Leading Theologian, Dr. Jeanette Rodriguez, Appointed Director, Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture

Jeanette Rodriguez, PhD, has been appointed director of the Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture (ICTC).  Dr. Rodriguez, currently the Malcolm and Mari Stamper Endowed Chair in Catholic Intellectual and Cultural Traditions, is a leading theologian in the fields of religion and culture, religion and social conflict, theologies of liberation, U.S. Hispanic theology, feminist theology, cultural memory, Christology and theology of inculturation.  
 
ICTC invites the Seattle U and greater community to renew the Catholic intellectual tradition of engagement at the crossroads where faith and reason, religion and culture, church and world meet— through academic research and reflection. 

When originally appointed interim director in 2019, Provost Shane P. Martin wrote to the campus community, “There is no better person than Dr. Rodriguez to lead ICTC into its next chapter. Since joining our faculty in 1990, she has brought unparalleled intellectual rigor and passion to her teaching, scholarship and service.”   

As a professor, Rodriguez teaches in Theology and Religious Studies, Women Studies and the Couples and Family Therapy Graduate Program. She is the author of several books and articles concentrated in the areas of U.S. Hispanic theology, theologies of liberation, peace building and women’s spirituality. 
 
“I am both honored and humbled to receive the trust of the university in facilitating the mission of ICTC. This work could not happen without the creative commitment of ICTC Assistant Director Jessica Palmer and the collaboration with my colleagues across campus and our external partners,” says Rodriguez. “May we continue to work together researching and dialoguing about complex issues that affect our world in light of the insights and contributions of Catholic social thought.” 

In 2013, Rodriguez was recipient of the James B. McGoldrick, S.J., Fellowship, the highest honor conferred on a Seattle University faculty member, as well as the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2010. She has received the U.S. Catholic Award (2000) and an honorary doctorate from St. Xavier University in Chicago (2010).  

As Rodriguez shared in a 2019 article about her role and the role of ICTC, “We want to support course development that engages the Catholic tradition and faculty in research that has them explore and be in conversation with the best of our Catholic tradition, because as you know, the Catholic tradition is not just about theology—it also has something to say to economics, to business, to nursing, to the professions, to teaching. It addresses everything that has to do with the human condition.”

 
Learn more about ICTC at www.seattleu.edu/ictc/.