About
Patrick Tugwell is the Administrative Assistant at the Capps Center. He is a doctoral student in religious studies at UC Santa Barbara, drawn to the Department of Religious Studies by the legacies of Catherine Albanese and Walter Capps. Patrick’s research examines the presence, movements, and influence of metaphysical religion in American life since the nineteenth century. He is currently writing two articles that combine ethnography and historical methods: one on metaphysical spirituality and healthcare chaplaincy, and another on New Thought and contemporary American politics.
Patrick is passionate about expanding dialogue on religion between the academy and public life. Alongside his studies, he serves as a minister in the United Methodist Church, is a certified healthcare chaplain, and is the current Vice President of Campus Affairs for the Graduate Student Association at UCSB. In 2024, Patrick was selected as a FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics) Fellow, which grounded and connected the theological and ethics work he had completed prior to UCSB with the theory and philosophy in the study of religion he pursues now. In 2025, he was awarded the Ostad Elahi Fellowship by UCSB’s Department of Religious Studies and selected as a Fellow in the inaugural cohort of The Narrative Project, a collaboration between The Christian Century and Sacred Writes that seeks to enrich and advance public scholarship on religion.
Patrick joined the Capps Center in Fall 2025.
