Current Staff

    Mark Silk is editor of the magazine and professor of religion in public life at Trinity College. He graduated from Harvard College in 1972 and earned his Ph.D. in medieval history from Harvard University in 1982. After teaching at Harvard in the Department of History and Literature for three years, he became editor of the Boston Review.  In 1987 he joined the staff of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he worked variously as a reporter, editorial writer and columnist. In 1996 he became the founding director of the Greenberg Center and in 1998 founding editor of Religion in the News, a magazine published by the Center that examines how the news media handle religious subject matter. In June 2005, he was also named director of the Trinity College Program on Public Values, comprising both the Greenberg Center and a new Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture. Professor Silk is the author of Spiritual Politics: Religion and America Since World War II and Unsecular Media: Making News of Religion in America. He is co-editor of Religion by Region, an eight-volume series on religion and public life in the United States, and co-author of the forthcoming One Nation Divisible: Religion and Region in America Today.
      Mark Silk's c.v.          Religion in the News articles by Mark Silk.

  Andrew Walsh    is managing editor of Religion in the News, associate director of the Greenberg Center, and visiting assistant professor of history and religion.  He holds degrees from Trinity College, Yale Divinity School, and Harvard University, where he earned a Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization in 1996.  His academic interests focus on American religious, cultural, and political history during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Walsh also worked for The Hartford Courant for six years, serving as a reporter, bureau chief, and religion writer. His doctoral dissertation is entitled: "For the Our City's Welfare: Building a Protestant Establishment in Late Nineteenth Century Hartford."
Andrew Walsh's c.v.      Religion in the News articles by Andrew Walsh.

Christine McCarthy McMorris is assistant and office manager for the Greenberg Center and the Program on Public Values, and editorial associate on Religion in the News. In addition to her work at the Center, she is a freelance writer, researcher and editor who has worked for Connecticut Public Television, Cinestudio, Hartford's April in Paris Film Festival, Tony Kushner and American Playhouse. She holds a B.A. in French at Trinity College and a M.F.A. from Columbia University's Film Division. Religion in the News articles by Christine McCarthy McMorris.

Editorial Assistants:

Brendan Kelly, a member of the Trinity College Class of 2010 from Milton, Massachusetts, is an editorial assistant.

Amory C. Minot is a law and public policy major and a member of the Class of 2009 from Newton, Massachusetts.

Alexander D. Salvato is a member of the Trinity College Class of 2010 from Bedford Hills, New York.

Former Staff 

Sue Day was assistant and office manager for the Center, and editorial associate on Religion in the News, from 1996-2001.  A former elementary school teacher, she holds a B.S. and an M.Ed. from Cornell University.  In addition, she has been a volunteer leader in education, religious and community organizations, the Junior League, and for Cornell, which awarded her the Frank H. T. Rhodes Award, its highest honor for alumni volunteers.  Sue retired in the summer of 2001, and will be greatly missed by colleagues and friends at the Center and Trinity College.

 David W. Machacek was associate and contributing editor of Religion in the News and resident fellow at the Greenberg Center from 2003-05, he is associate director of Humanity in Action, a New York based non-profit that sponsors international human rights education programs, and visiting assistant professor of public policy at Trinity College. He holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is co-author of Soka Gakkai in America: Accommodation and Conversion (1999) and Religion on Trial: How Supreme Court Trends Threaten the Freedom of Conscience in America (2004)   David Machacek's c.v.   Religion in the News articles by David Machacek.

Dennis Hoover was associate editor of Religion in the News and resident fellow/program associate at the Center from August 1999 to December 2002. In January 2003 he became Executive Director of the Council on Faith & International Affairs. CFIA is an initiative of the Institute for Global Engagement.  Hoover earned his graduate degrees, M.Phil. Politics (1992) and D.Phil. Politics (1997), from the University of Oxford, U.K. In his scholarship Hoover has worked to develop comparative perspectives on American public life, with a focus on religion and politics. His doctoral thesis explores religion, political mobilization, and American exceptionalism through a comparative case study of the United States and Canada since the 1960s. 
Dennis Hoover's c.v.  Religion in the News articles by Dennis Hoover.

Anthony Burke Smith was associate editor of Religion in the News and program associate at the Center in 1998 and 1999. He holds degrees from Boston College and the University of Minnesota, where he received a doctorate in American Studies in 1995. In September of 1999 he became assistant professor of religion at the University of Dayton.

