BONDS (Building Opportunities and Networks for Divinity Students) Peer Mentors and Area Assistants

The BONDS Peer Mentorship Program is designed to help incoming University of  Chicago Divinity School students with the transition to graduate school and build community both within the new cohorts and across the Divinity School. Peer mentors engage with incoming students through office hours, one-on-one meetings, regular email check-ins, and social events. BONDS mentors are always available to answer questions about campus and student life, moving to Chicago, experience with courses, languages, etc, or connect students to other resources in the Dean of Students Office or the University.

Lydia Herndon is a PhD student in the History of Christianity who is working on a dissertation about laughter and joking in early Christian literature. She is the coordinator for the Early Christian Studies Workshop and loves learning about the ideas her fellow students are excited about. Outside of the Divinity School, Lydia enjoys cooking and baking new recipes, catching a movie at Doc Films, and staying up to date on the latest Love Island series.

Sarah Kahn Kolar is a third-year MDiv student, studying Jewish thought and religious ethics. She is interested in chaplaincy and its role in the future well-being of society. Outside of Swift, Sarah enjoys snowboarding, yoga, arts and crafts, and playing with her two cats, Anthony Davis and Shai-Hulud.

Mahtab Mahmoudi is a first-year PhD student in the Anthropology of Religion track. She holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Tehran and an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School, concentrating on the anthropology of religion. During her BA and MA, she conducted fieldwork with women studying and working in state-run seminaries in Iran, exploring questions of Islamic education, ethical self-cultivation, labor, governance, state, motherhood, and affective politics. Currently, she is interested in the anthropological study of Islam, secularity, ethics, labor, law, bureaucracy, and governance. When not studying at the Regenstein library, she enjoys watching TV series and movies, reading novels, cycling on the lakefront trail, cooking, and hanging out with friends.

Rohini Menon is in her second year as a Master of Arts in Divinity student specializing in South Asian religions, literature, and languages, focusing on Tamil and Malayalam literary history. Kerala, often called "God's Own Country" and is a southern state in India is home for her. Though she tends to be an anxious human, Malayalam melodies and hip hop songs provide her with a sense of calm and relief. You can often find her reading poetry in her favorite corner at Regenstein during her free time. If you’re fortunate enough to be her friend, you might just get a taste of her home-cooked Kerala delicacies!

Natalie Nitsch a second-year student in the MA program, originally from Kansas City. Natalie mostly studies popular religious movements in England and western Europe up until (and not including) the Protestant Reformation. Outside of her academic interests, she enjoys the folk music and social dance scene in Chicago, and is excited to be running the Folk Traditions group as well as the Mortarbordis Border Morris dance team via the DSA club program this coming year! She loves living in Hyde Park; Natalie particularly enjoys bicycling around the neighborhood and cooking with her roommates. 

Mukti Patel is a PhD student studying South Asian Religions with a focus on Sanskrit and Gujarati literature and history. Mukti is originally from Toronto and grew up in Virginia, always within two miles of a body of water. When not studying, Mukti likes to make art in any medium possible-- painting with coffee, calligraphy with crushed berry ink, sculpting with wire-- you name it. She is also an enthusiastic plant mom, currently most proud of a miniature rose bush growing in her kitchen. You can usually find her at a coffee shop ordering anything but coffee.

Kevin Poe is a second-year MA student interested in Buddhist/Hindu narrative, Sanskrit, and religious pilgrimage. His most recent work has focused on ethnography conducted in Bodh Gaya and Varanasi investigating how narratives shape the religious pilgrim's relationship to time. In his spare time, he enjoys watching movies, spending time exploring downtown Chicago, and playing with his cat, Mr. Buffett. 

Grayson York is originally from Alabama. He studied religion and French at Clemson University before starting his MA at the University of Chicago. Academically, Grayson is interested in the intersection of religion and politics in public spaces particularly in religious freedoms, personal expression and mourning.  Outside of school, Grayson is an avid Clemson football supporter as well as a soccer fan/player. Grayson likes to spend time outside, often by the lake where he reads for fun, and also enjoys discovering new museums when exploring the city. 

Boheng Zhang is a second-year PhD student in Anthropology and Sociology of Religion. Outside school, they are also a baker, a gamer, an invested tea enthusiast, and a die-hard post-rock fan (though they are getting into metal and psychedelic lately). If you strike up a conversation about the Zelda series or Japanese alt-metal bands in the hallway, you might be setting up just the trap to catch them.

Dean of Students Office Staff 

Rachel Berkebile is a third-year MDiv student. Rachel is the Open Space Coordinator for the 2024-2025 academic year. She is currently writing her thesis on single, female, evangelical missionaries with a focus on the concepts of suffering, mental health, and sexuality. Rachel also has a growing interest in spiritual care and completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education this summer. In her free time, Rachel enjoys spending time with her partner Graham and their pet rabbit Zion, going on walks to the Point, and camping.

Franklin Joyce is a third-year student in the Master of Divinity program at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Franklyn will be the Ministry Assistant for the 2024-2025 academic year. Franklin’s research interests lie in the shifting conceptions of self and world in Modern thinkers and texts. Frankly’s approach draws from diffuse sources, but is concentrated on the relationship between theological concepts, communal practices, and literary texts around questions like: What practices do we engage and which texts do we use to maintain coherence between our inner and outer worlds? While Franklyn’s focus is primarily on philosophical and theological strands of thought, he traces those strands as they emerge in human activities like forgiveness, mourning, grief, disappointment, memory-rituals, and poetry. Outside of academics, Franklyn enjoy reading poetry and novels, attending plays, and taking long walks.

Grayson York will be a BONDS Peer Mentor and Area Assistant for the 2024-25 academic year. Grayson is originally from Alabama. He studied religion and French at Clemson University before starting his MA at the University of Chicago. Academically, Grayson is interested in the intersection of religion and politics in public spaces particularly in religious freedoms, personal expression and mourning.  Outside of school, Grayson is an avid Clemson football supporter as well as a soccer fan/player. Grayson likes to spend time outside, often by the lake where he reads for fun, and also enjoys discovering new museums when exploring the city.