Welch Alumni Relations Award

Catherine Wanner joined the Penn State faculty in 1996 and is a professor of history, anthropology, and religious studies. She received her doctorate in cultural anthropology from Columbia University and is the author of two books: Burden of Dreams: History and Identity in Post-Soviet Ukraine (Penn State Press, 1998); and Communities of the Converted: Ukrainians and Global Evangelism (Cornell University Press, 2007), which won four international awards and was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2008. Cathy is co-editor of Religion, Morality and Community in Post-Soviet Societies (Indiana University Press, 2008) and editor of State Secularism and Lived Religion in Soviet Russia and Ukraine (Oxford University Press, 2012). She is currently writing a book on the politics of religion in Russia and Ukraine, titled From Smoke Comes Fire: Faith and Belonging in Russia and Ukraine. In 2016-17, Cathy was a visiting professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.

Cathy has served as the Barry Director of the Paterno Fellows Program since 2013. She travels to New York and other cities to represent both the program and the college at alumni events and in one-on-one meetings with alumni. She meets with prospective students to educate them about the Paterno Fellows Program, the college, and Penn State.