Mary Barker Email and Phone Number

I have a PhD in political science from Columbia University and experience in both administration and curriculum development. I have numerous publications and am fluent in Spanish.I began my career in Madrid, Spain, where I taught in the study abroad programs of Syracuse and Saint Louis universities and co-created the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) program at the Pozuelo campus of the Jesuit university, Universidad Pontificia Comillas. I also worked in administration – as the Co-director of Academic Year Abroad and as the Director of Public Relations and Marketing, and then as full Director, of the Program of North American Language and Culture at the International Institute of Spain (IIE). I have thus taught a diverse student body, including English language learners, and have been heavily involved in organization, management, marketing, teacher training and curriculum development.In 2013, I returned to Salt Lake City to care for my aging parents. Since then, I have taught at Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah.For Syracuse University, I created the course, Religion, Identity, and Politics. Cross-listed in political science, sociology, and religion, it integrated the philosophy of knowledge, the social sciences, religion, and the arts in an exploration of perennial issues of contemporary concern. The course was so popular that a second section had to be opened, after which enrolment caps were lifted for my course alone.For the IIE, I created a workshop, Skills for Educational Success, that then grew into an initiative currently under development, Learning and Life Skills. Both emphasize active and lifelong learning, effective study skills, critical and creative thinking, public speaking, and writing.For most of 2014, I had a column in the Deseret News, and my articles have also appeared in El Pais (the leading newspaper of Spain), Religion Dispatches, Salon, Truthout, Sunstone, and The Salt Lake Tribune. I am currently writing a book on a Mormon version of liberation theology, the popular expression of which can be found in my website, www.be-1.orgI am passionately devoted to the development of the human person, especially through education. My interests include the philosophy of knowledge; intellectual history; existential approaches to spirituality and work; intercultural understanding; religion and politics; and debates concerning economic efficiency, individual responsibility, and social justice.