Valeria Vergani

Valeria (she/her) is a fourth year PhD student in the department of Religious Studies and pursuing a PhD minor in the department of Anthropology. Her research uses ethnographic and archival methods to explore how religion and politics intersect in contemporary North America. She is interested in contemporary interfaith and interreligious social movements in the US and Canada and their relationships to issues of of religious identity, race and settler colonialism, and secular law and policy. Valeria’s number one reason for going to grad school is her passion for intellectual communities that are grounded in collaborative learning and a commitment to mutual empowerment among students.

Valeria was born and raised in Verona, Italy, and moved to Canada to attend university as an international student in 2012. She received her Bachelor of Arts and Science with a focus Cultural Anthropology from Quest University Canada and her Master’s in Religious Studies from the University of Toronto. In between her degrees, she worked in Vancouver, BC as an interfaith dialogue facilitator and event organizer. When she is not talking to people about religion, you can find Valeria reading queer sci-fi or trying (and failing) to recreate her mother’s Italian recipes in her Palo Alto apartment.

Valeria is looking forward to making new connections with the members of Stanford’s diverse communities through the Peer Coaching Program. She is committed to helping students thrive in their life at Stanford and achieve their academic goals by helping them to cultivate a variety of academic skills. She is especially excited to work with international and ESL students, students of diverse cultural and faith backgrounds, and students in the  LGBTQIA+ community. Valeria deeply believes in the power of communication, storytelling, and clear thinking as tools that can help students find enjoyment and fulfillment during their time at Stanford and success in their chosen academic careers.