Biography
Elaine Padilla is Chair of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of La Verne, having previously served as the first Latina Chair of Philosophy and Religious Studies. Grounded in 15 years of chaplaincy and leadership roles like directing the MDiv program at New York Theological Seminary, her administrative vision emphasizes cross-disciplinary synergy, program advocacy, and inclusive institutional leadership. Padilla’s extensive scholarship amplifies marginalized voices across monographs, co-edited volumes, and articles. She authored Divine Enjoyment (Fordham, 2015), co-edited Ecological Solidarities (Penn State, 2018) and the three-volume Theology and Migration in World Christianity (Palgrave, 2013–16). Her upcoming monograph, The Luminous Darkening of Her (Penn State, under review), draws on decolonial theory and borderlands feminisms, complementing a future project on Our Lady of Montserrat in Puerto Rico exploring memory and resistance to erasure.
Candidate Statement
I joined the American Academy of Religion as a doctoral student, fully integrating myself into its life and mission. My early service on the World Christianity and Graduate Student Committees—alongside lifelong friendships, women’s mentoring luncheons, and rich conversations—shaped my understanding of what the AAR can be at its best: a vibrant home for equity, intellectual vitality, and collective responsibility. These collaborations have flourished into projects promoting scholarship from below and a passion for justice, such as through my work in Religions in the Latina/o Americas and La Comunidad.
This collaborative environment is needed now more than ever. Across higher education, theological studies, and the study of religion, we face departed colleagues, eliminated programs, reduced budgets, and institutional models that no longer hold our aspirations. Yet my academic journey and interactions at the AAR have shown that endings are also beginnings; beauty can arise from the wreckage. This space between what has fallen apart and what is not yet built is precisely where our most vital work continues.
As a 20-year AAR member and educator of 16 years, I have learned that crisis demands we stand courageously amid uncertainty. I have witnessed firsthand how institutional shifts can be reoriented toward justice and intellectual vitality. Bringing disparate fields into conversation isn’t about mere survival—it enables us to discover thematic resonances, build scholarly synergies, and protect vulnerable, specialized bodies of knowledge.
My commitment is anchored in transformative, inclusive leadership and continuous reimagining. As Vice President, I will work with the leadership team to craft a narrative of shared resilience—addressing systemic precarity while co-creating possibilities for intellectual renewal. This means bolstering colleagues at risk of erasure—from graduate students and junior faculty to contingent and tenured faculty in restructured programs—and building structures of refuge for scholarship born of struggle.
The AAR has always been a place where complex stories meet and transform one another. I would be honored to serve as your Vice President as we write this next chapter together with clear-eyed rigor, narrative courage, and transformative hope.