Our Team

Staff Leadership Team

Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo

Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo

Coordinator, Spanish-language Certificate in Climate Justice & 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.

nastudillo@plts.edu

Sarah Berg

Sarah Berg

Associate 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.

sarahberg@plts.edu

Dr. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda

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

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. 

pmorad@plts.edu

Maureen Okasinski

Maureen Okasinski

Co-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

Meghan Sobocienski

Co-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

Bianca Vazquez

Co-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.

Advisory Group Members for Certificate and Community Organizing Programs

Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo

Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo

Coordinator, Spanish-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith

Elena Cedillo

Elena Cedillo

Instructor, Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith

Program Executive for Climate Justice, Lutheran World Federation

Dr. Ryan P. Cumming

Dr. Ryan P. Cumming

Program Director, Theological Ethics, Education, and Community Engagement, Office of the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA

Rev. Dr. Mercedes Garcia Bachmann

Rev. Dr. Mercedes Garcia Bachmann

Director and Professor of Old Testament, Instituto para la Pastoral Contextual of the Iglesia Evangélica Luterana Unida of Argentina and Uruguay

Rev. Dr. Francisco Javier Goitía Padilla

Rev. Dr. Francisco Javier Goitía Padilla

Director of Theological Formation for Seminaries and Schools of the ELCA

Dr. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda

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

Phoebe Morad

Coordinator of Certificates in Climate Justice and Faith

Director of Lutherans Restoring Creation

Lic. Fidel Nieto Laínez

Lic. Fidel Nieto Laínez

Rector, Universidad Luterana Salvadoreña

Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer

Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer

Rector, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary
Instructor, Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith

Rev. Dr. Carmelo Santos

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

Rev. Dr. Angela Trego Haagar

Instructor, Spanish-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith

Coordinator, Seminario Luterano Augsburgo (SEMLA) in Mexico

MsD. Hilda Melany Erazo García

MsD. Hilda Melany Erazo García

Director of School of Social Work, Universidad Luterana Salvadoreña (ULS)

Lic. Omar Elenilson Flores Salguero

Lic. Omar Elenilson Flores Salguero

Universidad Luterana Salvadoreña

Rev. Dr. Karla Koll

Rev. Dr. Karla Koll

Professor, Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana (UBL)

Dr. Agustina Luvis Nuñez

Dr. Agustina Luvis Nuñez

Professor, Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico

Student Leadership Team

Katie Insalaco

Katie Insalaco

Climate Justice Resource Coordinator

Trevor Boe

Trevor Boe

Student Administrator Coordinator

Teagan Shumaker

Teagan Shumaker

Climate Justice and Faith Colloquium Coordinator

Instructors in Certificate and Community Organizing Programs

Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo

Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo

Instructor and Coordinator, Spanish-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith

 

Elena Cedillo

Elena Cedillo

Instructor, Spanish-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith

Program Executive for Climate Justice, Lutheran World Federation

Phoebe Morad

Phoebe Morad

Instructor, English-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith

Executive Director, Lutherans Restoring Creation

Maureen Okasinski

Maureen Okasinski

Instructor and Co-Coordinator, Community Organizing for Climate Justice as Love in Action 

Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer

Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer

Instructor, English-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith

Rector, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary

Meghan Sobocienski

Meghan Sobocienski

Instructor and Co-Coordinator, Community Organizing for Climate Justice as Love in Action

 

Rev. Dr. Angela Trego Haagar

Rev. Dr. Angela Trego Haagar

Instructor, Spanish-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith

Coordinadora of the Seminario Luterano Augsburgo (SEMLA) in Mexico

Bianca Vazquez

Bianca Vazquez

Instructor and Co-Coordinator, Community Organizing for Climate Justice as Love in Action

 

Founding Steering Committee for Certificate Programs

Elena Cedillo

Elena Cedillo

Instructor, Spanish-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith

Program Executive for Climate Justice, Lutheran World Federation

Dr. Ryan P. Cummings

Dr. Ryan P. Cummings

Program Director, Theological Ethics, Education, and Community Engagement

Office of the Presiding Bishop ELCA

Dr. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda

Dr. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda

Director, PLTS Center for Climate Justice and Faith

Professor of Theological and Social Ethics, PLTS and CDSP

Phoebe Morad

Phoebe Morad

Coordinator and Instructor, English-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith

Executive Director, Lutherans Restoring Creation

Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer

Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer

Instructor, English-language Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith

Rector, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary

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