Latest award underscores FSU Department of Religion’s legacy of excellence with Young Scholars in American Religion program

The Florida State University Department of Religion continues to produce leading scholars in the field of American religious history by connecting them with opportunities that allow them to succeed early in their careers.

For decades, FSU religion faculty and alumni have participated in the prestigious and highly competitive Young Scholars in American Religion program through Indiana University Indianapolis’ Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, and that legacy continues this fall with the appointment of the newest Young Scholar, alumnus Kevin Burton.

“The success we’ve had in placing students in the program has to do with a healthy graduate culture in the department,” said John Corrigan, Lucius Moody Bristol Distinguished Professor of Religion and professor of history. Upon the program’s inception in the 1980’s, Corrigan assisted the program as an informal adviser and served as a co-mentor for the program’s 2005-2007 cohort.

“We set a high bar that students have to meet to complete their degrees here, and we’ve always insisted on maximal performance,” he continued. “There’s a strong culture characterized by high aspiration through collaboration between graduate students and faculty, and it’s a culture that nourishes passion for all kinds of work.”

The Young Scholars program assists early career religion scholars in improving their teaching, research, and other professional ventures such as constructing a tenure portfolio, preparing publications, writing grants, navigating department politics and more. A new cohort is named annually, and cohorts meet four times in person and online to attend educational seminars and other events. The program allows early career religion scholars to gain new perspectives by workshopping research with other members and discussing challenges and opportunities that face newly graduated doctoral scholars.

Burton, who earned his doctorate in American religious history from FSU in 2023, is among ten scholars from across the U.S. to be elected to the 2024-2026 cohort. He currently serves as the director of the Center for Adventist Research and an assistant professor of church history at Andrews University in Michigan.

With his first book, “Apocalyptic Abolitionism: How Immediate Millennialists Helped Abolish Slavery and Reform America,” under contract with New York University Press, Burton said he is keen to further his research, which spans Adventism, a Protestant Christian belief, and the dynamics of minority religious relations with evangelical culture, within the program.

“Going into my doctoral program, I knew a great deal about my research interests, but FSU allowed me to hone them,” Burton said. “I’m excited to now be a part of the Young Scholars program to have the opportunity to delve deeper into other avenues of my research such as women religious leaders and an almost entirely unknown group called the Christian Unionists. I want to help shape the field of religious studies and contribute to society, and the program grants me the opportunity, through networking and resources, to achieve these goals.”

Emily Clark, who earned her doctorate in religion from FSU in 2014, was part of the 2015-2017 cohort. She researched séance spiritualism — meetings where people attempt to contact those who have passed — among Afro-Creoles in New Orleans and the role of martyrdom, and violence, in that group’s religious and political understandings of the world. Clark now works as a professor of religious studies at Gonzaga University in Washington.

“In the Department of Religion, I first experienced the power of a collegial cohort, which I missed after graduation,” Clark said. “My experiences at FSU made me realize the importance of being in a research-orientated and intellectually connected group. Networking can be difficult but is vital for any field and especially helpful for research, so the Young Scholars program introduces members into an already well-establish network. The program fosters a true camaraderie across all cohorts.”

At FSU, Corrigan served as Clark’s dissertation adviser and regularly introduced her to leading scholars in her field that were also part of the Young Scholars program, something Clark said was a preview of the benefits she would reap from the program herself.

“The Department of Religion has been fortunate in having a very strong connection with the center that hosts the program,” Corrigan said. “It’s our responsibility, as mentors, to introduce students to these opportunities in finding ways to collaborate, network, and — bottom line — assist them in obtaining good jobs when they graduate.”

To learn more about research conducted in FSU’s Department of Religion, visit religion.fsu.edu.