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Dusty Hoesly

I am Associate Director of the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I earned a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from UCSB in 2018.

My research focuses on American religion and secularism, specializing in how new religious movements, Asian American religions, and the religiously unaffiliated shape modern American culture. I employ humanistic and social scientific methods to investigate how religion is constructed through discourse, practices, and institutions. I have published articles on the Universal Life Church and contemporary weddings, organic foods in new religious movements, biodiversity and spiritual well-being, the transmission of spirituality across generations, and brainwashing, race, and the Unification Church.

Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Researcher at UCSB (2020-2022), a Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Southern Mississippi (2019-2020), and a Lecturer at UCSB (2018-2019). I was also an English language arts middle school teacher in Oregon (2006-2010).

I officiate weddings through My Generation Weddings, which offers non-denominational, mixed-faith, spiritual, and secular ceremonies in traditional or modern styles. My expertise about contemporary wedding rituals and personalized ceremonies has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR.

Born and raised in Oregon, I have a deep love for the outdoors. I also enjoy travel, music, film, and collecting books.