Kaitlyn Bennett will be reading the MPhil in Music Performance at St Cross College, Oxford. She graduated summa cum laude from Grove City College, where she studied music and philosophy. Kaitlyn has performed primarily as a solo pianist and was featured with her college’s Symphonic Orchestra in Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2. She has worked extensively as a collaborative pianist and piano instructor and is also both a mezzo-soprano and a choral conductor. Her research interests include music as narrative, late 19th- and early 20th-century piano works, and engaging modern audiences through effective presentations that combine storytelling and performance. In her spare time, she enjoys running, cooking for her husband, and spending time outdoors.

Lizzie Bond will be reading the MPhil in Early Modern History (1500-1700) at Magdalen College, Oxford. Hailing from Norfolk, Virginia, she recently graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with a bachelor’s degree in History (concentrating in Law and Governance) and English, along with a minor in Political Science. She received Highest Distinction for her Senior Honors Thesis in History, which examined how 17th-century women’s petitions across Britain and its Atlantic empire served as a unique forum for women to access the law and comment upon it in politically significant ways. While Lizzie’s aspirations include training as an early modern legal and women’s historian, she remains deeply interested in exploring intellectual questions across the humanities, namely those which consider the implications for the Christian faith and western culture in the modern world. Also having a strong background in politics, she has dedicated much of her time to fostering cross-difference and cross-partisan dialogue, to engaging in community-building efforts, and to contemplating the nature of conservatism. When Lizzie is not studying centuries-old petitions, you can find her reading Faulkner, having theological discussions, restoring antiques, and taking care of her Persian cat, Prynne du Pre.

Joel Byman will be reading the MPhil in Theology at St Cross College, Oxford. He is finishing at Harvard College, where he studied Economics and Comparative Religion. His research interests lie at the intersection of theology, history, and economics. For his senior thesis he studied the impact of the internet on religion in the United States. At Oxford, he hopes to explore the influence and appropriation of Puritanism within 20th- and 21st-century Evangelicalism. Outside academia, Joel enjoys playing the piano, bicycling, and exploring new coffee shops with his wife.

Gabriel Calvo will be reading the MPhil in Theology at Oriel College, Oxford. He graduated from Villanova University with a BA with Honors in Philosophy and the Humanities. He calls Albuquerque, NM, home. His academic interests include metaphysics and philosophy of religion, and his senior thesis was on whether Eros can be considered a divine name for God. He enjoys baseball, hiking, agriculture, and poetry outside the classroom. Lewis and Tolkien are his favorites for pleasure reading.

Denton Knight will be reading the MPhil in Development Studies at St Antony’s College, Oxford. He graduated magna cum laude from the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he studied International Affairs and Persian. He also spent a year living and working in Tajikistan, where he built assistive devices for children with disabilities and taught English. At West Point, Denton commanded a company of cadets through summer field training and led the cadet Trust program, an organization focused on fighting sexual assault and harassment through offering peer support at the lowest level. His research has explored the impact of technology on education quality and the effect of foreign aid on rates of social capital. At Oxford, Denton hopes to foster a multidimensional understanding of international community development that moves beyond mere preservation of life and towards human flourishing.

Katerina Levinson will be reading the DPhil in Medieval and Modern Languages at Oxford. She is currently finishing the MSt in Medieval and Modern Languages (Spanish and English) at the Queen’s College, Oxford, and graduated from Baylor University’s Honors College in 2017, where she concentrated in Great Texts and Spanish. She was a recipient of the Fulbright ETA Fellowship in Spain, and a resident fellow at the John Jay Institute, where she studied political philosophy. Along with a passion for Cervantes, her research interests lie in Marian themes at the intersection of visual art and literature in the Spanish Golden Age. In her free time, Katerina enjoys singing and rock climbing.

Angelo Ryu will be reading the BCL at St John’s College, Oxford, and plans to read for the MPhil in Law for his second year. Previously he read for the BA in Law, also at St John’s College. His research interests are clustered primarily in public law and legal theory, with a particular focus on second-order limits on judicial power. He has written on the role of juries and the nature of mercy. Outside academics, he has worked at the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals as a judicial intern, the Federalist Society as a research associate, and the Ohio Attorney General's Office as a student researcher. For fun, he enjoys playing tennis and arguing with friends.

Emerson Salovaara will be reading the BPhil in Philosophy at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He graduated magna cum laude with an AB in Philosophy from Princeton University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received the Class of 1869 Prize for his thesis on natural law ethics. Emerson is interested in the political implications of human nature, especially regarding the proper use of technology to achieve social well-being. He enjoys cycling, backpacking, and long walks through old cities.

Allie Trice will be reading the MPhil in Medieval History at Somerville College, Oxford. She graduated from the University of South Carolina, Phi Beta Kappa, with a BA in History and English. Her academic interests as an undergraduate were divided between various time periods in medieval history and her senior thesis: an in-depth treatment of the events of 9/11 through the lens of sensory history. While American history was a far cry from her intended historical time period, that thesis convinced her of the value in approaching a historical event or topic by asking how the original participants experienced it. At Oxford she intends to fuse these interests by studying the sensory history of religion in early medieval Britain. Though a questioner and researcher to her core, Allie prefers to do everything she does with people. She decompresses by camping, enjoys combing second-hand stores for additions to her substantial book collection, and seeks to create beauty through her interests in hymnology, especially when accompanying local congregations.