Advisory Committee

Ian Wilson, PhD

Augustana Faculty (Religious Studies)

Wilson is scholar of religion, specializing in the Hebrew Bible and the histories and cultures of ancient Israel and Judah, and of West Asia more broadly. At Augustana, he teaches courses on the contemporary religions of the world, theories of religion, biblical studies, the ancient West Asian context and related topics. He also serve as associate editor for the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures.

Geoffrey Dipple, PhD

Augustana Faculty (History)

Dipple teaches a broad range of courses covering European and world history. His research focuses on the history of the Protestant Reformation, especially in the German-speaking lands of central Europe. Most recently, his work has concentrated on the history of the so-called Reformation Radicals, including Anabaptists and Spiritualists. His publications include Antifraternalism and Anticlericalism in the German Reformation: Johann Eberlin von Günzburg and the Campaign against the Friars (1996), “Just as in the time of the apostles”: Uses of History in the Radical Reformation (2005), and The Fifteen Confederates of Johann Eberlin von Günzburg (2014).

He is currently completing a volume, co-edited with Kat Hill of the University of London, highlighting new research into the Radical Reformation: Thinking Outside the Cages: New Directions in the Radical Reformation. Serving a one-year term through June 2023.

Paul L. Gareau, PhD

Faculty of Native Studies

Gareau is Métis and French-Canadian from Bellevue near Batoche Saskatchewan, Canada. He is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Native Studies and past Research Fellow for the Rupertsland Centre for Métis Research at the University of Alberta. His research is grounded in critical theory and methodology relating to the social, political, and cultural impacts of religion on identity formation.

His academic publications and community research projects explore the Métis experiences of religion and Métis peoplehood, the influence of Catholicism on early and late modern identity, the legacy of colonial discourses on Indigenous and ethnocultural minorities, and the experiences of rural spaces. His research focuses on the Métis, Indigenous religiosity, youth, gender, la francophonie, and rural Canada. On sabbatical through June 2023.

Hany Shaltout

Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry

Shaltout, an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry, is a second-generation psychiatrist who tries to follow in the footsteps of his father, Dr. Taher Shaltout, a world-renowned psychiatrist, educator and advocate for mental health in Egypt and the Middle East.

Shaltout's care for the community has continued in his new home here in Camrose, Alberta, where he has worked together with key community members that include St. Mary's Hospital, AHS Addictions and Mental Health Clinic, the PCN, Camrose City police and Augustana to expand the mental health services at home and provide world-class holistic care to our community.

Gail Stolee

Alumni

Gail is a graduate of the University of Alberta in Arts, Education and Library Science. She worked for the Edmonton Public School Board, Camrose Lutheran College, where she was also a member of the Board of Regents, and Augustana University College. Her community involvements include Rotary, Sahakarini (a local international development NGO), the Nordlys Film and Arts Festival, and Messiah Lutheran Church. Gail has been an active participant in the programs of the Chester Ronning Centre since its inception.

She has a strong commitment to lifelong learning and service and to making the best research and thinking accessible to the general public. She also especially loves being a grandma, traveling, and reading.

Nakita Valerio

Advisor

Nakita Valerio, based in Treaty 6, Edmonton, is a Vanier Scholar completing doctoral studies in Religious Studies at the University of Alberta, specializing in Muslim women’s religious leadership and Qur’anic literacy in Morocco. With a background in Islamic-Jewish Moroccan history, she serves as an academic strategist/mentor to graduate students in the social sciences and humanities. Previously, she served as the Research Director at the Institute for Religious and Socio-Political Studies for three years where she also completed a research fellowship on Albertan religious organizations for the Ronning Center. She is the current Editor of the Religious and Socio-Political Studies Journal and founded The Nusaibah Collective, a Muslim women's study group. Nakita is also engaged  as a student of traditional Islamic sciences. She advises the Chester Ronning Center and sponsors the Fatima Al-Fihri Graduate Award in African Islamic Studies. Additionally, she holds various roles within the UAlberta community, including as an advisor to the Ronning Center and she serves as the secretary of the Canadian Association for the Study of Islam and Muslims (CASIM). Nakita is also the co-founder of a primary school in rural Morocco.

Rev. Markus Wilhelm

Glory Lutheran Church, Sherwood Park

Rev. Wilhelm attended Camrose Lutheran College, has studied in Germany and served Lutheran congregations in British Columbia and in Calgary, Edmonton, and Sherwood Park, Alberta.