Kristen Bergman received her Bachelors Degree in 2006 from Westmont College. Bergman will be pursuing a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at UC Davis, where she plans to study nineteenth century European literature and postcolonial anglophone and francophone literature of the twentieth century. She is fascinated by the intersections of and exchanges between different cultures and languages in literature, and she hopes to explore questions surrounding identity, nationalism, conflict and reconciliation.

Susan Bilynskyj received her Bachelors Degree in 2008 from Seattle Pacific University. Susan will be studying Classics in a 2-year MA program at the University of Toronto, as a first step towards the 4-year PhD program there. At the PhD level, she would like to compare the use of hymns in pagan and Christian worship. Some of her other interests include: liturgy, Indo-European philology, and early Germanic languages and literature.

Bethany Carlson received her Bachelors Degree in 2007 from Indiana Wesleyan University. This fall she will be an MFA candidate in the University of Arkansas' Creative Writing Program (concentrating in Poetry). Bethany's writing often reflects parallels found in the relationship between contemporary urban life and nature. Her academic interests include literary nonfiction, ekphrastic poetry, and the American novel.

Ian Corbin received his Bachelors Degree in 2006 from Gordon College and his Masters degree in Theology from Yale Divinity School in 2008. This fall Ian is entering the philosophy department at Boston College, intending to study the philosophy of politics and art, with an eye to understanding how politics and art interact and shape each other.

Kirsten Hasler received her Bachelors Degree in 2007 from Gordon College. Kirsten will be studying Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, with a focus on International Relations and Political Theory. She is especially interested in Nationalism and its impact on world politics as well as the relationship between religion and politics

Nathan Kilpatrick received his Bachelors Degree in 2006 from Azusa Pacific University. Kilpatrick will be studying at Baylor University in the PhD in Literature and Religion program. In this program, he intends to study how American authors have been influenced by indigenously American religious experience and how this influence shapes how they communicate religious experience within their writings. Specifically, he plans to focus on how contemporary American authors are dealing with a literary heritage of religious individualism while still maintaining an identity within the religious community.

Angela McClain received her Bachelors Degree in 2006 from Wheaton College. McClain is beginning a Ph.D. in English language and literature at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor this fall. She plans to study early modern literature in England, particularly as it intersects with the religious, musical, and classical influences of the period. She has previously written about the relationship between Thomas Campion's poetry and his music, and she is currently interested in exploring the liturgy and language of mortality in sixteenth-century England.

Jessica Morton received her Bachelors Degree in 2008 from the University of Notre Dame. Morton will be entering the PhD program in English Language and Literature in the fall at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. She plans to study late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British and Irish literature, with an interest in nation, war, and terror.

Benjamin Safranski received his Bachelors Degree in 2006 from Belmont Abbey College and a Masters Degree in Theology from the University of Notre Dame in 2008. Safranski is entering the Ph.D. program at Catholic University of America, where he plans to study the history of the Church, focusing on the early and medieval periods. He is particularly interested in the development of discernment and decision-making structures in the Church, the evolving roles of the bishops and Pope, and theology of priesthood and ministry. He is also highly interested in Christian interpretation of the Old Testament, especially among the Church Fathers.

Andrea Smith-Rippeon received her Bachelors Degree in 2007 from the University of Dayton. This fall she will enter the doctoral program in Political Science at Indiana University with a focus on comparative politics and secondary interests in political theory and East Asian politics. She is particularly enthusiastic about Chinese minority policy, legal reform, and issues of nationalism.

Samuel Stoner graduated from University of Notre Dame with a degree in the program of liberal studies--a Great books program. At Notre Dame he was also a diver on the varsity swimming and diving team. Stoner will attend Tulane University to study philosophy and is currently interested in studying Kant's moral and political thought.

Donavan Tann received his Bachelors Degree in 2008 from Eastern Mennonite University. Tann is entering the English Literature program at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and plans to concentrate on Modernist literature. His interests also include visual arts, creative writing, and music.

Johanna Brinkley Tomlinson received her Bachelors Degree in 2008 from Valparaiso University. She is entering the Ph.D. program in English this fall at the University of Iowa where she hopes to study nineteenth-century literature, both American and British, and she is particularly interested in visual culture as it pertains to literature in this time period. She is also interested in literature for children.

Amanda Weppler received her Bachelors Degree in 2008 from Baylor University. She will be studying in the Medieval Institute at Notre Dame. Her greatest interest is the works of Dante, so she will be probably be concentrating her work in the fields of Italian and philosophy/theology. She is also interested in the influence of the Middle Ages on modern literature.

Mallory Wilhelm received her Bachelors Degree in 2008 from Grove City College. Wilhelm intends to study modernist literature in the Ph.D. program at Penn State University. Her areas of interest include the novel (British and American), French poststructuralist theory, and the intersections among literature, religion, and philosophy.

Dr. Jane Kelley Rodeheffer Faculty Mentor, Lilly Graduate Fellows First Cohort Dr. Jane Kelley Rodeheffer is Professor of Philosophy at Saint Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota. She holds degrees from Boston College, Harvard, and Vanderbilt, where she completed her Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1989. Professor Rodeheffer has published articles in a number of areas in philosophy, and she is the co-editor of two collections of essays, Core Texts in Conversation and The Work of Andre Dubus. She has been active in the Lilly Fellows Program, having served twice on its national Network Board. At Saint Mary's University, Dr. Rodeheffer has served as director of both the university wide Core Traditions program and the Great Books Honors Program. Her awards include the Lane chair in Humanities, and the Severin Award for Excellence in Teaching. Professor Rodeheffer is currently developing a minor in Asian Studies at Saint Mary's.

Dr. Michael Beaty Faculty Mentor, Lilly Graduate Fellows First Cohort Dr. Michael D. Beaty has been at Baylor University since 1987, holds the rank of Professor of Philosophy and is currently chair of the philosophy department. Also, he has served as Vice Provost for Faculty Development at Baylor and was founding Director of Baylor's Institute for Faith and Learning. Dr. Beaty holds a B.A. degree in Philosophy from Ouachita Baptist University, an M.A. in Philosophy from Baylor University, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Notre Dame. His areas of academic specialization include Christianity and Higher Education, Philosophy of Religion, and Moral and Social Philosophy. Dr. Beaty was voted Outstanding Tenured Faculty member at Baylor in 1994. He was Visiting Distinguished Scholar and Research Fellow at the Center for Ethics and Culture, the University of Notre Dame, spring, 2005.