HTI Alumni
Teresa Delgado
Dean of St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at St. John’s University, NY
Field(s) of Study: Theology, Systematic Theology, and Ethics
Teresa Delgado is Dean of St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of theology and religious studies at St. John’s University, NY. She received her doctorate from Union Theological Seminary (NYC), under the guidance of the trailblazing womanist theologian Dr. Delores S. Williams. She has published on topics ranging from decolonial theology, diversity in higher education, transformational pedagogies, constructive theology and ethics, and justice for racially, ethnically and sexually minoritized persons, including her essays, “Metaphor for Teaching: Good Teaching is Like Good Sex,” (Teaching Theology and Religion, July 2015) and “Beyond Procreativity: Heterosexuals Queering Marriage,” in Queer Christianities: Lived Religion in Transgressive Forms (NYU, 2014). Dr. Delgado’s book, A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom, was published in September 2017 (Palgrave Macmillan); co-authored with Dr. Victor Anderson (Vanderbilt University), “For the Beauty of the World: The Moral Imaginary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s World House,” is included in Reclaiming the Great World House in the 21st Century: Cross-Disciplinary Explorations of the Vision of Martin Luther King, Jr. (University of Georgia, 2019). Her poetry, “Summer Solstice,” is included in the collection Unruly Catholic Feminists: Prose, Poetry, and the Future of the Faith (SUNY, 2021).
Addressing the need for greater diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education, Dr. Delgado mentors doctoral students of color to nurture their success in the academy, church and world. A Senior Fellow of the Ford Foundation, she has served on the board of the Hispanic Theological Initiative; as well as a member of the mentoring consortium of the Forum for Theological Exploration; and the advisory committee of the Wabash Center for Teaching & Learning in Theology and Religion. Dr. Delgado served as President of the Board of WESPAC (Westchester People’s Action Coalition), a leading force of social justice activism in Westchester County, and currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Colgate University and The Ursuline School. She lives in Mount Vernon, NY with her husband, Pascal Kabemba, and is blessed with four beautiful (adult) children.