Kyle Ashley
M.A. (Religious Studies)
Advisor: Edith Szanto
From Highlands Ranch, Colorado, Kyle Ashley is continuing on with the Department after receiving his B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Alabama in the Fall of 2019. Kyle’s interests include imperialism, governmentality, and the intersection between media and power (with a particular focus on American discourses concerning Iran).
Caity Bell
M.A. (Religious Studies)
Advisor: Steven Ramey
Caity Bell, from Fort Payne, AL, graduated from the University of Alabama in 2018 with a B.A. in anthropology and religious studies. In addition to her M.A. in religion in culture, she plans to obtain a museum certificate from the university in order to better aid her research, which examines the various ways museums both construct and influence representations, particularly those of minority groups in the United States. She hopes to one day work in a museum and provide a better life for her two guinea pigs.
Jack Bernardi
M.A. (Religious Studies)
Advisor: Merinda Simmons
Jack Bernardi is back at his alma mater to pursue the REL MA after earning a BS in Pure Mathematics in 2017. His current research interests are primarily focused on applying strands of literary theory and phenomenology to emerging areas of American pop culture. In his free time, he’s either writing, playing tabletop games, or trying (unsuccessfully) to keep up with current music releases.
In 2019-20 Jack holds the prestigious Graduate Council Fellowship and serves as a half-time in the Fall of 2019 as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for American Studies.
Savannah Finver
M.A. (Religious Studies)
Advisor: Vaia Touna
Savannah graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas College in May of 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy/Religious Studies. After a short break from academia, she is excited to pursue her Masters degree at the University of Alabama. Her current interests are in the intersection of religion and politics in America, with a special interest in fringe groups. You’ll most likely find her curled up with a book in the corner of the library. Her hobbies include research, writing, reading, teaching, and talking philosophy with friends around a bonfire.
In 2018-19 Savannah held UA’s prestigious Graduate Council Fellowship.
Morgan Sadie Frick
M.A. (Religious Studies)
Advisor: Russell T. McCutcheon
Morgan Sadie Frick, from Dallas, TX, graduated from the University of Alabama in May 2019 with a B.A. in Religious Studies. She is interested in applying social theory to everyday life in order to better understand the world around her and the people who inhabit it. Morgan maintains an interest in the way individuals use language to achieve particular purposes and hopes to incorporate this in her M.A. research. She spends majority of her free time fawning over her Chihuahua, Dobby, and reading Stephen King novels.
In 2019-20 Morgan holds the prestigious National Alumni Association Graduate Fellowship and serves as a half-time in the Fall of 2019 as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for American Studies.
Visit her website.
Allison Isidore
M.A. (Religious Studies)
Advisor: Richard Newton
Allison Isidore, from Montclair, NJ, graduated from McDaniel College in May 2019 and received a B.A. in Religious Studies with a minor in History. Her focus is on the relationship and impacts religious minorities had on the Civil Rights Movement. In her spare time, she plays golf, bike rides, sits in a hammock reading books and spends time on the beach.
Matt McCullough
M.A. (Religious Studies)
Advisor: Theodore Louis Trost
Matthew is from Huntsville, AL and received his B.A. in Religious Studies and Political Science from the University of Alabama in 2017. He is interested in combining these two disciplines and studying the effects of religion in contemporary American politics. Particularly focused on competing perceptions about Christianity and the ideal relationship between church and state, he hopes to find new ways to think about how these issues impact not only elections and policy making but also the religion itself and the way individuals identify with it.
Keeley McMurray
M.A. (Religious Studies)
Advisor: Michael J. Altman
From Huntsville, AL, Keeley McMurray graduated from the University of Alabama in 2018 with a BA in Religious Studies and English and a minor in Theater. She is primarily interested in how “religion” and its orbiting discourses can be studied as rhetoric, deployed as a tool used to organize and reproduce a specific social world. Specifically, she is curious as to how this rhetoric functions in American politics and law, as a necessary feature that works to negotiate similarity and difference by creating governable individuals. When she’s not lost in quiet contemplation, Keeley enjoys animals, live music, and a lot of laughing. She hopes to be a lifelong learner, teacher and friend to all.
In 2018-19 Keeley held the prestigious National Alumni Association Graduate Fellowship and, in 2019-20, Keeley is the inaugural holder of the American Examples Graduate Research Assistantship, funding by the Luce Foundation.
Jeremee Nute
M.A. (Religious Studies)
Advisor: Steven Ramey
Jeremee Nute is originally from Bevier, in the east corner of Missouri. He graduated from Missouri Western State University in May 2019 with a B.S in Mathematics Education and Philosophy with a concentration in Religious Studies. His research interests include Chinese religiosity, secularism, comparative studies, and philosophy of religion. He plans on obtaining his Ph.D someday in religious studies. In his spare time, he goes birding with his partner, plays with his two dogs and kitten, and enjoys watching terribly produced horror movies.
Ana Self Schuber
M.A. (Religious Studies)
Advisor: Steven L. Jacobs
Ana Self Schuber is currently the Program Manager for the New College LifeTrack Program on the UA campus, which assists adult students in the completion of their bachelor’s degree. Ana has been an instructor for various programs at UA since 1991 and begins the MA in Religious Studies part-time in the Fall of 2018. She has taught courses in the Folk Arts and Haunted Alabama, and belongs to the Alabama Folklife Association, the West Alabama Quilters Guild and the Alabama Gravestone Society. She received a B.S.E in Theatre/Speech and English from Central Missouri State along with a M.A. in English. Additionally, she completed a M.A. in Women’s Studies from The University of Alabama. She has three grandchildren and two dogs and loves quilting, crocheting (which she does in class and meetings) and camping.