Former Undergraduate Editorial Assistants

Colin Adams was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News and an undergraduate fellow at the Center from fall 2007 semester through spring 2008. A member of Trinity College's Class of 2008 from Haddonfield, New Jersey, he majored in German and religion. Religion in the News articles by Colin Adams.

Andrew Chase Baker was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News and an undergraduate fellow at the Center from fall semester 2001 through summer 2003. A member of Trinity College's Class of 2003 from Amherst, New Hampshire, he was graduated with honors in general scholarship, religion and English. He began work on a Master's degree in Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School in September '03. Religion in the News articles by Andrew Baker.

Thea Button, a religion major and a member of the Class of 2011 from New York City, worked as an editorial assistant on Religion in the News in the fall semester of 2008.Religion in the News articles by Thea Button.

Rachel Claflin was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News and an intern at the Center in 2004 and 2005. A member of Trinity College's Class of 2005 from Seattle, Washington, she majored in religion. Religion in the News articles.

John Cosgriff was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News in 2007. A member of Trinity College's Class of 2007 from Springfield, Massachusetts, he majored in English. Religion in the News articles

Michael Evans was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News and an intern at the Center in 2003. A member of Trinity College's Class of 2003 from Worcester, Massachusetts, he majored in history. Religion in the News articles.

Rebecca Fowler was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News and an intern at the Center in the fall and spring semesters of 2004/005. A member of Trinity College's Class of 2005 from Los Angeles, California, she majored in religion. Religion in the News articles.

Lisa San Pascual was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News in the fall and spring semesters of 2003-2004, and in  the fall semester of 2004. She is a member of Trinity College's Class of 2006 from Brightwaters, New York. Religion in the News articles.

Alexander Gordon was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News in the summer of 2002 and the summer of 2005. A member of Trinity College's Class of 2005 from Farmington, Connecticut. Religion in the News articles.

Thomas Hambrick-Stowe was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News from 2000 to 2001. A member of Trinity's Class of 2001 from Lancaster, PA, he was a religion major. Religion in the News articles.

Christian Jacobson was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News in 1998. Jacobson, a member of Trinity's Class of 1998, was a religion major. 

Ian Lang was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News in 1999. A member of Trinity's Class of 1999, he was a religion major.

Leslie Miller-Dancy, a member of Trinity's Class of 2009 from Kansas City,was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News from Fall 2006 to Spring 2007. Religion in the News articles.

Michael E. Naperstak was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News and an intern at the Center from 2001 to 2002. A member of Trinity College's Class of 2002 from Lunenburg, Massachusetts, he majored in religion, Asian studies, and philosophy. Religion in the News articles. 

William Piotrowski was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News and an intern at the Center from 1999 to 2001. A member of Trinity's Class of 2001 from East Hartford, CT, he was an English major. Religion in the News articles.

Mark Rasmussen was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News in the fall semester of 2008. A religion major, Rasmussen was a member of Trinity College’s Class of 2009 from London, England.

J. Ashe Reardon was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News and an intern at the Center. A member of Trinity College's Class of 2002 from New York City, he majored in political science. Religion in the News articles. 

Terry Rifkin was an editorial assistant on Religion in the News in 1998. Rifkin, a member of Trinity's Class of 1998, majored in international studies and Jewish studies.

Adam Rothstein was an editorial assistant in the summer of 2003. A member of the Grinnell College's Class of 2005, he was a religious studies major with a concentration in gender and women's studies. Religion in the News articles.

Dorothy M. Thompson was an editorial assistant in the fall semester of 2006, and is a member of Trinity College's Class 2012 from Bolton, Connecticut. Religion in the News articles.

Tyler A. Seeger was an editorial assistant in the fall and spring semesters of 2007-2008.. A member of Trinity College's Class of 2008 from Westfield, New Jersey, he majored in history.

Alexis Schweizer was an editorial assistant in the summer of 2004. A member of Trinity College's Class of 2005 from Utica, New York, she majored in religion. Religion in the News articles

David A. Stricoff was an editorial assistant of Religion in the News in 2005-6. A member of Trinity College's class from Newton, Massachusetts, he majored in history and religion. Religion in the News articles.

David Weiner was an editorial assistant in 1998. A member of Trinity's Class of 1998, Weiner majored in public policy.

Media Program Advisory Board

    Andrew Heyward, President CBS News

    Robert Kaiser, Associate Editor, The Washington Post

    Bill Kovach, Former Curator of the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University