churches USA and the National Baptist Convention. He also serves as a Chaplain for Protestant Ministry.

Mollie Sharfman

Jewish

Mollie Sharfman is a Jewish professional leader, educator, and activist who has been supporting and empowering Jewish communities across three continents!  In 2018, Mollie was recruited to Germany to serve as the Deputy Chief Program Officer at Educating for Impact, a transformative initiative designed to support Jewish communities in Europe. Mollie serves as the founding Director of Programming for the Muslim-Jewish Interfaith Coalition and is a two-time finalist of the American Joint Distribution Committee’s 2015 and 2021 Ralph I. Goldman Fellowship in Global Jewish Leadership. Previous roles include the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and GatherDC.

Mollie is currently a Public Service Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Advanced International Studies (SAIS)  Mollie received her Master’s degree in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), where she was nominated as a young Jewish innovative leader. She holds a B.A. in English Literature and Jewish Studies from Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women. Mollie was awarded by the BBC for her story of resilience as the first Jewish survivor to testify in the Halle Synagogue Trial in 2020.

Melanie Taylor

Protestant

Melanie Taylor holds an MA in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Seminary. Her pastoral concerns include racial trauma, ethnic identity development, emotional wellness, and intercultural education. Since 2010 she has moved between various roles in higher education, full-time church ministry, historic preservation, and contract work for minority-owned businesses. Now she is proud to be working in the museum field as a Curatorial Assistant. Through her collective experiences, Melanie has developed the capacity to minister to those experiencing racial trauma, church hurt, emotional pain, and career discernment. She is also intentional about investing in people of color by offering resources and pastoral support for their flourishing in predominantly white spaces. In her spare time, Melanie enjoys raising house plants, watching sports, and eating good food.

Eller Juco

Roman Catholic

Eller Juco is an Upper School Theology teacher at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls Catholic, Sacred Heart school in Bethesda, Maryland. He holds a BA in Philosophy and Theology from Boston College and an M.Ed. from the University of Notre Dame (member of the 25th cohort of the Alliance for Catholic Education). Currently, he is also working on his Master’s in Theology and Ministry from the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. In his free time, Eller plays a ton of basketball (also helping to coach the Varsity Basketball team at Stone Ridge), hangs out with his cat Caritas (Cari), shops for shoes, and nerds out over all things Bernard Lonergan, Phoebe Bridgers, and boygenius (finding God in all things, of course!).

Rachel “Rae” Grabowski

Roman Catholic

Rae was born into a Roman Catholic family in Wisconsin but has spent most of her life (except for a stint in upstate New York during grad school) in the DC area. She holds a BA in Medieval Studies from The Catholic University of America with minors in Philosophy and Theology, an MA in Medieval Studies from Cornell University, and is completing a dissertation on Eucharistic ecclesiology in early medieval England. Rae has taught in a variety of contexts: at universities (Cornell, CUA, and Georgetown), in New York State correctional facilities, in adult and teen RCIA programs, and most recently, history at an all-girls high school. She is currently the director of the Newman Center at George Washington University.  In her spare time, Rae enjoys either reading stories or telling them through role-playing games, frequenting the many museums in DC, and trying to knit through the yarn that has accumulated in her apartment.

Imam Yahya Hendi

Muslim

Imam Yayha Hendi is passionate about environmental responsibility, racial justice, eliminating poverty, fighting against the growing sense of militarism, and empowering Muslims to reform the way they practice and understand Islam. When Imam Hendi is not talking about these topics with students, you’ll find him in the kitchen cooking Maqloobah or his other favorite dishes, grilled chicken, rice, and hummus. Imam Hendi has been at Georgetown for 22 years he taught the course Inter-religious Encounters and was the first Muslim chaplain to be hired full-time by an American university. He also serves as the Director for Muslim Life.

Rev. Matthew Carnes, S.J.

Roman Catholic

Rev. Matthew Carnes, S.J. previously served as a Jesuit in Residence at Santa Clara University and continues this position at Georgetown. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University, Political Science, an M.Div. from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, an M.A. from Fordham University, and a B.A. from Stanford University. Fr. Carnes currently is an assistant professor in the Department of Government and Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown.

