Theology and Religious Studies Professor Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos has been named director of the new Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture at Seattle University.  The institute is designed to encourage the study, development, and understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, both within the university and for the broader scholarly and religious communities of the Pacific Northwest. Punsalan-Manlimos will continue to teach in the College of Arts and Sciences where she directs the Catholic Studies program.

As the founding director of the Institute for Catholic Thought, Punsalan-Manlimos will build on her experiences facilitating the Aruppe seminar and the Faculty Summer Justice Seminar and developing the university’s Catholic Heritage Lectures. She also co-founded Women in Jesuit Mission.

“I want us to engage in a dialogue about real questions we have as a community and bring together scholars to think about what it means to be a Catholic university, what our responsibilities are, and how we address the tension between the Church and the academic environment,” she said. “As practicing Catholics, we shouldn’t be afraid of the challenges that come to us.”

Punsalan-Manlimos earned her Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from the University of Notre Dame.  Her scholarship examines the relationship of religion and science with liberation theologies and engages Catholicism as a global religion that intersects with multiple cultures and religions.  Her current research includes an exploration of spiritual practice in the construction of a Filipina/o theology.  

The College of Arts and Sciences, the largest college in Seattle University, offers 42 undergraduate majors, 37 minors, and 6 master’s degrees.