Our Team
Staff Leadership Team
Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo
Coordinator, Spanish-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith
Bio
Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo, a Venezuelan-American, is a Presbyterian pastor and eco-theologian who has taught eco-theology at theological seminaries in Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and the United States.For fourteen years Rev. Dr. Astudillo served Parroquia San Jose, a joint ELCA and PCUSA Spanish speaking congregation in Beloit, WI. Rev. Dr. Astudillo co-founded the Angelic Organics Learning Center, a farm-based nonprofit helping urban and rural people build local food systems in northern Illinois. She is the Latinx and Latin America Organizing and Training Coordinator at Greenfaith, a part-time role she will continue as she works part-time for the Center for Climate Justice and Faith. Neddy earned her Doctor of Ministry in “Greening the Church” from Drew University and her Master in Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary.
Sarah Berg
Assistant Director
Bio
Sarah Berg (she/her) serves as the Assistant Director of the PLTS Center for Climate Justice and Faith. Prior to joining the team at the Center, Sarah was the Development Director at Interfaith Power & Light for seven years. During her time at IPL, Sarah led the communications team, organized in-person and online events, managed institutional giving, and built relationships with major donors.
Sarah got her start in faith-based organizing as an intern at the Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy in Oakland, CA and then working with SHARE EL Salvador where she witnessed the devastating impacts of a warming climate firsthand. She is an active member of the University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley, CA and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two young children.
Dr. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda
Director
Bio
Cynthia Moe-Lobeda (she/her), Professor of Theological and Social Ethics, holds a joint appointment at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and Church Divinity School of the Pacific. She is a member of the Core Doctoral Faculty of the Graduate Theological Union. Dr. Moe-Lobeda has lectured or consulted in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Australia, and many parts of North America in theological ethics addressing matters of moral agency and hope, climate justice as related to race and class, economic globalization, public church, faith-based resistance to systemic injustice, eco-feminism, and ethical implications of resurrection and incarnation. She is author or co-author of six volumes and over 50 articles and chapters. Her Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological-Economic Vocation won a Nautilus Book Award. Moe-Lobeda’s ethical approach weds Earth ethics to liberation theologies including eco-feminist theology.
cmoelobeda@plts.edu
Phoebe Morad
Coordinator, Certificates in Climate Justice and Faith
Bio
Phoebe Morad (she/her) serves as Coordinator of the Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith, and as Executive Director of Lutherans Restoring Creation (LRC).LRC is a grassroots movement of clergy, lay people, campus ministers, outdoor camp staff, students, and seminary professors that connects, empowers, and equips people of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) to care for creation.
For the past 2 decades, Phoebe has been inviting various communities to action through the mediums of hands-on science, direct service, and faith-fueled outreach via global and local non-profits including Earthwatch Institute, Habitat for Humanity, and with her home church; House of Prayer in Massachusetts.
Maureen Okasinski
Coordinator, Community Organizing for Climate Justice as Love in Action
Bio
Maureen Okasinski (she/her) integrates academic rigor with practical, community-led practices in her work. She has 20 years experience in leadership, program development, research, design and evaluation, grant writing and management, budget management, and direct practice. This includes nine years of social work teaching, fourteen years of social work practice and six years in consulting. She currently teaches at the University of Michigan, where she earned an MSW
Meghan Sobocienski
Coordinator, Community Organizing for Climate Justice as Love in Action
Bio
Meghan Sobocienski (she/her) is a Co-Founder and Director of Grace in Action Collectives in Southwest Detroit. Meghan spent five years as a Community Organizer with the PICO (Faith in Action Network), and five years working as a Co-Organizer for the Organizing for Mission Cohort (Network) through the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Through this work Meghan guided congregational leaders to utilize their land, financial, and community resources to create social justice projects in their communities. Meghan has an MDiv. from PLTS in Berkeley CA and is an ordained Deacon in the ELCA.
