Orem Ackley is an MA student in the Religious Studies program as well as the Women and Gender Studies Graduate Certificate. They graduated from Central Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies where they studied the development of early Christan communities and non-canonical texts. Their undergraduate thesis focused on gender and sex-based punishments in two early Christian apocryphal texts, the Apocalypse of Paul and the Apocalypse of Peter. As a graduate student at CU, their work focuses on New Religious Movements, particularly in pop culture and the digital realm. Orem's main areas of interest also include gender and queer theory, along with the intersection of religion and American nationalism. In their free time, Orem can be found watching 90s science fiction movies or reading any book other than the 600 they currently own.