Jennifer Hunter (She/Her)

Dr. Jennifer Hunter (She/Her)  arrives to Boston from the University of Washington, where she earned a doctoral degree in Near and Middle Eastern Studies and a graduate certificate in Feminist Studies. While at UW, she held a variety of fellowships including the I. Mervin and Georgiana Gorasht Graduate Fellowship under the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies. And she bears the honor of being the first doctoral candidate in UW’s Near and Middle Eastern Studies program to be awarded the school’s prestigious Alvord Fellowship in the Humanities.

Dr. Hunter brings a wealth of experience to her position at CURA. Prior to her doctoral work at UW, she taught religious studies courses as a full time faculty member for the Comparative Cultural Studies department at Northern Arizona University. And before her delve into higher education, she served in a variety of positions in primary and secondary educational institutions ranging from assistant speech coach, special education aide, AmeriCorps member for a Family Literacy program, school purchaser, and a parent and engagement liaison.

In addition to a PhD, Dr. Hunter also holds a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Bachelor of Arts from Northern Arizona University. Her research and writing focus on the religious history of the late antique Middle East and Mediterranean world.

At CURA, Jennifer will be developing new programs, grant proposals, events, and help with the management of CURA’s research colloquia and visiting fellows program. As assistant director, she looks forward to this unique opportunity to combine her scholarly and administrative talents to further CURA’s mission of fostering public facing scholarship on religion and world affairs.