Mary Carlsen teaches social work at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. Her professional life has always involved social work, in hospice, nursing home and hospital settings. She currently consults with the Northfield Hospice and is on call in the emergency room. Her research interests are in end of life care and decision-making, and she spent a sabbatical year with her family in London, England, where she completed research on social work practice in hospice and palliative care.
Dan Spencer was a Professor of Religion and Ethics at Drake University in Des Moines, IA for ten years. Currently he teaches Environmental Studies, Liberal Studies and Philosophy at the University of Montana where he lives with his partner, Pat Burke, and Pat’s two children, Kyle (19) and Laurel (14). He was born and raised in California, and received his M.Div. (1983) and Ph.D (1994) in Christian Ethics from Union Theological Seminary, New York. His book, Gay and Gaia: Ethics, Ecology, and the Erotic, is published by The Pilgrim Press (1996). Raised Roman Catholic and marinated in Luther’s theology of the cross, he was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1998. He has worked on human rights issues in Latin America since first living there in 1978, and worked for a number of years at the Center for Global Education at Augsburg College. He loves all things related to mountains, and is especially happy to be back at Holden and teaching with dear friend, Mary Carlsen.
(Bio from summer 2004)