Email:
Phone:
503.943.7365
Address:
Buckley Center 437
Dr. Rebecca Gaudino has taught at University of Portland since 2004. She is a Lecturer in Theology, teaching The Bible, Past and Present as well as Theological Dimensions of Suffering and Death and Encountering Grief and Loss. Her specialty is practical theology. For six years now, she has participated in a research project with Dr. Barb Braband (School of Nursing) and Dr. Anissa Rogers (California State University, San Bernadino). This trio is researching methods for a little understood topic: how to teach students to understand suffering and to accompany those who suffer with “sacred care.” This trio of researchers/instructors has published a series of papers on this topic and has won a prestigious national award for innovative teaching from SAGE Publishing and the Council on Social Work Education. Rebecca has a B.A. in English from Friends University, an M.A. in English from Kansas State University, and a Ph.D. in English from University of California at Davis. She also has an M.Div. from Columbia Theological Seminary and has been an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ since 1996.
Rebecca grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her parents were Ukrainian Mennonites—her father, a teacher, and her mother, a nurse. They lived deep in the rainforest to the south of the Congo, not too far from the Angola border. She grew up in a household and town of many peoples, languages, and cultures. Violence interrupted their community when the revolution and then the Mulele Rebellion struck. Many people were displaced, their homes and towns destroyed. Many were killed. Rebecca and her family were evacuated by Swiss peace-keeping troops and came to the U.S. as refugees. Her experiences have had a lifelong impact on her and shape the way she teaches: with passion and hope for a better community and world.
University of Portland
5000 N. Willamette Blvd.,
Portland, Oregon 97203-5798
503.943.8000
