Elsie Miranda was named director of culture and community engagement for The Association of Theological Schools (ATS) in April 2025. Previously, she served as director of diversities from 2023–25 and director of accreditation from 2018–2023. She previously served on the ATS Committee for the Revision of the Standards from 2012 to 2014, and she has served on many evaluation teams and as a member of a peer group examining programs for Latiné students for the ATS Educational Models and Practices project. She came to ATS after 22 years at Barry University Department of Theology and Philosophy, serving most recently as associate professor of practical theology and as director of ministerial formation. As a Cuban American and practical theologian, she has focused her research interests on the intersection of faith and how socio-culture and socio-political realities impact both human formation and efforts toward peace and justice at local and global levels. As a Roman Catholic, she has been actively involved in the practice of synodality—“walking together” as an action of the Spirit in the communion of the Body of Christ and in the missionary journey of the People of God—convening groups in English and Spanish.

Miranda is the past president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians in the United States (ACHTUS), for which she coordinated the first bilingual colloquium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2016. Currently, she serves on the Formation and Religious Education Committee for the V Encuentro—a national conference on Hispanic Ministry in the United States coordinated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. She is also an active member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the Association of Practical Theology. Her scholarship includes contributions to the edited volumes Hispanic Ministry in the 21st Century: Urgent Matters (Convivium Press, 2016) and Hispanic Ministry in the 21st Century: Present and Future (Convivium Press, 2010) and as coeditor and contributor to Calling for Justice Throughout the World, Catholic Women Theologians on the HIV AIDS Pandemic (Continuum Press, 2009). In her research and teaching, she continues to explore contemporary theological issues at the intersections of science, culture, and the church in the modern world.

Miranda earned an MA in pastoral ministry with a concentration in religious education from Boston College and a DMin in practical theology from Barry University.