Photograph of Michael Potts by Evgenia Eliseeva; Photograph of Memorial Church courtesy of Wikimedia/ Crimson400. Potts, an Episcopal priest (he was an officer in the U.S. Navy and a college administrator before being ordained) who earned his undergraduate degree in English from Notre Dame, is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School (M.Div. ’08) and earned a Ph.D. in the study of religion in 2013. He has been a member of the faculty since then. As a scholar, he has used literature and literary theory to analyze Christian ethical and sacramental practices. He is writing a book about forgiveness. According to the University announcement, Potts opted for conscientious-objector status after his naval service, and delivered a well-known Veterans Day sermon in 2019 that put the immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border into the context of his own experience as the son of a Japanese woman who was raised during the American occupation of that country. His wife, Colette, is a family therapist; they have three children.