Assistant Professor of Religion and Education
Faculty
Curriculum Vitae of the Rev. Dr. Sheri Prud’homme
Sheri Prud’homme received her Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies in history and theology from the Graduate Theological Union in 2016. Her dissertation focused on 19th century Unitarian minister Thomas Starr King’s use of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada as sacred texts, asking what his ecotheology might have to contribute to contemporary ecotheologies as well as offering needed correctives to his imperialist project. She is ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister and has served as a minister of religious education in the Unitarian Universalist Churches of Oakland, Davis, and Berkeley as well as the Pacific Central District. She is the co-creator and co-director of Chalice Camp, a Unitarian Universalist summer day camp that has been running for over 15 years in the Bay Area and replicated in sites across the country. The congregation she currently serves part-time, the First Unitarian Church of Oakland, received a Break Through Congregation designation in 2017 from the Unitarian Universalist Association for their innovate approach to religious education. The yearning of youth and young adults within Unitarian Universalism to know more of our theological heritage and our history propel her academic research.
As a professor, Dr. Prud’homme affirms the capacity of education to transform lives, communities, and our society. She brings a commitment to fostering a connected, collaborative, enlivened learning community with an expectation that all participants will be teachers as well as learners. In her instruction, she utilizes a variety of learning modalities, realizing that all students learn in multiple ways and have different strengths.
Dr. Prud’homme lives in Berkeley with her wife and their two children. She is very grateful to the taxpayers in Berkeley for supporting the public schools. She enjoys hiking, backpacking, gardening, and singing.
