Interfaith Winston Salem - Board of Guidance

Abby Catoe
Protestant Christianity
Mrs. Catoe is studying for her Master of Divinity degree at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity. From Winston Salem, she currently resides in East Bend where she owns and runs a landscaping business.

Jim Collins
Protestant Christianity
Mr. Collins is a native of Mayodan, N.C. and a 1974 graduate of North Carolina State University.  A resident of Clemmons, Collins is a financial adviser.  His religious affiliation is Ardmore United Methodist Church and Christian Left.  His interest in bringing more religious learning opportunities to people of the Winston-Salem area was a key factor in the original development of Interfaith Winston-Salem.  

Truman Dunn, Ph.D.
Protestant Christianity
Dr. Dunn is a retired Moravian minister who has lived in the Winston-Salem area for many years. He earned a B.A. degree from Penn State University, an M.Div. degree from Duke University and a Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.  He served as an adjunct professor at Salem College for 15 years.  He has been involved in Interfaith Winston-Salem since its conception.

David Harold

Catholic Christianity

Mr. Harold is a member of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Winston-Salem. In a previous term on the board of Interfaith Winston-Salem, he served as secretary. Holder of a Master’s of Divinity degree and a licensed Tai Chi Chuan instructor, he has a commitment of more than 25 years to psychotherapy and to teaching personal and spiritual growth.

Seretha Masdon
Unitarian Universalism
Ms. Masdon grew up in Macon, Ga. in a conventional Christian denomination. She now attends the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem (UUFWS), where she says “every conversation is essentially an interfaith experience.”  She actively represents UUFWS in Winston-Salem Pride events and Interfaith Voice and has organized fundraising events for the Adam Foundation and AIDS Care Services.  

Jeremy Moseley
Protestant Christianity
Mr. Moseley holds a Master's in Public Health degree. From Kinston, N.C., he currently resides in Durham and is a member of the AME Zion Church. He is a Health Care Administrator in the FaithHealth program at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

 
Jerry McLeese
Protestant Christianity
Mr. McLeese is the founder of Interfaith Winston-Salem and is an ex officio member of the board. He is a member of Green Street United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem.  A native of Anderson, South Carolina, he retired in 1998 after a career as a sportswriter, a corporate communications manager and owner of a public relations agency.  He received a B.A. degree in English from Wake Forest University in 1966.  
 
Michelle M. Nicolle, Ph.D.
Zen Buddhism
Chaplain Michelle Nicolle, PhD, completed a Clinical Pastoral Care (CPE) residency at Wake Forest Medical Center in  August 2016. Prior to this residency, Dr. Nicolle was engaged in neuroscience research as an Associate Professor at Wake Forest School of Medicine (WFSM) with appointments in Internal Medicine, Section of Geriatrics and the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. The focus of Michelle's research was the neurobiology of memory decline in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease. Her love of the elderly transitioned from the lab bench to the bedside in a career change from academics to chaplaincy beginning in 2013.  Michelle completed (and continues) her religious training at the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, NM under the direction of Roshi Joan Halifax, and was ordained as Buddhist Chaplain in 2016.  Michelle’s current role as the chaplain in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter is to provide spiritual care and support for medical students, physician assistant students, nurse anesthetist, undergraduate, and graduate students and faculty for WFSM, and for the many businesses and scientists associated with the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter in Winston Salem, N.C.

Imam Joe’l Saahir

Islam

Imam Saahir came into the Muslim community under Imam W.D. Mohammed in 1992 in Chicago. He became active in the community and began working security, eventually working with Imam Mohammed's personal security. He and Eugenia have three children and two grandchildren. In 2005 the family moved to Winston Salem became members at Masjid Al-Muminun. He has worked in high schools both here and in Chicago, also coaching football and golf at those high schools. He received his B.S.B.A. from Salem College in 2016. Currently he is working his master's in liberal studies at UNC Greensboro.

Bob Schwartz M.D.
Reform Judaism
Bob Schwartz, long-time resident of Winston-Salem, N.C., is an active member of Temple Emanuel.  Bob is a native of Lakeland, Florida. He graduated from the University of Florida, 1964 BS Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi and achieved his M.D. from the University of Florida College of Medicine in 1968. Bob is a retired Pediatric Endocrinologist (2011) and Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics.

Sita Somara, Ph.D.
Hinduism
Dr. Somara is affiliated with Winston Salem Balavihar, an organization focused on helping develop social values and enrich human morals in children for becoming better future citizens.  Dr. Somara is also actively involved in the Indo-US Cultural Association. She has Ph.D. in Biochemistry from India. She moved to Winston Salem in 2011 as Assistant Professor at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine after working at University of Michigan for nine years. 

Dana D. (Deon) Strickland, Ph.D.
Protestant Christianity
A member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Dr. Strickland is a teaching professor in the School of Business at Wake Forest University.  He received an A.B. in economics from Harvard University in 1988 and a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1997.  Prior to joining the faculty at Wake Forest in 2008, he held faculty positions as The Ohio State University and Arizona State University.  He worked as an economist for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2000-2002.  He is an active member of Maple Springs United Methodist Church.

Nelly van Doorn-Harder, Ph.D.
Protestant Christianity
Dr. van Doorn-Harder is a professor of religion in the Department for the Study of Religion at Wake Forest University.  She was born and raised in the Netherlands were she earned her Ph.D. on the topic of women in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. Before moving to the USA she was director of a refugee program in Cairo, Egypt, and taught Islamic Studies at universities in the Netherlands (Leiden) and Indonesia (Yogyakarta).

Tracy Widener
Agnosticism/Theism
Ms. Widener is a native of Winston-Salem, now residing in Advance. She has no religious affiliation or belief system. She has 13 years of experience volunteering in the Forsyth and Davie County school systems. Her interest in faith traditions has led her to Interfaith Winston-Salem. Believing that the community will benefit greatly from the Interfaith Winston-Salem mission. She volunteers her time helping Interfaith Winston-Salem accomplish that mission.

Alan Williams, Ph. D.
Atheism
Dr. Williams was born in Ossining, N.Y. and grew up in Albuquerque, N.M., having spent years 2-18 there. His religious/faith affiliation being None, he has an interest in Buddhism, and admiration for and works with Quakers/Friends Community. He obtained his B.A. in history from Stanford and a Ph.D. degree in history from Yale before coming to Winston-Salem. He is a professor of history at Wake Forest University.

Rev. Byron Williams
Agnosticism
Rev. Williams is a columnist, author, and the former pastor of the Resurrection Community Church in Berkeley, Calif. He is also host of the NPR-affiliated broadcast “The Public Morality.” Williams is the author of the bestselling “1963: The Year of Hope and Hostility,” which won the 2014 International Book Award for U.S. History. Williams has spoken across the country and appeared on numerous television and radio news programs, including CNN, MSNBC, ABC Radio, Fox News, and National Public Radio.