Julia Sheetz-Willard, Ph.D.
Administrative Co-Director
jsheetz@temple.edu

JULIA SHEETZ-WILLARD, Ph.D. is Director of the Dialogue Institute (DI) and Coordinator of the work of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies and DI. She holds a B.A. in religion and psychology from Earlham College, an M.Div. from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and a Th.M. in applied theology from Harvard Divinity School. She received her doctorate in Religion and Society from Temple University, together with a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies. As an adjunct instructor and teaching assistant in Temple’s Religion Department, she has taught courses on women in religion, religion in America, Christianity, New Testament, and Hebrew Bible. An ordained Presbyterian (PCUSA) minister, Dr. Sheetz-Willard served churches in upstate New York, New Jersey, and suburban Philadelphia. In addition to her pastoral work, she has provided leadership locally, regionally, and nationally on denominational committees and interfaith efforts engaged in peacemaking and social-justice ministries.

Barbara Zasloff, Ph.D., MPH
Administrative Co-Director
Barbara@icceducation.org

BARBARA ZASLOFF, Ph.D., MPH serves as President of ICCE. Dr. Zasloff holds a Ph. D. in psychology from Columbia University and a public health degree (MPH) in Maternal and Child Health from Harvard University. Over a thirty year career in education and psychology, Dr. Zasloff has created and administered numerous classroom and camp programs for children, youth and educators from thirty countries. A professional mediator, Dr. Zasloff was a founder of the international coexistence organization Seeds of Peace where she developed core curriculum and ran residential and follow-up programs for educators. Having worked with youth and adults in the Middle East, Cyprus, South Asia, and the Balkans, Dr. Zasloff creates and administers educational projects focusing on civic engagement. Her programs have been funded by various US government agencies including USAID, MEPI, and ECA as well as by corporate and private foundations.

Prof. Leonard Swidler
Academic Director
dialogue@temple.edu

LEONARD SWIDLER is Founder and President of the Dialogue Institute, as well as Founding Editor of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies. He is Professor of Catholic Thought and Interreligious Dialogue in the Religion Department of Temple University, where he has taught since 1966. At Temple, and as a visiting professor at universities around the world – including Graz, Austria; Tübingen, Germany; Fudan University, Shanghai; and the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur – Prof. Swidler has mentored a generation of U.S. and international scholars in the work of interreligious dialogue. Prof. Swidler has a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the University of Tübingen, and received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Wisconsin; he also holds honorary doctorates from St. Norbert’s College and LaSalle University. Prof. Swidler has published more than 180 articles and 70 books.

Racelle Weiman, Ph.D.
International Engagement
rweiman@temple.edu

RACELLE WEIMAN, Ph.D. is Senior Director for Global Education and Program Development for the Dialogue Institute. She holds a B.A. in Jewish Studies from UCLA and M.A. and Ph.D. from Temple University in the field of Interreligious Studies. She pursued post-Doctoral research at the Fletcher School of Diplomacy at Tufts University in ethnic conflict resolution (1995) and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard University (1997), and has participated in the International Scholars’ Abrahamic Trialogue since 1993. Prior to her current appointment, she was founding Director of the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati Ohio (2000-2006). Dr. Weiman served on the faculty of the University of Haifa, Israel, (1986-2000) where she taught and developed projects relating to tolerance education, prejudice reduction, and Holocaust and genocide studies, and was a fellow at the S. Neaman Institute on Professional Ethics.

Rebecca Mays, M.A.
Leadership Development
rebecca.mays@temple.edu

REBECCA MAYS is a Graduate Intern at the Dialogue Institute and a graduate student in the Department of Religion at Temple. Ms. Mays holds a B.A. in English from Earlham College and an M.A. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. She has been a professional editor/publisher for the Religious Society of Friends at Pendle Hill, a Quaker Study Center in Media, PA, for twenty years. She taught Quaker Studies and Synoptic Gospels classes there, through which she became involved in Jewish-Christian dialogue work. Prior to coming to Temple, she directed the Masters’ program in English and Publishing at Rosemont College. She currently serves on the Administrative Committee of the Religious Leaders Council of Greater Philadelphia.