Brenton Brock

African Methodist Episcopal

Brenton Brock is an ordained Itinerant Deacon in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He serves as the Youth Pastor at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Brenton received his Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary with certifications in Black Church Studies and Theology, Women and Gender Studies, and a BA in Theology from Stillman College. Brenton is a fifth-year English Ph.D. candidate at Howard University specializing in African-American, Afro-Carribean, and Black-British literature and visual culture. Currently, he teaches as an Adjunct Lecturer of English at Georgetown, working closely with the Community Scholars Program.

Iman Saymeh

Muslim

Iman Saymeh works in the mental health field as a Clinical Social Worker. Prior to this, she worked as a public and private school teacher and a school principal for 15 years. Iman obtained her B.A. in Liberal Studies from California State University. She has two Master’s degrees, one in Instructional Leadership in Education from Argosy University, and the other in Social Work from California State University. Iman obtained her seminary degree in Islamic studies from the seminary at the Institute of Knowledge where she also served as a community spiritual chaplain. Iman enjoys volunteering in interfaith work, especially in academic settings.

Peter Mansour

Orthodox Christian

Peter Mansour is a Subdeacon in the Coptic Orthodox Church. He is a first-generation American and the son of two Egyptian immigrants. He received a BA in History and a minor in Religious Studies from the University of Maryland and an MA in Theology from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, NY. Peter previously worked as the Director of Youth & Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of New York and New England as well as the Pastoral Assistant of St. Barnabas & St. Susanna Coptic Orthodox Church in Baltimore, MD. Currently, he works as the Ministry Coordinator at Orthodox Christian Fellowship. He’s also the co-founder and CEO of SupportMyService Inc., a nonprofit that helps fund new ministry endeavors in the Orthodox Church. Peter lives with his wife, Sandra, a policy analyst for the federal government and a recent MPP graduate of American University, and their dog, Lucy.

Reed Howard

Protestant (United Methodist Church)

Reed Howard is a Hoya, a resident minister in New South Hall, and the senior director of communications for a democracy reform organization in Washington, DC. Reed previously served as a minister at Central United Methodist Church in Atlanta, GA. He studied ethics at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology where he received a Master of Divinity degree. Reed holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

Rev. Chris Steck, S.J.

Roman Catholic

Christopher Steck, S.J. was born in Pt. Arthur, Texas. After working as a design engineer for Texas Instruments, he entered the Jesuits in 1983 and was ordained a priest in 1994. Upon completion of his Ph.D. in Christian Ethics from Yale in 1999, he began work in the Theology Department at Georgetown. In addition to an award-winning book, Fr. Steck has published articles in contemporary Catholic ethics.

Michelle Siemietkowski

Roman Catholic

Michelle Siemietkowski (COL ’92, SCS ’98) is the Catholic Chaplain for Spiritual Formation in the Office of Mission and Ministry at Georgetown. She holds a Master’s degree in Pastoral Studies from the Washington Theological Union, a Master’s degree in Religious Studies from Georgetown University and a B.A. in English from Georgetown. She has experience with retreat ministry, spiritual direction, pastoral counseling and RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults). She lives in West Georgetown with her family.

Fr. David Pratt

Orthodox Christian

Fr. David Pratt is our Orthodox Christian Chaplain. He is also the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Endowed Orthodox Chaplain at Georgetown University endowed by the Michael Psaros Family. He is an archpriest in the Russian Orthodox Church. He has held the position of associate professor of philosophy at St. Martin’s University in Washington for the past ten years, and the position of sessional professor of pastoral practice at New York Theological Seminary for the past five. Fr. Pratt previously served 23 years as a U.S. military chaplain and ethicist. He holds a Ph.D. in comparative ethics from the University of Louvain, an S.T.L. from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and an M.Div. from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. Fr. Pratt serves as a residential minister in Reynolds Hall.

Rev. Greg Schenden, S.J.

Roman Catholic

Rev. Greg Schenden, S.J., entered the Jesuits in Syracuse, NY, and professed First Vows in 1999. Fr. Greg studied philosophy at Loyola University Chicago while hosting a weekly radio program for Loyola University’s radio station, WLUW. As his regency assignment, Fr. Greg returned to Gonzaga College High School to teach English and television communications. Fr. Greg has completed an M.Div. degree at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, CA. He currently serves as the Director of Campus Ministry at Georgetown while providing support to the Living Learning Community entitled the “Spirit of Georgetown Residential Academy”.