Bianca Vazquez
Coordinator, Community Organizing for Climate Justice as Love in Action
Bio
Bianca Vazquez (she/her) is the Program Director at Beloved Community Incubator in Washington, DC. Neighborhood listening sessions led to her engagement with small micro-business projects with local residents, which led to the founding of BCI. Bianca is trained in community organizing by the Industrial Areas Foundation, Faith in Action Network, and Gamaliel Network. She works in Washington, DC, where she has shaped the creation of mutual aid disaster response networks and led worker campaigns for almost a decade.
Steering Committee for Certificate and Community Organizing Programs
Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo
Coordinator, Spanish-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith
Elena Cedillo
Instructor in Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith
Program Executive for Climate Justice, Lutheran World Federation
Ryan P. Cumming
Program Director for hunger education with ELCA World Hunger
Rev. Dr. Mercedes Garcia Bachmann
Director and Professor of Old Testament at the Instituto para la Pastoral Contextual of the Iglesia Evangélica Luterana Unida of Argentina and Uruguay
Rev. Dr. Francisco Javier Goitía Padilla
Director of Theological Formation for Seminaries and Schools of the ELCA
Dr. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda
Director of the PLTS Center for Climate Justice and Faith
Professor of Theological and Social Ethics at PLTS and CDSP
Phoebe Morad
Coordinator of Certificates in Climate Justice and Faith
Director of Lutherans Restoring Creation
Lic. Fidel Nieto Laínez
Rector of the Universidad Luterana Salvadoreña
Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer
Program Executive for Identity, Communion, and Formation, Lutheran World Federation
Instructor, Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith
Rev. Dr. Carmelo Santos
Director of Theological Diversity and Ecumenical & Inter-religious Engagement, Office of the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA
Rev. Dr. Angela Trego Haagar
Instructor, Spanish-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith
Coordinadora of the Seminario Luterano Augsburgo (SEMLA) in Mexico
Student Leadership Team
Trevor Boe
Trevor Boe is a first year MDiv student with the concentration in Climate Justice and Faith and is pursuing ordination as a pastor in the ELCA.
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Growing up in Washington state and traveling and living abroad for much of his later adolescence and early adulthood, he has gained a deep appreciation for God’s creation in the natural world. In earning his BA in International Relations, he has a particular interest in the international community and global efforts relating to faith and climate justice.
Katie Evans
Katie Evans is a first year MA student at PLTS and pursuing ordination as a deacon in the ELCA.
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She sees her faith and passion for social justice as inextricably woven together, and she is excited to have this be a part of her work with the student leadership team.
Instructors in Certificate and Community Organizing Programs
Elena Cedillo
Program Executive for Climate Justice
Department for Theology, Mission, and Justice, Lutheran World Federation
Instructor in Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith
Rev. Steve Jerbi
Minister of Worship and Christian Formation, University Congregational Church, Seattle, WA
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Instructor in Community Organizing for Climate Justice as Faith Active in Love
Before coming to UCUCC, Rev. Jerbi (he/his) served Lana’i Union Church, a congregation blending Micronesian, Hawaiian, Japanese and Anglo cultures in Lana’i City, Hawai’i. He also served as lead pastor of Bethel-Encino in Los Angeles where he helped establish and lead the Interfaith Solidarity Network in the San Fernando Valley. His call before moving to LA was as the senior pastor at All Peoples Church in Milwaukee, WI. Steve is ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and serves under the full communion agreements of the ELCA and UCC.
Steve is passionate about the intersection of racial, economic, and environmental justice. He offers training in racial justice work and faith-based community organizing. Youth ministry has been at the center of his congregational work and he loves cultivating experiences where faith comes to life – through worship, study, and play. Steve is also in formation with the Order of Ecumenical Franciscans.
Kelly Marciales
Coordinator of Certificate in Community Organizing for Climate Justice and Faith
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Kelly Marciales (she/they) serves as the Coordinator and Lead Instructor for Community Organizing for Climate Justice as Faith Active in Love, a 15-week course offered by the Center for Climate Justice and Faith at PLTS.
