Dawn M. Nothwehr, OSF, Ph.D. is the Erica and Harry John Family Professor Emerita of Catholic Theological Ethics, and a member of the Sister of St. Francis, Rochester, Minnesota.

She joined the CTU faculty in 1999 and in 2017 was appointed The Erica & Harry John Family Chair in Catholic Ethics, with the mandate to promote the Roman Catholic Consistent Ethic of Life, advanced by Cardinal Bernardin. Her research and teaching thus, addressed a variety of issues especially environmental ethics, ethics of power and racial justice, and fundamental moral theology. However, her primary focus has been environmental ethics through the lens of Franciscan theology, especially the effects of the global climate emergency on poor people. 

Of equal concern has been the religion/science dialogue. She was Project Leader for the AAAS-DoSER Grant that enabled the CTU Faculty to integrate the science/religion dialogue in theology and ethics courses. She was invited to serve as a grant proposal evaluator for The Climate Science in Theological Education initiative with AAAS-DoSER, a program that enables theology schools to include the climate science/ religion dialogue in their curriculum.

In March 2024 she was an invited consultant for “The Feast of Creation and the Mystery of Creation: Ecumenism, Theology, Liturgy, and the Signs of the Times in Dialogue,” March 14-17, 2024, Cittadella di Assisi, Italy. As the Session Panel Moderator on March 16, 2024 for the High Level Theological Session:  “The Doctrine of Creation – From Nicaea to the Third Millennium,”  she presented with Cardinal Victor Fernández – Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm – Moderator of the World Council of Churches.

In 2012 she was honored among twenty-five eco-theologians in the U.S. Heartland by The National Council of Churches of Christ Ecojustice Programs as a leading Catholic environmental ethicist. Since 2015 she served as a consultant for the Laudato Si’ Encyclical Working Group of the Office of Human Dignity of the Archdiocese of Chicago. In 2017 she received the Franciscan Federation’s “Inspiration for the 21st Century Award” for her contribution to Franciscan theological education.

Dr. Nothwehr served on the National Board of the Catholic Theology Society of America, a Convener of its Moral Theology section, and Co-Convener of its Women’s Consultation in Constructive Theology, and as a Co-Convener of the Environmental Ethics and Theology section of the Society of Christian Ethics. Dr. Nothwehr contributed to the New Theology Review, CTU’s peer reviewed journal, as Editorial Board Member, Editor, and Co-Editor. She has also directed CTU’s M. Div. and MAPS Degree Programs and the Certificate in Healthcare Mission Leadership Program. Her most recent book is Franciscan Writings: Hope amid Ecological Sin and Climate Emergency (London: Bloomsbury, 2023).