Faculty and Staff
Alexander Hsu
Assistant Teaching Professor
4155 Jenkins Hall
(574) 631-7093
ahsu@nd.edu
Alexander Hsu serves as assistant teaching professor for the Ansari Institute and the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. He is also the Ansari Institute’s academic advisor and program manager. His research focuses on early Buddhist scriptures in medieval China and employs perspectives from manuscript studies, genre theory, and cultural history in order to examine how the use of texts reflects transformations in religious reading practices. Hsu’s current book project examines why and how medieval Chinese Buddhists used anthologies to “economize” their gigantic scriptural canon.
Charles Powell
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Multifaith Engagement
4150 Jenkins Hall
cpowell1@nd.edu
Charles W. Powell, a practical theologian, earned his Ecumenical Doctor of Ministry degree at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He specializes in interreligious dialogue between Christians and Muslims and multifaith engagement. Powell travels extensively throughout the Levant and Gulf States and Europe engaging in conversations with Muslim scholars and practitioners of Islam in order to have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Islamic milieu. He is a Visiting Academic Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Oxford, UK. Additionally, Powell serves as an adjunct professor of Muslim-Christian relations at Holy Cross College.
Prior to joining the Notre Dame community, Powell pastored churches in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi for nearly two decades. In his early years of ministry, he was a radio announcer and preacher for Southern Gospel radio out of Dothan, Alabama. He is an experienced speaker, administrator, and church planter. Powell holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from the Florida Baptist Theological College in Graceville, Florida and a Master of Divinity degree from Luther Rice Seminary in Lithonia, Georgia. He completed most of his master's degree at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, prior to relocating to Georgia to plant a new church.
His recent book project, Southern Baptists and Muslims: A Path to Dialogue through Narrative Empathy, tackles the issues of religious literacy and narrative empathy for Islam and Muslims that are often lacking in the Southern Baptist denomination.
Rebekah Go
Program and Communications Manager
4150 Jenkins Hall
(574) 631-4371
rgo@nd.edu
Rebekah Go serves as the Program and Communication Manager for the Ansari Instititute within the Keough School of Global Affairs. A native of South Bend, Rebekah holds both her bachelors (Communications and Theatre) and her masters (non-profit business administration) from the University of Notre Dame and has spent over twenty years in non-profit administration with the last ten within higher ed. Rebekah's passionate about community engagement and interfaith collaboration. She serves on the board of several local nonprofits, particularly those that focus on mental health resources and access, trauma-informed practices, urban development, and chronic homelessness.