Rachel Hart Winter

Rachel is an ethical theologian who brings a wealth of experience in scholarly research, higher education administration and teaching, and pastoral ministry to the work of the St. Catherine of Siena Center at Dominican University. Rachel leads the Center towards its mission to examine critical issues of church and society in the light of faith and scholarship.

She graduated from Lehigh University with a Bachelor of Arts in Behavioral Neuroscience, earned a Master of Theological Studies degree at Loyola University Chicago, and completed her doctoral dissertation: Just Water: A Catholic and Feminist Response to the Commodification of Water. 

Her theological interests lay at the intersection of ecology and theology, ethics and health care, drawing from the Bible, Catholic social teaching, and feminist theory. She teaches as an adjunct instructor in the Theology Department and has taught courses in theology with focus on Catholic social teaching, social justice, ethics and literature and health care ethics. Prior to Dominican, Rachel worked at Loyola University Chicago, in both University Ministry and at the Joan and Bill Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage. Previously, she served as a Jesuit Volunteer in the Marshall Islands and as associate director and operations manager at Jesuit Volunteers International. 

In addition to directing the Siena Center, Rachel serves on the Board of the Foundation for Adult Catechetical Teaching Aids. She is married to Patrick Winter, and has two sons, Joseph and Thomas, and a daughter, Catherine. She collaborated with a team of scholars from around the world on an interdisciplinary textbook that integrates ecology, ethics, and spirituality called Healing Earth https://healingearth.ijep.net/ through the International Jesuit Ecology Project. She has published a book on Jane Austen and prayer called Literary Portals to Prayer: Jane Austen. Hart Winter has also published several chapters and articles in scholarly and pastoral publications. She often presents on topics ranging from faith and poetry to storytelling and ethics.