Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi

Assistant Professor of Leadership and Formation
Director of the Office of Professional Formation

Contact Information

Education

  • B.A., University of Colorado
  • M.Div., Iliff School of Theology
  • Ph.D., University of Colorado

Bio

Joining the faculty in 2018, Dr. Lizardy-Hajbi oversees contextual education, co-directs the Doctor of Ministry in Prophetic Leadership, and teaches in the fields of leadership theory and praxis, congregational and community formation/change, practical theology, and applied research methods. In particular, her interests include organizational leadership, liberative theological and postcolonial approaches to ministry, church vitality and growth, young adult spirituality, and intersectional pedagogical practices.

Dr. Lizardy-Hajbi is the author of Unraveling Religious Leadership: Power, Authority, and Decoloniality (Fortress Press, 2024) and co-editor of Explore: Vocational Discovery in Ministry (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022). At present, she is a regional advisor for the Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations (EPIC) National Research Project and a Research Fellow with the Center for Church Management at Villanova University.

Additionally, Dr. Lizardy-Hajbi currently chairs the ATS Research and Data Advisory Committee and serves on the AAR Committee on Teaching and Learning, Academy of Religious Leadership steering committee, and Journal of Religious Leadership editorial board. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, her ministry has included Christian education and faith formation, intercultural and interreligious student affairs in higher education, hospital chaplaincy, and denominational leadership and research.

Dr. Lizardy-Hajbi delights in journeying alongside students as they nurture capacities for practical-prophetic leadership within their respective communities and contexts.

Representative courses include:

  • Leadership and Organizational Development
  • Decolonizing Congregational Leadership
  • DMin Seminar: Foundations of Prophetic Leadership
  • Research Methods and Ethics in Lived Religion