10/15/2025

Dear Loggers,

Since its establishment in 2000, the Swope Lectures have brought significant voices to campus to engage our community on topics related to faith, ethics, values, and religion in society. I’m pleased to share that this November, we will welcome Dr. Vanessa Gomez Brake (she/her/siya) to Tacoma as our Fall ‘25 Swope Lecturer. Her keynote address, “At the Intersections of Faith, Identity, and Power: Disrupting Christian Hegemony in Higher Education,” will be on Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 7:30 p.m. in Kilworth Memorial Chapel. The lecture is free, but tickets are required. You can reserve your ticket at pugetsound.edu/events/swope-endowed-lecture-dr-vanessa-gomez-brake.   

Dr. Gomez Brake is the Senior Associate Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California, the first Humanist university chaplain to serve in this capacity at any American university. At USC, she works to support a broad conception of religious and spiritual life, connecting with over 90 student groups to offer a remarkable breadth of opportunities for student engagement and exploration. In addition, Dr. Gomez Brake is an accomplished Filipino folk dancer and multi-instrumentalist, having performed at the White House and at Carnegie Hall for Filipino American History Month celebrations. Her folk artistry is an extension of her interfaith work, as her performances showcase the diverse traditions, rituals, and beliefs of Muslim, Christian, and Indigenous peoples of the Philippines.  

The Swope Endowed Lectures were created by Major Ianthe Swope in honor of her mother, Jane Hammer Swope, who graduated from Puget Sound in 1942. The Lectures Committee includes students, faculty, and staff who work to select and host at least one Swope Lecturer each semester. If you’d like to learn more about the committee or about this fall’s event, please feel free to contact me at dwright@pugetsound.edu. 

I hope you will join me in welcoming Dr. Gomez Brake to campus in November, and that you will be a part of these important conversations around the ways we seek to navigate spiritual and religious pluralism in ways that include those of any, all, or no particular spiritual tradition or practice.

With gratitude,

Dave Wright ‘96, University Chaplain Chair, Swope Endowed Lectures Committee