The Ecologies of Learning Project - a project of NEW YORK THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Meet the Team
Lester Edwin J. Ruiz Vice President of Academic Affairs NYTS Administration Email: lester.ruiz@nyts.edu Phone: (212) 870-1211 Dr. Ruiz is the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of Theology and Culture for New York Theological Seminary. Before he joined the Faculty of the Seminary in 1997, he was Associate Professor of Political Science at International Christian University, in Tokyo, Japan. Lester has written widely on peace and social change, nationalism and social movements, and theology and politics. He is on the editorial committee of the journal Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, and Silliman Journal. His current teaching and research interest is on theories and practices of transformation in the context of globalization and the experience of (Filipino) Diaspora.
Shirvahna Gobin Director of Administration and Development Email: Sgobin@nyts.edu Phone: (212) 870-1208 Shirvahna Gobin is the Director of Administration and Development for the Ecologies of Learning Project (EOL). She is dedicated to public service in New York City, and brings knowledge and experience from a variety of service organizations to her work at EOL. She has been with the Ecologies of Learning Project for more than two years and prior to her current appointment, she served in the role of Project Coordinator for this project. Currently at EOL, she is responsible for managing and executing all the operational dimensions for the project including budgeting, planning (short- and long-term and strategic), internal staff coordination, community and public events, external relations and communication. In addition, she assumes major responsibility for fundraising and for developing the infrastructure that will ensure EOL’s future beyond the Lilly Endowment grant. Finally, Shirvahna plays an active role in research through her use of Arcview GIS mapping. Prior to her roles in the Ecologies of Learning Project, she was employed as a Service Coordinator for Safe Horizon’s September 11th Fund in which she coordinated, developed and designed programs to improve 9/11 victim services. Shirvahna is currently pursing a Master’s degree in Urban Planning and Policy.
Max Herman Research Associate Professor Email: mherman@nyts.edu Phone: (212)-870-1206 Max Herman is the newly appointed Research Associate Professor for the Ecologies of Learning Project. Currently, he is responsible for updating and coordinating the efforts of EOL research fellows and assistants, helping to disseminate the results of our studies through scholarly publications and public forums. Professor Herman is an urban sociologist by training with a strong interest in the role that religious institutions play in helping to alleviate ethnic/racial conflicts in rapidly changing urban communities. He received his B.A from Tufts University, an M.A. from Yale University and his Ph.D from the University of Arizona. For the past six years at Rutgers University in Newark NJ he has taught courses on race and ethnicity, urban sociology, civil conflict, and social movements. He is the author of Fighting in the Streets: Ethnic Succession and Urban Unrest in 20th Century America (Peter Lang Publishers, 2005) and is completing a second book length manuscript titled Summer of Rage: Newark, Detroit and the Summer of ’67 which utilizes oral history interviews to address the causes and consequences, memory and meaning of urban unrest in those two cities during the summer of 1967. He has also served as chief oral history consultant to the New Jersey Historical Society for the planned exhibit titled “What’s Going On: Urban Unrest in New Jersey During the 1960s”. In addition to his work on demographic change and ethnic conflict, Dr. Herman continues to do research on the relationship between African American Christians and Jews in the Civil Rights Movement and in present day America.
Moses Biney Teaching Fellow Email: Mbiney@nyts.edu Phone: (609) 647-8462 Moses O. Biney is a Research and Teaching Fellow of EOL. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Religion and English and a Diploma in Education (B. A. (Hons.) Dip. Ed) from the University of Cape Coast, a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) degree from the University of Ghana, a Master of Theology (Th. M) and a PhD in Religion and Society from Princeton Theological Seminary. His research and teaching interests include religion and culture, religions of Africa and the African Diaspora, the encounter between Christianity and Indigenous religions, religion and migration, congregational studies.
Richard Cimino Research Fellow Email: Cimir315@newschool.edu Phone: (212)-870-1240 Richard Cimino is a Ph.D candidate in Sociology at the New School for Social Research. He is currently working on his dissertation titled “The Most Scientific Religion”: The Discourse of Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh Applied Scientists. He is the author of Trusting the Spirit: Reform and Renewal in American Religion (Jossey-Bass 2000)and co-author of Shopping for Faith: American Religion in the New Millenium (Jossey-Bass 1998). He is also the founding editor and publisher of the Religion Watch newsletter.
Katie DiSalvo Research Affiliate Email: Kdisalvo@nyts.edu Phone: (914) 646-4051 Katie DiSalvo was a full-time researcher for EOL in the East Village and Lower East Side between 2005 and 2007. She researched street ministry and Catholic activities in the area, and coordinated a team of researchers (of which she was a member) studying congregations and night-life in the East Village. She did an in-depth case study of St. Mary’s R.C. Church on Grand St., and an article on how their parish culture supports civic and parish participation will appear in the Review of Religious Research. Katie graduated with a bachelor’s degree in comparative religion from Harvard College (05), where she studied with Dr. Livezey and researched a church of homeless people in Boston. The interest in community level organizing and service provision that undergirded Katie’s research has led her to take a new job coordinating adult education programming for Lenox Hill Neighborhood House. She continues to research and write for EOL as a Research Affiliate.