Kelly also serves as Community Organizing Program Coordinator for the ELCA and Director of Organizing For Mission Network (OFMN). OFMN is an ecumenical network of individuals, congregations, synods, non-profit organizations, and community organizers who convene trainings and build cohorts across the United States which support local and statewide grassroots organizing efforts. Their previous appointment was as Executive Director of Valley Interfaith Action (VIA), a faith-based community organization in Alaska. Serving as VIA’s director and lead community organizer for 5 years, they built ecumenical partnerships that addressed statewide issues of affordable housing, senior healthcare, and equitable access to transportation.
Kelly holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from California Polytechnic University Pomona, a Master of Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and earned a certificate in Design Thinking from Cornell University. Kelly lives in Palmer, Alaska with their partner and four children. Kelly enjoys science-fiction and fantasy novels, making the perfect karaage, and is currently learning American Sign Language.
Phoebe Morad
Coordinator of Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith
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Phoebe Morad (she/her) serves as Coordinator of the Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith, and as Executive Director of Lutherans Restoring Creation (LRC). LRC is a grassroots movement of clergy, lay people, campus ministers, outdoor camp staff, students, and seminary professors that connects, empowers, and equips people of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) to care for creation.
For the past 2 decades, Phoebe has been inviting various communities to action through the mediums of hands-on science, direct service, and faith-fueled outreach via global and local non-profits including Earthwatch Institute, Habitat for Humanity, and with her home church; House of Prayer in Massachusetts.
The Rev. abby mohaupt
Director of Education and Training, GreenFaith
Instructor in Community Organizing for Climate Justice as Faith Active in Love
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GreenFaith’s Director of Education & Training
abby (she/her) previously coordinated GreenFaith’s and Drew Theological School’s Green Seminary Initiative, and she coordinates GreenFaith’s relationships with seminaries across the US. She holds a Masters of Divinity and Masters of Theology degrees from McCormick Theological Seminary, is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and lives in Texas. She is a PhD candidate at Drew Theological School, writing a dissertation called, “Where Your Treasure Is: Climate Change, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and Divestment from Fossil Fuels.”
Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer
Program Executive for Identity, Communion, and Formation
Department for Theology, Mission, and Justice, Lutheran World Federation
Instructor in Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith
Rev. Dr. Angela Trego Haagar
Instructor, Spanish-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith
Coordinadora of the Seminario Luterano Augsburgo (SEMLA) in Mexico
PLTS Faculty
who either teach courses for the Concentration in Climate Justice and Faith or whose courses may be adapted as electives for the concentration
Adam F. Braun, Ph.D
Lecturer in New Testament and Theology
Julian Gonzalez, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Old Testament
Katy Grindberg, M.A
Director of Contextual Education and Lecturer
Shauna Hannan, Ph.D.
Professor of Homiletics
Sheryl Johnson, Ph.D.
Adjunct Faculty in Theological and Social Ethics
Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Ph.D
Professor of Theological and Social Ethics
Moses Penumaka, Th.D
Director, Theological Education for Emerging Ministries (TEEM)
Kirsi I. Stjerna, Ph.D.
Professor of Lutheran History and Theology
Alicia Vargas, Ph.D
Dean
Leslie Veen, D.Min.
Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs
PLTS Staff and Administrators
supporting the Center for Climate Justice and Faith
Raymond Pickett, Ph.D
Rector
Alicia Vargas, Ph.D
Dean
Leslie Veen, D.Min.
Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs
Jill Dillbro
Director of Admissions
Aaron Grieg
Accounting Technician II
Katy Grindberg, M.A
Director of Contextual Education and Lecturer
Emma Gautney
Admissions and Residential Life Coordinator
Moses Penumaka, Th.D
Director, Theological Education for Emerging Ministries (TEEM)
Rev. Sara Wilson
Associate Director of Seminary Relations
