Alumnus of the Year
Timothy Beal, Florence Harkness Professor of Religion at Case Western Reserve University, is the 2009 GDR alumnus of the year. Dr. Beal is a graduate of the GDR's Hebrew Bible course of study.
Among Dr. Beal's published works are Religion in America: A Very Short Introduction (2008), Roadside Religion: In Search of the Sacred, the Strange, and the Substance of Faith (2005, which received the award of "Best Religion Books of 2005" by Publishers Weekly), Mel Gibson's Bible: Religion, Popular Culture and The Passion of the Christ (2006, co-edited with Tod Linafelt), and Theory for Religious Studies (2004), among others. In addition to his books and scholarly articles, Dr. Beal has published widely in the non-academic realms, including such publications as SoMA Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Washington Post.
In addition to these achievements, Dr. Beal served as the director of the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities at Case Western from 2003 to 2007. He is on the editorial boards of Golem, Postscripts, the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, and a steering committee member of the "Reading, Theory, and Bible" section of the Society of Biblical Literature.
Prior to his arrival at Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Beal taught at Eckerd College, and was an honourary lecturer at the University of Glasgow.
Recent Alumnus of the Year Awardees
2003 - Ted Jennings (Historical Studies)
2004 - Brian Blount (New Testament)
2005 - Max Miller (Hebrew Bible)
2006 - Rosetta Ross (Ethics and Society)
2007 - Valerie Ziegler (Historical Studies)
2008 - Brad Braxton (New Testament)
Other Recent Alumi News
Amy Cottrill, alumna of the GDR's Hebrew Bible course of study and assistant professor of Religion at Birmingham-Southern College, received the 2009 Bob Whetstone Faculty Development Award.
Renee K. Harrison, alumna of the GDR's Person, Community, and Religious Life course of study, recently published,Enslaved Women and the Art of Resistance in Antebellum America.
Ben Stewart, alumnus of the GDR's Person, Community,and Religious Life course of study, was installed as the first occupant of the Gordon A. Braatz Chair in Worship on September 23, 2009, at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
