Two USCIRF Commissioners Appointed

May 18, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2016
 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom welcomes the appointment of two Commissioners.  Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) on May 13, 2016 announced the reappointment of Daniel I. Mark and the appointment of Kristina Arriaga.

Dr. Daniel Mark is an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University, where he teaches political theory, philosophy of law, American government, and politics and religion. At Villanova, he holds the rank of battalion professor in the Navy ROTC unit and is a faculty associate of the Matthew J. Ryan Center for the Study of Free Institutions and the Public Good. He also is a fellow of the Witherspoon Institute and an assistant editor of Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy. Dr. Mark works with the Tikvah Fund in New York and has taught at the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. He holds a BA, MA, and PhD from the Department of Politics at Princeton University. There, he was affiliated with the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, the Program in Law and Public Affairs, and the Penn-Princeton Bioethics Forum. Before graduate school, he spent four years as a high school teacher.  Dr. Daniel I. Mark was appointed to his first term by then Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) in May, 2014.

Kristina Arriaga de Bucholz has been the Executive Director of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty since 2010: she joined the Fund in 1995. After starting her career in D.C. working for U.S. Ambassador José Sorzano at the Cuban American National Foundation, she became an advisor to the U.S. delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC). Splitting her time between the seat of the UNHRC in Geneva and Washington, D.C., Ms. Arriaga worked on raising awareness of the plight of political prisoners with New York Times bestselling author, former political prisoner, Armando Valladares who was named Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Commission. After returning to the U.S., Ms. Arriaga continued to work on behalf of defectors and refugees. She also worked on domestic affairs as an Intergovernmental Relations Officer at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and then later as a four-year appointee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0615.