Conference Co-Chair
Lily Rockefeller (she/her) is the 2025 Co-Chair of the GCRE and a third-year MDiv at Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music. Born and raised in New York City, she received a Bachelors from Brown University in Comparative Literature and a Masters from Oxford University in Modern Languages (German). Her academic work has focused on the German Romantic literary tradition, focused in particular on its treatment of the self in nature. She enjoys reading fiction, painting, embroidery, and gardening.
Conference Co-Chair
Oliver Creech (he/him) is the 2025 Co-Chair of the GCRE and a third-year MDiv at Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music. Oliver holds a BA and MA in English literature from the University of Vermont. In addition to interests in literature and Buddhism, he is passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship. He was a Fellow at the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale in summer 2023 and co-founded Corridor Score, which launched a nonpartisan app that made information about the 2023 New York City Council election available in English and Spanish.
Communications Coordinator
Yuyi Bei (they/them) is the 2025 Communication and Marketing Coordinator of the GCRE and a second-year MAR/MPH student at Yale Divinity School and School of Public Health. Their degree focus is on religion and ecology as well as social and behavioral science. They were born and raised in Hangzhou, China. They received a BS degree from the Ohio State University in Health and Rehabilitative Science. Their academic work focused on environmental/animal justice and social justice through both ethics and policy lens. They love travelling and making new friends.
Logistics Coordinator
Donghyung (he/him) is a first-year Master of Divinity candidate at Yale Divinity School. He is interested in systematic theology and the philosophy of religion, particularly in theodicy, hermeneutics, and the theology of culture. Donghyung is from Seoul, South Korea, and received his bachelor’s degree in theology and English literature, as well as a Master of Theology from Yonsei University. This year, he is serving as a logistics and events coordinator. Donghyung loves the Beatles!
Logistics Coordinator
Ellen VanDyke Bell is a Master of Arts in Religion candidate (2025) with a concentration in ethics at Yale Divinity School. She holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from Catholic University's Columbus School of Law.
Ellen’s academic interests include the ethics of speech and language, focusing on how religious discourse influences behavior, identity, and societal norms. Her research spans the ethical and moral dimensions of human interactions with animals, the environment, and one another, viewed through Jewish and comparative religious traditions. In particular, she explores the teachings of religious texts—especially within the Judeo-Christian tradition—on ethical responsibilities toward all living beings and the planet. By examining foundational doctrines, Ellen hopes to encourage compassionate, sustainable practices that respect our interconnectedness with the natural world. She also investigates how these ethical principles can shape policies promoting stewardship and the well-being of humans, non-human life, and the environment.
Outside her studies, Ellen enjoys coaching competitive youth robotics and spending time with her family, both human and non-human.
Art and Communications Coordinator
Emily Wright (she/her/hers) is serving as one of two Art Coordinators this year for the YGCRE. Originally from Arizona, she's now pursuing a Master of Arts in Religion concentrating in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale Divinity School. Her relevant interests are queer ecology, multi-species justice, and spiritual ecology, broadly constructed. She looks forward to elevating new creative works at the intersection of religion and ecology.
Art and Communications Coordinator
Margaret Witkofsky (she/her/hers) is one of the Art and Music Coordinators for the Graduate Conference in Religion and Ecology. She is a first year MAR student with a concentration in Religion and Ecology, and she is interested in how people connect to place through art. Margaret writes her own eco-poetry where she explores themes of flourishing, our relations to other people within an ecological framework, and how suffering and death are inseparable from the land. She is originally from Ridgely, MD but she completed her undergraduate degree in Lexington, VA at Washington and Lee University. A fun fact about Margaret is that she has a twin brother who also writes poetry!
