Dr. Laura O'Shaughnessy
Greetings! Growing up in NYC I learned very early in my life that issues of culture, politics and justice were closely interrelated. As a result I majored in Political Science and Romance Languages as an undergraduate at Queens College of the City of New York and later earned an MA and PhD at Indiana University. I taught Latin American Comparative Politics at St. Lawrence University for many years in the Department of Government. At the same time, my Christian faith has structured my life and as a professor my scholarly research centered on the role played by liberation theology in the revolutions in Central America, specifically Nicaragua and El Salvador. When these conflicts ended I studied their peace accords and the role of the United Nations in peace-making.
I retired from St. Lawrence University in 2007 to pursue a second career in ministry. I completed a Master of Divinity degree at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School and was ordained as a minister in the United Church of Christ in 2012. I am the Assistant Chaplain, who serves all students, faculty, and staff. I am also the Coordinator of the Peace Studies Program, wherein our challenge is to search, with intentionality, for non-violent means of conflict resolution and transformation.