Dr. Catherine Wright (B.Sc., B.Ed., M.Div., Ph.D.) is an interdisciplinary ecotheologian and ethicist at Wingate University in North Carolina. As a faculty member in the Department of Religious and Philosophy, she integrates science, theology, and social practice to address contemporary challenges through scholarship, civic dialogue, and sustainable development.
In 2020, Dr. Wright founded The Collaborative for the Common Good, a campus institute grounded in the principles of sustainability. She served as its inaugural Executive Director until 2024, after which she focused on strengthening local nonprofit infrastructure and expanding her writing and public scholarship.
Recognized as one of North Carolina’s Top 50 Women Leaders in 2022, Dr. Wright also co-authored a research project named a finalist for the AASHE Campus Sustainability Award (Community Engagement category).
Her scholarship examines the theological and ethical dimensions of cosmogenesis and human suffering. She is the author of Creation, God, and Humanity (Paulist Press, 2017), recipient of the 2018 ACP Excellence in Publishing Award for Theology; Caring for Our Common Home: A Practical Guide to Laudato Si’ (2020); and Food and Faith: From Dirt to Dessert (2023), an interactive eBook developed from her experiential course on food, health, and spirituality.
Dr. Wright has also published widely in both academic and public venues, including peer-reviewed work emerging from service-learning courses she designed. This scholarship appeared in inaugural issues of new journals, including Transformative Social Impact: A Journal of Community-Based Teaching and Research.
A science-trained theologian and practitioner, Dr. Wright is committed to integrative approaches to healing—physical, social, and spiritual. Her work emphasizes research-informed practice, stakeholder collaboration, and measurable impact through program design, implementation, and assessment.
Teaching at Wingate University is central to Dr. Catherine Wright’s academic vocation. Grounded in a student-centered, engaged pedagogy, her teaching integrates high-impact practices, experiential learning, and meaningful community engagement to foster both rigorous intellectual inquiry and holistic personal and spiritual growth. Dr. Wright has taught a wide range of well-received courses that connect theology, ethics, science, and lived experience, including Food and Faith, Religion and Science, Systematic Theology, EcoJustice, and Theological Responses to Our Ecological Crisis, among others.
Her courses often extend beyond the classroom through immersive, place-based learning experiences in Asheville (NC), Carolina Beach (NC), Jackson (MS), and Ireland. These experiences emphasize reflection, collaboration, and real-world application in partnership with local communities (see Teaching and Experiential Learning).
Across her teaching, writing, and public work, Dr. Wright invites students to develop new ways of thinking and acting through interactive, community-engaged practices—shaping both hearts and minds while hands are actively engaged in the work of community transformation.