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Two Valpo Professors Receive University Research Professorships

Nov. 11, 2021 – Valparaiso, Indiana – Matthew Becker, Ph.D., and Stephanie Wong, Ph.D., will serve as University Research Professors at Valparaiso University for the 2022–2023 academic year. The grants recognize and encourage scholarly accomplishments and will afford Becker and Wong the opportunity to continue creative and original work through one semester of full-time leave with pay or two consecutive semesters with a half-time schedule, plus a $4,000 stipend.

Matthew Becker portrait

 

Becker, a professor of theology, will work to translate, annotate, and edit the third of five volumes of Edmund Schlink’s writings. Becker has already edited the first two volumes in the series. (The first contains Schlink’s ecumenical essays, and the second is his dogmatics.) The third volume is his study of baptism. This five-volume project will be the first critical edition of Schlink’s work in any language.

Becker, who joined the Valparaiso University faculty in 2004, has taught 27 courses, has written two prior books, edited five others, and has published numerous articles for peer-reviewed journals and other publications.

 

 

Stephanie Wong Portrait

Wong, an assistant professor of theology, will research the socio-political situation and interreligious relations of Christianity in China. This research will help shape her book “Public Religion: Rethinking Catholicity Through the Church in China,” which will look at global Catholicism through the lens of the Chinese experience.

Wong joined the Valparaiso University faculty in 2019 and has written the book “National Witness: Chinese Catholicism After the Age of Empires” as well as 11 peer-reviewed articles for publication.

 

 

The Creative Work and Research Committee selects University Research Professors on their proposal’s originality and significance and the applicant’s capacity to execute the program of study.