Lane Center Staff

Erin Brigham

DIRECTOR

Erin Brigham is the director of the Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Social Thought and the Ignatian Tradition and teaches in the department of theology and religious studies. Passionate about theological research, her most recent books include Church as Field Hospital: Toward an Ecclesiology of Sanctuary (2022) and Women Engaging the Catholic Social Tradition: Solidarity Toward the Common Good (2022), co-edited with Mary Johnson. She is currently studying the impact of the pandemic on faith and religious practices. She grew up near the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Western Montana and now lives in San Francisco with her family.

Mark Miller

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

Mark Miller is associate professor of systematic (philosophical) theology.  His mother came from the Philippines, his father from Maine, and they met in the middle as students at USF in the 1960s.  His specialty is human development and redemption, particularly our ongoing, communal conversion to greater knowledge, love, and service of God and all things.  His PhD dissertation is entitled, "Why the Passion?: Bernard Lonergan on the Cross as Communication." His undergraduate degree concentrated on Humanities in International Affairs.

Professor Miller has taught at Ateneo de Zamboanga, University of Asia and the Pacific, Boston College, Georgetown University, Santa Clara, and Seton Hall (as inaugural Toth/Lonergan Endowed Visiting Chair), as well as at Mt. Calvary Elementary School in Forestville, MD and Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, NV. At USF he teaches in Catholic Studies, Philippine Studies, and the St. Ignatius Institute. He helps coach the USF Taekwondo Club/Team.

Joseph Nguyen, S.J.

LO SCHIAVO FACULTY IN RESIDENCE

Father Joseph is a Jesuit Priest of the U.S. West Province of the Society of Jesus. Prior to coming to the University of San Francisco, he was a lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies at Gonzaga University for five years where he taught courses in Catholic Christian foundations and Christian and Ignatian spirituality and served as the Associate Director for the Catholic Studies program. He earned a Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) from the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University in 2015 with a dissertation on the theology of divine union in Maximus the Confessor and Ignatius of Loyola. Father Joseph's area of specialty is systematic theology and Christian Spirituality with an emphasis on early Christian spiritual theology and Ignatian spirituality. He published a book: Apatheia in the Christian Tradition: An Ancient Spirituality and Its Contemporary Relevance (Cascade Books, 2018), and is currently writing a second book: Christian Contemplation: Theological Foundations and Contemporary Practice (forthcoming). The Jesuit theologian, Karl Rahner, S.J., once said, “The Christian of the future will be a mystic or he will not exist at all.” His saying guides Father Joseph's approach to theology and spirituality. He joined the Department of Theology and Religious Studies as an assistant professor in the fall of 2020. 

Talia Knowles

Talia Knowles is the Program Assistant for the Lane Center. She earned her MA in English Literature and Culture from King's College London and is passionate about applying this knowledge to furthering the Lane Center's mission. In her free time, Talia enjoys reading, cooking, and walking her poodle through Golden Gate Park.