Matthew Immergut Research Affiliate Email: Matthew.immergut@gmail.com Phone: (845) 679-8498 Matthew Immergut is a full time instructor of sociology at Purchase College, SUNY. His fields of research are the sociology of religion and environmental sociology. He was a Teaching and Research Assistant during EOL's first year and continues to work with us at the intersection between urban religion and the urban environment.
Weishan Huang Research Fellow Email: weishan_huang@yahoo.com Phone: (347)-239-9097 Weishan Huang is also a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at the New School. Her dissertation titled “Between Nations: Three Transnational Chinese Religious Organizations and Their Presence in New York Chinese Immigrant Communities”, explores the relationship among ethnic Chinese migration, ethnic conflicts, and the construction of religious identity within the ethnic Chinese migrant community. She is the author of two chapters in edited volumes on “Chinese Immigrants and Religious Incorporation” in NewYork and Urban Buddhism in New York”. She is also an executive committee member for the United Nations NGO Committee on Migration and the UN NGO Committee on the Status of Women.
Nadia Mian Research Fellow Email: miann396@newschool.edu Phone: (201) 918-6703 Nadia Mian is a third year doctoral student specializing in urban policy at The New School. Her interests include urban redevelopment, urban religion, and church/state relations. She is currently a Research Fellow with the Ecologies of Learning Project at the New York Theological Seminary, where she is researching religion and the city, focusing on the relationship between religious institutions, real estate, and urban development. She is also a Teaching Fellow at the New School for General Studies. Prior to entering the PhD program, Nadia worked as an assistant planner for the Government of Ontario on the creation and implementation of a Greenbelt encompassing the Greater Golden Horseshoe in Southern Ontario. She holds a Master of Environmental Studies with a specialization in urban planning, and an Honours B.A in English from York University in Toronto, Canada.
Keun-joo Christine Pae Research & Teaching Fellow Email: Cp2176@columbia.edu Phone: (212)-870-1240 (203) 676-6079 Keun-joo Christine Pae is a native of Korea and joined the Ecologies of Learning Project in January 2006 when she moved to New York to pursue doctoral study in Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary after earning the M.Div. degree from Yale Divinity School. Her research interests include the dynamic lives and social characters of Koreans and their churches in Metropolitan New York. She is currently serving at St. Peter's Korean Episcopal Church in North Bergen, NJ.
Monifa Brinson-Mulraine Research Fellow Email: Mmulraine@aol.com Phone: (212)-870-1240 Monifa Mulraine is a Ph.D candidate in Sociology at the New School for Social Research where she is beginning her dissertation research on the role of first ladies in churches. She holds a Masters Degree in Sociology from the City College of New York and has taught courses on Sociology, Crime and Criminology and “The Sociology of Race, Rap and Religion” at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ. She has worked for the NAACP Williambridge Chapter where she served as founder and project coordinator of the Children’s Newsletter, as well as the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services where she worked as Bilingual Senior Case Manager. She has also worked as a research assistant on the Harlem Health Survey and is currently president of the Dance Ministry at Unity Baptist Tabernacle, where her husband (an NYTS graduate) serves as pastor.
Elizabeth Pullen Research Affiliate Email: Epullen@drew.edu Phone: (212)-870-1240 Elizabeth Pullen is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology of Religion at Drew University where her dissertation is entitled Representing Christ: Foreign-born Priests at work in the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S.A. Her essays have been published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, The Encyclopedia of African American Religions, and Wolves Within the Fold (Rutgers Press). In addition to studying congregations in Manhattan's Lower East Side, she is currently developing a comprehensive analysis of cultural institutions in the area.
Rafael Reyes III Project Assistant Email: Rreyes@nyts.edu Phone: (212) 870-1240 Rafael Reyes III is the Project Assistant at the Ecologies of Learning Project. He is currently finishing his M.Div degree at New York Theological Seminary. He has an M.A. in New Testament Studies at Alliance Theological Seminary. Rafael Reyes III is interested in Systematic Theology and Constructive Theology, and its application in the life of the church and world. He is currently serving at a Disciples of Christ Church in Jersey City, NJ.
Matt Weiner Research Affiliate Email: Gotoku@aol.com Phone: (212) 685-4242 Matthew Weiner is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, and the Director of Program Development at the Interfaith Center of New York. He is currently finishing his PhD at Union Theological Seminary with a dissertation on the social networks of grassroots religious leaders of the world’s religions in New York.
Robert Zuber Senior Associate Email: bzuber@nyts.edu Phone: (212)-870-1240 (212)-662-6238 Dr. Robert Zuber, a graduate of Yale and Columbia Universities, is an organizational and fundraising consultant to a wide variety of human rights, environmental, educational and religious non-profit organizations. He has also provided leadership on youth, hunger, AIDS and related issues for congregations in Harlem, North Carolina and other settings. His role with EOL is focused on building funding and organizational capacity and program development.