Kaley Casenhiser

Background

About Kaley Casenhiser

K is native to Orange, California, and holds a B.S. in Music from Pepperdine University with a concentration in sacred music and classical voice. They are a candidate for Holy Orders in the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island and completing Dual Masters Degrees from Yale School of the Environment (MESc) and Yale Divinity School (M.Div, Diploma in Anglican Studies) in May 25'. As a joint degree student at Yale School of the Environment and the Yale Divinity School, they engage in queer theology, environmental sociology, and political ecology to address climate justice for LGBTQ+ communities on church-owned lands. They do this by applying critical participatory action research (CPAR) methods and liberation theology and queer studies frames to consider how LGBTQ+ individuals are impacted by the interventions of Faith-Based and Community Organizations (FBCOs) in climate disasters like fires, hurricanes, and floods. They also work as a professional performance artist, engaging the arts to advocate for environmental justice and social healing. K expects to receive a Master’s of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and a Master’s of Environmental Science from Yale School of the Environment in May 2025. Their professional goals include serving as an Episcopal priest in the Northeast who practices scholar-activism within and beyond the Church. From these co-positionalities, they will collaboratively counter-map dominant narratives of climate disasters and seek to represent queer experiences of disaster events faithfully. As a candidate for ordination and a political ecologist, they consider how churches can manage their buildings and lands to ethically and responsively safeguard the individuals most impacted by disaster events, including queer and undocumented communities. Key Experiences -Lay Assistant | St. Martin's Episcopal Church -Hospitality Minister and Sustainability Manager | Berkeley Divinity School at Yale -Graduate Peer Advisor | Yale University -Magee Fellow | Yale University -Teaching Fellow | Yale School of the Environment -Research Analyst | Yale School of the Environment -Psychiatric Chaplain | Yale New Haven Hospital -GIS Accelerator | Yale School of the Environment, Harvard University -Community Organizer & Advocate | Dwight Hall, Yale University -Pastoral Care & Community Engagement | Trinity on the Green, New Haven, CT -Curriculum Development | Creation Justice 101