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Jose R. irizarry is a practical theologian and academic administrator. He serves as the 10th President of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas. Born in Manhattan, New York, he was raised in the coastal town of Guanica, Puerto Rico. An ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Irizarry holds degrees from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, a Master of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, and a PhD from Northwestern University.

Immediately after completing doctoral studies he moved to Berkeley California to occupy a junior position as professor of Religious Education at the Pacific School of Religion. Since his early academic career he engaged administrative tasks serving as director of doctoral programs at the Lutheran School of Theology and McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Academic Dean at the Seminario Evangelico de Puerto Rico, and Campus Director at Cambridge College. He returned to the classroom as full-time professor at Villanova University before Ben called to serve as the inaugural Vice-president of Education at the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (USA)in Philadelphia.

Irizarry”s research and writing focuses on the interfaces of religion and culture with special attention to intercultural religious education, religious constructions of otherness, perceptions of religious space, and the theological function of dramatics.