Three GPR students have successfully defended their dissertation, and are set for a May 2022 graduation. Candidates Cody David, Jesse (Zexi) Sun, and Grazina Bielousova will be invited to attend a hooding ceremony on May 7, among other Duke commencement activities on the weekend of May 6-8.
Cody David's dissertation committee for "The Economics of Redemption and Retribution in Isaiah 40-66" was chaired by Dr. Marc Brettler. The defense was held over Zoom on March 22, 2022. Cody has been part of the Graduate Program in Religion (GPR) in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament track for five years, and has accepted a job in Dallas, Texas doing Management Consulting with a firm named McKinsey & Company.
Jesse (Zexi) Sun has also been a part of the GPR for five years, but in the World Christianity track. His dissertation, "War, Revolution, and Chinese Protestant Intellectuals: A Twentieth-Century Odyssey," was chaired by Dr. Xi Lian on March 29, 2022 over Zoom. Jesse's position has not yet been finalized, but he has secured a post that should keep him in the southeast for a while.
Grazina Bielousova, a sixth-year PhD candidate in the Religion, Aesthetics and Society track, defended her dissertation March 31, 2022 in Griffith Board Room at The Bryan Center. Her dissertation committee for "The Making of Savage Europe: Religious Difference and The Idea of Eastern Europe" was co-chaired by Dr. J. Kameron Carter and Dr. Joseph Winters. Grazina has been very involved with International Comparative Studies during her time at Duke, teaching under contract for three years.