HTI Alumni

Field of Study: Practical Theology 

Dr. José R. Irizarry serves as the 10^th President of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and Professor of Practical Theology.  Before that appointment, Irizarry served as Vice President of Education at the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

For the last 20 years, Irizarry has occupied academic administration positions as Program Director, Dean, and acting President. An ordained Minister of the PC(USA), he holds degrees from the University of Puerto Rico (BA), McCormick Theological Seminary (MDiv), and Northwestern University (PhD), as well as professional certificates from Boston University (PFr) and Cornell University (CPm). As a scholar in the field of religious education and intercultural relations, he has traveled internationally to lead seminars and conduct research.

In 2007 he was elected President of the Religious Education Association in the US and Canada, the first Latino to occupy that position in the centenary academic guild. Irizarry served on the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation for eight years and has served on the Editorial Board of five ecumenical journals. He has contributed articles in several edited volumes including education and psychology texts.  He was appointed to the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches and to the Committee on Theological Education of the PC(USA). Irizarry has served multiple regional accreditation Commissions as Chair of evaluation teams.  His major academic interests are international and intercultural relations, political theory and theology, critical pedagogy, aesthetics of space, and religious teratology.