Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez

Program Manager and learning designer in Hanover, NH

Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez

Program Manager and learning designer in Hanover, NH

Read my book

"The failure of Americans to understand other religions poses one of the greatest challenges to our public diplomacy"- Madeline Albright, 1st female U.S. Secretary of State, former US Ambassador to the UN, The Mighty & the Almighty, 2003

"In fact, if I went back to college today, I think I would probably major in comparative religion because that’s how integrated [religion] is in everything that we are working on & deciding & thinking about in life today.”- John Kerry, 68th U.S. Secretary of State, former US Senator from Massachusetts

I am Program Manager for Student Programming at Dartmouth's Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL). After 15+ years of teaching college students about the history & sociology of religions, I am now working to introduce students & faculty to the most effective approaches to teaching & learning. I am particularly happy to be managing the Learning Fellows Program, based on the Learning Assistant Alliance model. This program brings undergraduates into the instructional team where they can support their peers, help facilitate an active learning classroom, & be mentored in pedagogy by faculty & learning designers.

I also continue to pursue my own research on how religious worldviews shape individual identities & social realities. My first book, The Valiant Woman: The Virgin Mary in Nineteenth-Century American Culture is available from UNC Press. It reveals how 19th c. Protestants were surprisingly & deeply fascinated with the Virgin Mary, even as her role as a devotional figure who united American Catholics grew. Documenting the vivid Marian imagery that suffused popular culture, it argues that Mary became a potent, shared exemplar of womanhood around which Christians of all stripes rallied during an era filled with anxiety about the emerging market economy & shifting gender roles.

I am currently working on a book about religion & mental health in 19th & 20th c. America. As the field of psychiatry developed, religious communities had to contend with new terminology & professionals who offered a new vision of human flourishing & new tools for spiritual & emotional healing. The book tells the story of what Christians borrowed, what they contributed, & where they drew the line.

Having lived my adult life in cities including Manhattan, Chicago, Brooklyn, & the suburbs of Philadelphia, my family & I are now enjoying the snowy woods of Vermont!

  • Work
    • Dartmouth
  • Education
    • University of Chicago, Divinity School
    • Wellesley College