Paul DaPonte

Paul DaPonte joined Georgian Court in 2018 and serves the university as executive director of mission integration. He is a theologian whose scholarly interests lie chiefly in the area of theological anthropology and the theology of person. Before coming to GCU, Dr. DaPonte was an associate professor of religious studies at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, where he taught for 10 years and also served as vice president for mission and identity. In his capacity as chief mission officer, he established The Farm at Stonehill, a two-acre working farm under the supervision of a full-time farm manager and staffed primarily by student and faculty volunteers, with the mission of growing fresh produce for underserved and impoverished communities in nearby areas and raising awareness of food justice issues. Before his years at Stonehill, Dr. DaPonte previously taught in the Perspectives program at Boston College, and before that, at Salve Regina University, one of GCU’s sister Mercy schools.

Dr. DaPonte is a proud Rhode Island native who moved with his family to New Jersey in 2016. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Providence College and pursued graduate studies at the University of Louvain in Belgium, where he earned master’s and doctoral degrees. His Ph.D./S.T.D. thesis offered a theological response to the problem of suffering after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. It was published by Orbis Books in 2009 as Hope in an Age of Terror.