People

Shijung Shim is a self-proclaimed “1.5” Korean-American. Moving from Korea to Seattle with her family as a teenager, she received her middle and high school education here in the States. She remained stateside for her bachelor’s degree in psychology but returned to Korea for her masters in pastoral care and counseling. One particular GTU professor, Lewis Rambo, helped convince Shim to earn a Ph.D. here in Interdisciplinary Studies.

The area of...

“I’m amazed,” says, Alejandro (Alex) García-Rivera, Professor of Systematic Theology and GTU Core Doctoral Faculty Member, about receiving the 2010 Sarlo Excellence in Teaching Award. “I had very little teaching experience when I came here, and at the start, I didn’t know what I was doing. My ‘training’ came — as in an apprenticeship — mostly from colleagues and through trial and error. What I learned along the way is that teaching is about communication, and that if I pay attention to my method of teaching, it can improve and go beyond the apprentice...

Identity and experience. They continually shape one another and the path of our lives. They have profoundly guided the academic journey of GTU doctoral student Jen Owens.

While earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology at Loyola Marymount, Owens was introduced to Liberation Theology which emphasizes experience. She began to focus on feminist perspectives and her own bi-cultural identity — her father is of European descent and her mother hails from an upper class family in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Historically, Bolivia has been divided between the underrepresented indigenous majority and...