Ph.D., Drew University
Geoffrey Pollick serves as Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and as Associate Professor of Religious Studies. He also directs the Highlanders Pipes and Drums music ensemble and serves as instructor of the great Highland bagpipe.
Dr. Pollick teaches courses that explore broad questions of religion鈥檚 meanings and uses, including comparative studies of religious difference; surveys of Judaism and Islam in America; the relationship between religious identity and healthcare; and advanced courses that consider American religious history, religious freedom, and the relationship between religion and culture, and researches the history and culture of religion in the United States and North America.
He works closely with students completing the, and with with students in the Philosophy and Religious Studies Major as they pursue internship opportunities with employers and community agencies, and as students seek to conduct research on topics relating to religion, culture, and society through their major capstone experience. Some examples of this work include mentoring a student through an internship at a regional social services agency that resulted in an offer of employment upon graduation; and work with an undergraduate research assistant, who co-presented with Dr. Pollick on a project that documents linkages between race and religion in the early nineteenth-century New River Valley.
Dr. Pollick's scholarship emphasizes religion鈥檚 entanglements with political radicalism in the United States; the role and dimensions of religious liberalism; women鈥檚 religious leadership; religion in popular culture; and religion and healthcare. His current research projects explore the political and social dimensions of women鈥檚 ordination during the late nineteenth century; religion and race as intertwined factors in developing the nineteenth-century settlements of Virginia's New River Valley; aesthetic impacts of influences shared between liberal Protestants and secular radicals in the prewar New York Left; and understandings of masculinity and illness among Virginia coal miners who experience Black Lung Disease. In addition, he helps to lead the 91制片厂 Community History Research Collective.
Before coming to 91制片厂, Dr. Pollick held positions at Sweet Briar College, New York University, Kean University, and Drew University. He holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil. from Drew University, an M.A. from Claremont School of Theology, and a B.A. from the University of Puget Sound.