Education
- 2018 Ph.D., Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
- 2006 M.A.T., Language Arts, Lewis & Clark College Graduate School
- 2004 M.A.R. (cum laude), History of Christianity, Yale Divinity School
- 2002 B.A. English, Philosophy (with honors), Lewis & Clark College
Academic and Professional Employment
- 2022- Associate Director, Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life, University of California, Santa Barbara
- 2020-2022 Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Santa Barbara
- 2019-2020 Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Southern Mississippi
- 2018-2019 Lecturer, University of California, Santa Barbara
- 2011-2018 Teaching Assistant/Associate, University of California, Santa Barbara
- 2006-2010 Teacher, Wood Middle School (Wilsonville, OR)
- 2005-2006 Instructor, Mt. Hood Community College (OR)
Publications
Journal Articles
- 2019. “Organic Farming as Spiritual Practice and Practical Spirituality at Sunburst Farms.” Nova Religio 23.1: 60-88.
- 2015. “‘Need a Minister? How about Your Brother?’: The Universal Life Church between Religion and Nonreligion,” Secularism & Nonreligion 4.12: 1-13.
Book Chapters
- 2024. “Intergenerational Evolution of Religiosity and Spirituality in Sexual Minorities in an American Sample” (with Maria T. Brown, Joseph Blankholm, Woosang Hwang, RianSimone Harris, and Merril Silverstein). In Religious Change and Continuity Across Generations: Passing on Faith in Families of Six European and North American Nations, edited by Merril Silverstein, Christel Gärtner, and Maria T. Brown, 157-193. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
- 2024. “Spiritual Beliefs and Practices of the Nonreligious in an American Context: A Cross-Generational Perspective.” (with Woosang Hwang, Joseph Blankholm, Maria T. Brown, RianSimone Harris, and Merril Silverstein). In Religious Change and Continuity Across Generations: Passing on Faith in Families of Six European and North American Nations, edited by Merril Silverstein, Christel Gärtner, and Maria T. Brown, 195-218. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
- 2019. “Biodiversity and Spiritual Well-being” (with Katherine N. Irvine, Rebecca Bell-Williams, and Sara L. Warber). In Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change, edited by Melissa R. Marselle, Jutta Stadler, Horst Korn, Katherine N. Irvine, and Aletta Bonn, 213-247. New York: Springer.
- 2017. “Your Wedding, Your Way: Personalized, Nonreligious Weddings through the Universal Life Church.” In Organized Secularism in the United States: New Directions in Research, edited by Ryan T. Cragun, Lori L. Fazzino, and Christel Manning, 253-278. New York: De Gruyter.
Encyclopedia Entries
- 2015. “Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).” In Ghosts, Spirits, and Psychics: The Paranormal from Alchemy to Zombies, edited by Matt Cardin, 49-51. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
- 2015. “Randi, James.” In Ghosts, Spirits, and Psychics: The Paranormal from Alchemy to Zombies, edited by Matt Cardin, 253-254. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
- 2012. “Antigua and Barbuda.” In Encyclopedia of Global Religion, vol. 1, edited by Mark Juergensmeyer and Wade Clark Roof, 44-45. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- 2012. “Virgin Islands (British).” In Encyclopedia of Global Religion, vol. 2, edited by Mark Juergensmeyer and Wade Clark Roof, 1361-1362. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- 2012. “Virgin Islands (U.S.).” In Encyclopedia of Global Religion, vol. 2, edited by Mark Juergensmeyer and Wade Clark Roof, 1362-1363. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Conference Proceedings
- 2013. “Thrasymachus: Diagnosis and Treatment” (with Nicholas D. Smith). In Dialogues on Plato’s “Politeia” (“Republic”): Selected Papers from the Ninth Symposium Platonicum (International Plato Studies, Volume 31), edited by Noburu Notomi and Luc Brisson, 60-65. Sankt Augustin, Germany: Academia Verlag.
Book Reviews
- 2022. Review of Speak of the Devil: How the Satanic Temple is Changing the Way We Talk about Religion, by Joseph P. Laycock, Religion 52.1: 143-146.
- 2020. Review of Our Non-Christian Nation: How Atheists, Satanists, Pagans, and Others Are Demanding Their Rightful Place in Public Life, by Jay Wexler, Sociology of Religion 81.3: 347-347.
- 2018. Review of Inventing American Religion: Polls, Surveys, and the Tenuous Quest for a Nation’s Faith, by Robert Wuthnow, Religion 48.1: 132-135.
