Kenji Kuramitsu

Kenji Kuramitsu (he/him/his), Research Advisory Board

Kenji wears multiple hats—a licensed clinical social worker in Chicago, adjunct professor at McCormick Theological Seminary, and community care chaplain for the Obama Foundation’s fellowship program. “In these roles, I provide direct spiritual care to diverse populations in both medical and corporate settings,” he says. He is also much involved in his home church St. Paul and the Redeemer Episcopal Church. 

“I feel called to work with individuals and communities as they engage the ghosts of the past,” says Kenji. “I think lots about what has happened to the land and to its people, and believe strongly that building strong and accountable institutions can help us come to terms with those things we have preferred not to remember. I seek to honor the legacy of my ancestors and to move toward what may frighten and discomfort us in the hope of healing.”

Recently married to his longtime partner Brianna, Kenji enjoys teaching, writing, preaching, and providing clinical services. “I especially enjoy giving walking tours of ‘race and place’ and Japanese American history through the Hyde Park/Kenwood neighborhoods,” he says.

On his work with Springtide: “As a young person, I was raised across several religious traditions that offered me different ways of approaching and understanding faith. I am passionate about creating theologically attuned and empowering resources for young adults and am interested in reflecting more widely on how young people continue to make meaning, draw from, and contribute to religious ways of understanding. I am thrilled that Springtide is coming into existence, and excited to be a part.”