Bio
Ciara graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2021 with a BA in philosophy & religion and psychology. In 2019 she was a recipient of the NWU Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Grant, which allowed her to explore pathways for designing a course on "New, Emergent, and Alternative Religions" as part of the U.S. Religious Diversity course at NWU. She has held internships with the Lancaster County Department of Corrections, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Department, and the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Ciara is particularly interested in the way classifications, identity formation, and rhetoric are mobilized in the interaction between law enforcement and new, emergent, and alternative religions. She hopes to use her degree from UA to pursue a career in federal law enforcement. For part of 2021-22 and all of 2022-23, Ciara works with Prof. Altman on REL's American Examples grant from the Luce Foundation.