- 2016. Review of Media Portrayals of Religion and the Secular Sacred: Representation and Change, by Kim Knott, Elizabeth Poole, and Teemu Taira, Religion 46.3: 480-484.
- 2014. Review of Religion and Hip Hop, by Monica R. Miller, Religion 44.1: 186-189.
- 2012. Review of Aimee Semple McPherson and the Making of Modern Pentecostalism, 1890-1926, by Chas. H. Barfoot, Religion 42.4: 674-677.
Selected Online Academic Articles
- 2023. “Just About Anybody in America Can Officiate a Wedding, Thanks to the Internet—and One Determined Preacher,” The Conversation, July 27.
- 2021. “Preliminary Findings: Demographics and Secular Identifications,” The Secular Communities Survey, June 25.
- 2021. “Sunburst (Brotherhood of the Sun),” World Religions and Spirituality Project, June 22.
- 2020. “Universal Life Church Monastery,” World Religions and Spirituality Project, July 28.
- 2020. Contribution to “Asian Americans and American Religion: Recommendations for Your Summer Reading and Fall Syllabi,” Anxious Bench [Patheos], May 28.
- 2017. “On Reading Ralph Ellison Theologically,” Religious Studies Project, June 16.
- 2016. Review of Losing Our Religion: How Unaffiliated Parents Are Raising Their Children, by Christel Manning, Reading Religion, July 8.
- 2014. “Better Know an Archive: UCSB’s American Religions Collection,” Religion in the American West, June 16.
- 2013. Review of Theater in a Crowded Fire: Ritual and Spirituality at Burning Man, by Lee Gilmore, Religion in the American West, June 3.
- 2013. Review of What Matters? Ethnographies of Value in a Not So Secular Age, edited by Courtney Bender and Ann Taves, Practical Matters 6, May 4.
- 2013. “Religion, Secularism, and the Chaplaincy,” Religious Studies Project, April 24.
- 2013. Review of Cascadia: The Elusive Utopia: Exploring the Spirit of the Pacific Northwest, edited by Douglas Todd, Religion in the American West, April 8.
- 2012. “James Sheerin’s Search for the Holy Grail: Perceptions of Religion in the American West,” Religion in the American West, July 16.
- 2012. “Approaches to Studying Irreligion and Secular Spirituality in the Pacific Northwest,” Religion in the American West, July 16.
- 2012. “The Last Best Hope of Earth? Bron Taylor and the Limits of Dark Green Religion,” Religion Studies Project, April 25.
Other Publications
- 2010. “My Oregon Territories.” In Oregon Stories, compiled by Ooligan Press, 171-172. Portland, OR: Ooligan Press [Portland State University].
Selected Grants, Awards, and Honors
- 2024 Henry Luce Foundation Responsive Grant (“Religion, Repatriation, and Repair: Scoping Workshops,” with Greg Johnson and Sally Promey), Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life, UCSB ($75,000)
- 2023 Henry Luce Foundation Responsive Grant (“Asian American Religions and the State: A Workshop”), University of California, Santa Barbara ($35,000)
- 2021 Donia Human Rights Center Book Preparation Workshop Grant (“Asian American Religions, Religious Freedom, and the State,” with Melissa Borja), University of Michigan ($9,530)
- 2018 Walter Capps Memorial Award, Religious Studies Department, UCSB
- 2018 UCSB University Service Award
- 2018 UCSB Academic Senate Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award Nominee
- 2016 Certificate of Gratitude, CARE Advocate Office for Sexual Violence, UCSB
- 2015 UCSB Academic Senate Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award Nominee
- 2015 Dean’s Prize Teaching Fellowship, UCSB
- 2015 Cordano Catholic Studies Grant ($360)
- 2015 UCSB Open Access Fund Award, UCSB Library
- 2014 UCSB Academic Senate Doctoral Student Travel Grant ($650)
- 2014 Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Travel Award
- 2014 UCSB Graduate Dean’s Advancement Fellowship ($6,750)
- 2013 UCSB Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research (ISBER) Graduate Research Award for Social Science Surveys (GRASSS) Grant ($600)
- 2013 Chair’s Distinguished Service Award, Religious Studies Department, UCSB
- 2012 Professor Robert S. Michaelsen Memorial Award for Academic Achievement in The Study of American Religion, Religious Studies Department, UCSB
- 2012 Graduate Students Association Excellence in Teaching Award Nominee, UCSB
- 2010-2013 Rowny Research Fellowship, Religious Studies Department, UCSB
