Rev. Robert Randall Distinguished Professorship in Christian Culture
The Randall Professorship is held by a recognized scholar whose work concentrates on an understanding of culture that embodies a Christian view of human achievement. The selected individual contributes to undergraduate instruction in the theology, philosophy, history, literature, or the social sciences departments, directs student research, and delivers public lectures.
2024-25 Randall Professor: Celia Cussen, Ph.D.
Celia Cussen, Ph.D., is a Chilean-American professor of history at the University of Chile in Santiago. She is interested in exploring the economic, religious, and social experiences of the African-descended population in colonial Latin America.
Among her publications is Black Saint of the Americas: The Life and Afterlife of Martín de Porres (2014), which was translated by the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos as Martín de Porres. Un santo americano (2016). In addition, she is the editor of El Libro de la Cofradía de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria. Una hermandad de mulatos y naturales, Santiago, s. XVII (2021) and Huellas de Africa en América: Perspectivas para Chile (2009). She also was the Senior Editor for Chile of the Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography,2016. Dr. Cussen is currently researching the global spread of the devotion to Martin of Porres in the twentieth century.
She has received grants and fellowships from the Hutchins Center for African and African American Studies and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, as well as the Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo of the Chilean government, the Ford Foundation, and the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.
Dr. Cussen is interested in photography, and Latin American art and literature.
Randall Chair Committee
Committee Membership
Dr. Suzanne Fournier, Chair
Dr. Gary Culpepper
Dr. Patrick MacFarlane
Dr. Laura Murray
Rev. David Orique, O.P.
Rev. Gabriel Pivarnik, O.P.
Rev. Augustine Reisenauer, O.P.
Dr. Sean Reid, ex officio
Dr. Michael Wahl
Rev. Jordan Zajac, O.P.
Committee Charge
To make recommendations to the President on incumbents of the Randall Distinguished Chair in Christian Culture.
Randall Chair History
The College’s first endowed chair, the Rev. Robert Randall Distinguished Professorship in Christian Culture was established in 2002. The chair is named for the priest, scholar, and artist who served as a member of the Providence College faculty for more than 25 years. Father Randall taught English, theology, and courses in the Development of Western Civilization Program. The professorship exemplifies the commitment to educational excellence and Christian values that defined Father Randall’s life as an educator and priest.
