Advisory Council

Stephen Barr, Ph.D., is a physicist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Delaware. Prof. Barr has written extensively on the relationship between science and religion, and is the author of the 2003 book Modern Physics and Ancient Faith. He is the Founder of the Society of Catholic Scientists.

Ellen Barrosse-Antle is the founder of Synchrogenix, a global pharmaceutical services company. She has served on several institutional boards, and was previously a Trustee of the Collegium Institute. She is also a parent of a Penn Med School alum. 

Jen Frey, Ph.D., serves as the Dean of the Honors College at the University of Tulsa and as a Professor of Philosophy in Tulsa’s Department of Philosophy and Religion. She also serves as a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee of the Collegium Institute Anscombe Archive at Penn.

Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak serves as the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, a role to which he was appointed by Pope Francis in 2019. Having completed his PhD in History at Harvard University, he founded the Institute for Church History and served as the rector and president of the Ukrainian Catholic University.  His former episcopal sees have spanned France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Switzerland (2012-2019), and he currently serves as Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

Patrick Harker, Ph.D., is the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, a role to which he was appointed in 2015. Dr. Harker previously served as the President of University of Delaware (2007-2015) and Dean of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (2001-2007). Dr. Harker received his B.S.E, M.S.E, M.A., and Ph.D. all from the University of Pennsylvania.

Zena Hitz, Ph.D., serves as a Tutor at St. John's College in Annapolis and as the Founder and President of the Catherine Project, an organization dedicated to fostering communities of learning based on conversation and hospitality. Dr. Hitz received her Ph.D. in Ancient Philosophy from Princeton University. She is the author of the 2021 book Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life.

Charles L. Howard, Ph.D., serves as the University Chaplain and Vice President for Social Equity & Community at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Howard is the author of five books, including the 2014 book Black Theology as Mass Movement, and has previously taught in Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Education. He is also an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania.

Vincenzo La Ruffa is Managing Partner of Aquiline Capital Partners in New York City. Mr. La Ruffa serves on a number of institutional boards, including as a trustee of the National Catholic Bioethics Center. He is an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania and was formerly a trustee of the Collegium Institute.

Isabel Perera, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University. Her work focuses on the relationship between Western politics, social policy, and labor markets. Previously, Prof. Perera was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine (2018-2020). She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, where she also helped launch the Collegium Institute Graduate Fellows program.

James N. Perry, Jr.  is a Co-Founder and Senior Advisor at Madison Dearborn Partners in Chicago. Mr. Perry serves on a number of institutional boards, including formerly on the Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences. He is an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania.

Archbishop Nelson Pérez serves as the 10th Archbishop of Philadelphia, a role to which he was appointed by Pope Francis in 2020. Previously, Archbishop Pérez served as the Bishop of Cleveland (2017-2020) and Auxiliary Bishop of Rockville Centre (2012-2017). He is a graduate of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary and previously taught courses at both the Seminary and Lasalle University in Philadelphia.

 Timothy Shah, Ph.D., is Distinguished Research Scholar at the University of Dallas. Based in Bangalore, India, he serves as the principal investigator for the Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society (FORIS) project for the Religious Freedom Institute. Dr. Shah received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University. He specializes in global politics and religious freedom. He is also a proud parent of a University of Pennsylvania alum.

Patrick Travers is the Director of the Penn and Drexel Newman Center, a role in which he has served since 2017. Mr. Travers received his M.A. in Church Management from Villanova University.

Daniel I. Wasserman-Soler, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Lumen Christi Institute at the University of Chicago. Dr. Wasserman-Soler received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Virginia. He is the author of the 2020 book Truth in Many Tongues: Religious Conversion and the Languages of the Early Spanish Empire.