By: Emily Delgado  

Kristy Nabhan-Warren, professor in the Department of Religious Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was selected to be a senior mentor for the prestigious Lilly Endowment funded 2024-2026 Young Scholars in American Religion program that is part of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture. 

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture within the School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University Indianapolis, explores the connections between religion and other aspects of American culture. For more than 25 years, the Young Scholars in American Religion program has been assisting early career scholars with honing their teaching and research. 

“I was emotional when I was recently invited to be one of two senior mentors for this new cohort of young scholars,” said Nabhan-Warren, who is also the V.O. and Elizabeth Kahl Figge Chair in Catholic Studies. “Being asked to mentor in this capacity to this group of amazingly talented scholars from across the United States is honestly one of the biggest honors of my career thus far.” 

As one of two senior mentors, Nabhan-Warren will work closely with the cohort of 10 early career scholars from October 2024 to March 2026. The second senior mentor is R. Marie Griffith, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. 

The mentoring program is unique as it selectively pairs senior scholars with junior scholars and brings them together in Indianapolis for four days in the fall and spring. In addition to receiving intensive mentorship, the junior scholars form bonds with each other and their mentors, Nabhan-Warren said, adding how some of her closest friends have come from the program. 

Nabhan-Warren is especially thrilled that a member of the new group is Kayla Wheeler, a graduate of the religious studies PhD program at the University of Iowa. Wheeler is currently an assistant professor at Xavier University. 

Being a mentor for the Young Scholars program is a full circle moment for Nabhan-Warren since she was part of the program in the 2005-06 cohort as a junior scholar. She credits the program for helping launch her career as a teacher and scholar and for connecting her with a network of scholars. 

“It was a big honor to be a young scholar many years ago and to now be a senior scholar mentoring younger scholars is icing on the cake and extra sweet,” Nabhan-Warren said. “I have been thinking a lot about my career and about how it brings me so much joy to play a role in raising up the next generation of scholars and teachers.” 

Nabhan-Warren said the skill set she developed through young scholars, including how to pitch research and teaching in clear, accessible ways, has really informed her work. 

Nabhan-Warren has published several books, articles, and book reviews throughout her career. Her newest book, “Meatpacking America: How Migration, Work, and Faith Unite and Divide the Heartland,” was published in the fall of 2021 with the University of North Carolina Press. Since then she has given numerous invited lectures at universities, religious organizations, and nonprofits. She enjoys these opportunities as they connect her with graduate students and young scholars starting their careers. 

While Nabhan-Warren will officially be a program mentor for the next two years, she hopes to continue working with and mentoring young scholars beyond that. 

“Throughout the rest of my career, I want to able to help younger scholars in terms of helping to connect them with an editor or a publisher for their book,” Nabhan-Warren said. “It's really an honor, and it's an extension of what I am already doing and what I love doing. It is a way of paying it forward and I can’t wait to get started.”