- 2003-2004 Paul L. Holmer Scholar, Yale Divinity School
- 1998-2002 Dean’s Scholar, Lewis & Clark College
Podcast Interviews Conducted
- 2016, Interview with David Gordon White, “Historical, Popular, and Scholarly Constructions of Yoga,” Religious Studies Project, June 22
- 2016, Interview with Joseph Blankholm, “Permutations of Secularism,” Religious Studies Project, May 16
- 2016, Interview with Lynn Davidman, “Conversion and Deconversion as Concepts in the Sociology of Religion,” Religious Studies Project, April 25
- 2015, Interview with Darren Sherkat, “Religious Demography in the U.S.,” Religious Studies Project, November 25
- 2015, Interview with Rudy Busto, “Race and Religion: Intertwined Social Constructions,” Religious Studies Project, June 1
- 2014, Interview with Wade Clark Roof, “Baby Boomers, Quest Culture, and Spiritual Seeking: An Interview with Wade Clark Roof,” Religious Studies Project, December 15
- 2014, Interview with Michele Dillon, “Habermas, Religion, and the Post-Secular,” Religious Studies Project, March 10
Research Experience
- 2024-2025 “Religion, Repatriation, and Repair: Scoping Workshops”: wrote grant, organized and co-led two workshops, wrote report, goal to apply for a larger grant to hold national workshops on this same topic; co-PI with Greg Johnson and Sally Promey
- 2023-2024 “Asian American Religions and the State: A Workshop”: wrote grant, organized and led workshop, presented research, goal to publish an edited volume on this topic; co-PI with Melissa Borja
- 2020-2022 Project manager for the Meaning of Religion Project (part of a $2.8 million Templeton Foundation grant, “Spirituality and Prosocial Values in the Absence of Religion among Millennials and Their Families”) and the Secular Communities Survey (the largest-ever survey of U.S. nonbeliever groups), UCSB
- 2010-2013 Conducted interviews and created annotated bibliography about contemporary sexuality and spirituality, UCSB
- 2002-2004 Transcribed sermon manuscripts for The Works of Jonathan Edwards Project, Yale Divinity School
Selected Professional Service
- 2023-present: Manuscript reviewer for Religion Compass
- 2022-present: Book proposal reviewer for Routledge
- 2021-present: Steering Committee, Asian North American Religion, Culture, & Society Unit, AAR
- 2020-present: Co-Chair, Sociology of Religion Unit, AAR
- 2020-present: Book proposal reviewer for Bloomsbury
- 2019: Steering Committee, Sociology of Religion Unit, AAR
- 2016-present: Manuscript reviewer for Secularism & Nonreligion
- 2015-present: Scholar as Resource, Religion and Diversity Project (Canada)
- 2014-2016: Interviewer, Religious Studies Project (podcast series)
Professional Affiliations
- American Academy of Religion
- North American Association for the Study of Religion
- The Study of Religion as an Analytic Discipline
- American Sociological Association
- American Anthropological Association
- Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
- Association for the Sociology of Religion
- Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network
- American Society for Church History
Media Appearances
- 2024. Deena Prichep, “The Story of the Church that Ordains You with a Few Clicks Online,” NPR, July 25.
- 2021. Renee Roden, “So You’ve Been Asked to Officiate a Wedding? Five Pieces of Advice from the Pros,” Washington Post, July 30. [via Religion News Service]
- 2018. Richard Cimino, “IRS’s Auditing of Religious Groups Drops Sharply under Political, Church Influence,” Religion Watch, November 30.
- 2018. Tammy La Gorce, “A Word from Your Officiant (for Better or Worse),” New York Times, November 13.
- 2016. Laura Geggel, “More Couples Are Asking Friends and Family to Officiate Weddings,” Live Science, September 14.
- 2016. Charles McCrary, “Weddings, Religion, and the Universal Life Church: An Interview with Dusty Hoesly,” Religion in American History, June 24.
- 2015. Richard Cimino, “Online Ordinations Put to Unconventional Spiritual Uses,” Religion Watch, February 1.
- 2014. Melanie Wilcox, “The Problem of the Universal Life Church,” Acculturated, December 30. [via Wayback Machine]
- 2014. Aaron Sankin, “Inside the Universal Life Church, the Internet’s One True Religion,” The Kernel, December 14. [via Wayback Machine]
Dusty Hoesly 