Diana Brown

Latter-day Saint

Diana grew up in the foothills of Utah’s gorgeous Wasatch Mountains. She deems herself the awkward product of her father’s gnocchi-loving Italian immigrant family and her mother’s Mormon pioneer heritage. Before Georgetown, Diana earned a BA and MA in Sociology from Brigham Young University, played violin in an instrumental post-rock band, learned Mandarin living in Taiwan, and researched American religion at the University of Notre Dame. She joined Campus Ministry in 2017, supporting Jewish, Muslim, and Dharmic Life before starting her current role as Assistant Director for Interreligious Engagement.

Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Hill

Methodist

Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Hill is an advocate for creating economic and social justice opportunities for disenfranchised communities. He has a BA in Religion from Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, a J.D. and an M.Ed. degree in Cultural and Educational Policy Studies from Loyola University Chicago, a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theological Studies with a concentration in Wesleyan Theology and History from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Reverend Hill is an ordained elder in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.  He has served in senior or associate ministerial capacities of congregations in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, and Texas over the past 25 years.

Reverend Hill is also a licensed lawyer in the District of Columbia, Texas, Tennessee, and several federal circuit courts and national courts. He is the managing member of the Jubilee Law Firm, practicing business law, bankruptcy, consumer credit law, estate planning, and real estate law. He is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is married to Rev. Dr. Shazetta Thompson-Hill (Dr. Z.) They live with their son Alex and their miniature dachshund, Eli.

Dr. Shazetta Thompson-Hill

Christian Methodist Episcopal

Dr. Shazetta Thompson-Hill (Dr. Z.) is a Theo-documentary filmmaker and photographer who utilizes the arts of narrative and visual storytelling to draw attention to issues of faith, justice, and community.  She is a native of Flint, Michigan, but spent most of her childhood in Western Tennessee. Dr. Z is an Ordained Elder in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and is committed to the exploration and demonstration of the ways in which effective preaching must extend beyond mere proclamation to include the ministry of presence. 

Dr. Z has a BA in Mass Communication from Lane College. She earned a Master of Social Work and a Master of Education in Cultural and Educational Policy Studies from Loyola University Chicago, as well as a Master of Divinity from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from Southern Methodist University, Perkins School of Theology. She is also the Program Director for Residential Ministry and resides in Copley Hall with her husband, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Hill, their son Alex, and their Miniature Daschund, Eli. Dr. Z enjoys photography, minimalism, and travel.

Premananda Villas Dasa

Dharmic: Vaishnava

Premananda Vilasa Dasa is a teacher of bhakti or devotional yoga in the lineage of Shri Chaitanya. He was born in New Delhi and lived in India until 2009, when he moved to the United States where he received a BA in Engineering and a PhD in History from the University of Virginia. His research areas include the history of technology and global environmental history in the twentieth century. He is a museum curator as well as a yoga and meditation instructor in Washington DC.

Rev. Grace Woodward

Presbyterian

Rev. Grace Woodward is an ordained Presbyterian pastor (PCUSA) and Washington, D.C. native, who recently moved back to the area after working as a hospital chaplain in Connecticut. Grace received her Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and studied Sociology at Davidson College. Grace is also a part-time law student and explores questions of Biblical justice and social ethics. Grace is a storyteller and enjoys drawing people into her experiences of the divine at work in the world. In her free time, Grace enjoys cooking and baking, exploring art galleries, and reading almost anything that captures her attention.

A.R. “Flanny” Flanigan

Presbyterian

A.R. “Flanny” Flanigan has a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, TN. A proud child of Tennessee, Flanny grew up in Memphis before attending Westminster College in Fulton, MO, where they majored in History and Sociology. Between undergrad and divinity school, Flanny completed a service year in the Philippines. Prior to coming to Georgetown, Flanny served as a hospital chaplain at Medstar Georgetown and St. Elizabeths Hospitals. Flanny is pursuing ordination within the Presbyterian Church, USA. Flanny’s principal loves include camping, listening to Dolly Parton, and drinking Dr. Pepper.