Per Faaland, M.A., M.Div.
American Partners Programs
per.faaland@temple.edu

PER FAALAND is a Graduate Intern at the Dialogue Institute and a doctoral student in the Temple University Religion Department. Per holds a B.A. in History, an M.A. in Psychology and a M.Div. emphasizing world missions, and has earned certificates in urban ministry, addictions counseling, and teaching. His work experience includes teaching, counseling, church planting and leadership, school development and administration, and college instruction on several faculties. Per’s academic interest is in the role of dialogue especially in the development of ‘realogical’ and prescriptive statements and processes for generating and expressing these in ‘inter-perspectival’ contexts (crossing cultures, religions, ideologies, and disciplines.)

Juliet I. Spitzer, MSEd. is an international award-winning singer/songwriter and recording artist, and the guest cantor at Congregation Beth Israel in Media, PA. Juliet is also an educator on the faculty of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-Schools, teaching on a variety of topics in Judaism, and is actively involved with the International Center for Contemporary Education, promoting the peaceful management of conflict through cultural understanding and tolerance for religious, ethnic, and racial differences.

Suzanne Morrell M.B.A. is an ICCE staff member and a founding board member. She studied International Affairs at Emory University, where she worked closely with scholars at the Carter Center. She holds an M.B.A. from George Washington University. Ms. Morrell worked in London with the European Parliament's U.K. Press and Information office. For the past 18 years she has been producing events for chiefs of state, government officials, non-profit organizations, associations, corporations and individuals. She served as Director of Government Relations for Seeds of Peace, where she advocated on behalf of Seeds of Peace to the U.S. Congress, White House, government agencies, corporations, foreign embassies, and the U.S. diplomatic corps. She also teaches at the Washington International School in Washington, D.C.

Stuart Mays, M.A. attended boarding school in England while his parents were on diplomatic assignments overseas. He completed his B.A. at Amherst College in Massachusetts and his M.A. at Brown University in Rhode Island. After thirty years of professional work as a teacher, accountant, business manager and fundraiser, Stuart has been doing full-time volunteer work for periods of up to one year. These have included working in a homeless shelter for women in Washington DC, serving at a Catholic Mission on the Navajo reservation, working at a retreat center in Minnesota, and assisting and living with the formerly incarcerated at a faith-based organization in Rhode Island.

Adnan Zulfiqar, M.A.L.S., J.D. is a Truman National Security Fellow. He is currently completing a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania. He serves on the Administrative Committee of the Religious Leaders Council of Greater Philadelphia, is a member of the Zones of Peace Taskforce, and previously served as the Interfaith Fellow and Campus Minister to the Muslim Community at the University of Pennsylvania. He was also a Legislative Staffer and Personal Aide to U.S. Senator Max Cleland, advising him on immigration, education, and foreign policy matters.

Fady Isleem, M.S. was born and raised in Gaza Palestine. At the age of 14, Fady moved to the United States where he attended a Quaker High School, and lived with a Jewish host family in Pennsylvania. He is an alumnus of the international Seeds of Peace Camp in Maine. After high school, Fady completed Bachelors and Master's degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Temple University. As a Temple student he worked in the Computer Recycling Center at the University. Upon graduation, he was given a position at the Center, serving as one of its two managers. Fady also serves as an adjunct instructor in web designing & development at Temple University. He is an associate of the International Center for Contemporary Education.

Meliani Murtiningsih, M.A. is an intern at the Dialogue Institute and recently completed her M.A. in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT. Meliani holds a Bachelor of Theology emphasizing Islamic Studies and has earned certificates from the International Institute of Islamic Thought for its Summer Student Program, Hartford Seminary for its Congregational Relations Program, Women Leadership Institute and Overseas Ministries Student Center. Meliani is originally from Indonesia and her academic interests are in Christian and Islamic Theology, Islamic Jurisprudence and the history of relations between Christians and Muslims worldwide. Back in Indonesia, she was an intern minister for different churches, and served in youth ministry in her own congregation.