University of Iowa
Candidate for Vice President (2026)
Candidate statement
It is an honor to be nominated for the position of Vice President with the American Catholic Historical Association (ACHA).
As a longtime professor, researcher, and most recently, university administrator, my goal has always been to mentor students, set a high bar for scholarly and pedagogical excellence, and be a servant leader in whatever I do. As Vice President of ACHA, my overarching goal would be to amplify the excellent work of ACHA and to build on its momentum and many successes. I would primarily do this by doing what I do in any position I am in: To work collaboratively, constructively, and creatively with my colleagues. ACHA colleagues include those on the Executive Council; Committee Chairs and committee members; and ACHA members.
As a champion of research and writing for a broader public audience, I would want to look into how ACHA might expand its public presence. In my current role as Associate Vice President for Research at the University of Iowa, I have successfully introduced the “Writing for the Public Good” initiative for faculty and doctoral students which I would like to bring to ACHA. The intent of the program is to create a culture of writing for the broader public and share our research we do in research-based journalistic-style venues such as The Conversation US.
While I have shared my professional CV for you to read, what is not included in it are the vital, personal components of my life that led to my focus on U.S. Catholicism. I am the first person on my mother’s side (Czech-Polish Catholic) to attend and graduate from college, and one of the first women on my father’s side. I am proud to say I was raised in a working-class community in Northwest Indiana, in steel mill country, one where faith and hard work were part of the fabric of everyday life. While I was not raised Catholic, my mother was, and she brought her ethnic Catholic devotionalisms to our officially Lutheran home. It was at Indiana University-Bloomington where I began my journey as a scholar of American religion with a special focus on Catholicism. A religious studies course called “Gods of the City,” taught by Bob Orsi when I was a university senior, helped me make sense of my upbringing as well as the heavily Catholic area of Northwest Indiana where I was raised. Bob’s focus on popular piety and later lived religion among overlooked people—in my case U.S. Latinos/x/as–most certainly had a major impact on my own Catholic Studies research.
My background has had an indelible influence on how I lead. One of my superpowers as a leader, I think, is my ability to lean into various constituents and their needs and find common ground. Throughout my career, I have excelled in facilitating and fostering relationships between colleagues and their various Colleges, departments, subdisciplines, and units. I find that I regularly draw upon my ability to read a room, in part thanks to my training as an ethnographer of U.S. Catholicism (as well as many stints working fast food and waitressing in high school, college, and grad school!). All of the decisions I have made as a leader have come after a process of listening and collaborating.
In my scholarship and teaching, I have championed looking beyond our Western Euro-centric narratives of U.S. Catholicism (and U.S. Christianity more broadly) and have long advocated for widening our methodological approaches through ethnography and mixed methods approaches in teaching and researching American Catholicism. I believe that when we practice interdisciplinary thinking that we become and are more capacious in our outreach, which will help ensure ACHA’s appeal to a wider variety of scholars.
If selected as ACHA’s next VP, I would bring my 25+ years of teaching, mentoring, researching, and leading in higher ed to ACHA. I would bring a lifelong curiosity and love of learning and would work hard with my colleagues to ensure that the association is positioned for success for decades to come.
Thank you.
Kristy