Ministry of Presence: A Portrait of Chaplains in Maryland

Alisha Tatem, Th.D. is the Program Director for Religious Leaders at ICJS. She has a B.A. in Social Work from Messiah College and is a graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA, where she earned both her M.Div. and a Th.D. in Pastoral Care and Counseling. Most recently Alisha served as an Associate Chaplain at a continuing care retirement community in Pennsylvania. She has more than 15 years of experience working and providing leadership in nonprofit and congregational settings. She is passionate about building bridges across diverse communities and finding creative ways to foster relationships.

Amy Lawton, Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Scholar of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab at Brandeis University. She earned her Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Connecticut. Her research interests focus on the potential and paradox of religious pluralism in the United States, the cultural production of the sacred, and meaning-making in both religious and (non)religious belief systems. Her dissertation examined the practice of donor memorial ceremonies, which are memorial services held by medical schools to commemorate and honor whole-body anatomical donors.