The Center for Mission and Identity
A unit of Mission and Ministry, the Center for Mission and Identity coordinates coordinates and collaborates with the many activities of the LMU community that engage our mission and identity. These activities involve partners from across the university, the greater Los Angeles community, and the broader AJCU network.
The Center also coordinates a variety of internal committees and initiatives, including the university's Mission Priority Examen process and Mission and Ministry's DEI+A efforts.
John T. Sebastian, Ph.D.
Vice President for Mission and Ministry
John T. Sebastian, Ph.D., became LMU’s second vice president for mission and ministry on June 12, 2017, succeeding Robert Caro, S.J. He is also a tenured professor of English. He reports to the president.
Dr. Sebastian joined LMU from Loyola University New Orleans, where he also served as vice president for mission and ministry. As the chief mission officer, he developed and executed the university’s strategic plan for their Office of Mission and Ministry and served on the president’s cabinet and other leadership committees. Dr. Sebastian also participated in the effort to build a Jesuit center, was the founding director of the Ignatian Faculty Fellows Program, established a lecture series on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, and worked collaboratively with the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Dr. Sebastian was in the initial cohort of the Ignatian Colleagues Program and earned a certificate for graduate-level coursework in the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College. At Loyola New Orleans, he served as inaugural director of the Common Curriculum, director of the Medieval Studies Program, and deputy director of the Honors Program. Paralleling his administrative duties, Dr. Sebastian earned the Loyola Faculty Senate’s recognitions for excellence in advising, and for teaching and service.
Dr. Sebastian, a member of Alpha Sigma Nu and Omicron Delta Kappa, is an expert on Middle English literature, especially religious drama, devotional poetry, and mystical writing. He has also written about and taught courses on Anglo-Saxon England and Old English literature, Chaucer, Ignatian pedagogy and education, medieval women writers, and Old Norse literature and the Vikings. He earned his Ph.D. in 2004 in medieval studies at Cornell University. He also holds a master’s degree in medieval studies from Cornell University, an M.A. in English from Georgetown University, and a bachelor’s degree (magna cum laude) in English and medieval studies from Georgetown.
Center for Mission and Identity Staff
Fr. Marc Reeves, S.J.
Associate Vice President of Mission and Ministry
Xavier Hall 127
Marc.Reeves@lmu.edu
310.338.5708
Fr. Marc has been a member of the LMU community since 2009. He is a native of Los Angeles and a proud alumnus of LMU. Before joining the Center for Mission and Identity in 2018, he served as Associate Director of Campus Ministry and as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theological Studies.
He completed a D.Min. at the Catholic Theological Union at Chicago in the area of Liturgical Theology and has been involved in the formation of lay ecclesial ministers for the growth and advancement of the church in the twenty-first century. He also currently serves as the Director of the Catholic Studies Program and teaches in the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts.
Katherine Brown
Director of Mission and Identity Programs
Xavier Hall 121
Katherine.Brown@lmu.edu
310.338.5707
Kat Brown is an alumna of LMU, where she received her B.A. in Philosophy and Theological Studies ('10) and M.A. in Theology ('16). Before joining Mission and Ministry, she worked in the Academy of Catholic Thought and Imagination and the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, where she engaged the university community in programming related to the Catholic intellectual traditions as well as interreligious and ecumenical dialogue.
Her academic interests include theological ethics, especially virtue ethics, and Ignatian spirituality. She and her husband Adam ('11) have also been deeply involved with student life on campus, and spent several years as Resident Ministers in first- and second-year campus residence halls and as chaplains for the Creare student service organization. Kat currently serves as the moderator of Gryphon Circle service organization. In her free time, she enjoys exploring Los Angeles, visiting national parks, discovering new craft beers, and running around with her son Dominic (LMUCC '22).
Eva Cruz-Aedo
Senior Administrative Coordinator
Xavier Hall 125
Eva.Cruz-Aedo@lmu.edu
310.338.3019
Eva (Vajda) Cruz-Aedo, an alumna of LMU, received her B.A. with a major in European Studies and a minor in French. After working in the international divisions of Karsten Manufacturing Corporation and Showscan Entertainment, she returned to work at LMU as the Study Abroad Coordinator for nine years. Later she made the decision to work as Administrator and Events Coordinator for Riviera United Methodist Church which enabled her to focus on raising her two children with her fellow alumna husband Carlos Cruz-Aedo.
Eva is excited to be working for John Sebastian and the Staff of the Division of Mission and Ministry and the Center for Ignatian Spirituality and to be returning to the LMU Community.