Sheila Therese Harty used to describe herself as an Irish Catholic, Military Brat, Girl Scout, Hippie; however, now she has to add: Theologian, Author, Editor, Lecturer,. She has a B.A. and M.A. in Theology.  She chose to study theology because it asks the largest and most interesting questions.  Her major was in Catholicism, her minor in Islam, and her thesis in post-exilic Judaism, yet quantum physics and chaos theory come closer to defining her concept of God.  Her intellectual mentors are Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Alfred North Whitehead, Ivan Illich, and Rosemary Radford Reuther. Harty employed her theology degrees within the political field as "applied ethics," working 20 years in Washington DC as a public interest policy advocate.  She was Ralph Nader's personal administrator for 10 years at his Center for Study of Responsive Law.  She also worked for former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark on his New York Senate Race as assistant to Mark Green, his Campaign Manager. She also worked with former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop on his protocol for child sexual abuse.

Her consulting work included contracts with international organizations, such as the World Bank, the United Nations University, the International Organization of Consumers Unions (The Hague), the Consumer Association of Penang (Malaysia), the Centre for Applied Studies in International Negotiations (Geneva), and the National Adult Education Association (Dublin). Other freelance contracts in Washington, D.C., included the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Time-Life Books, the U.S. Catholic Conference, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and  AARP.

In addition, her work experience included being an editor at the Congressional Budget Office, Communications Director for a national science literacy project at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Director of the Corporate Initiatives Division at the National Wildlife Federation, a drug counselor for the U.S. Army, a theology teacher at a Catholic high school, and a script writer for children's educational films.  

Harty is also a published and award-winning author.  Her first book, Hucksters in the Classroom: A Review of Industry Propaganda in Schools, won the 1980 George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty & Clarity in Public Language, which each year awards the book that best exposes the abuse of language.  This award was also won by Ted Koeppel, Noam Chomsky, Sissela Bok, Neil Postman, and Walter Pincus.  

The Hucksters book brought her speaking engagements around the world --Toronto, Mexico City, Dublin, Galway, London, Edinburgh, Oslo, Geneva, Versailles, Madrid, Penang, Singapore, and Bangkok -- as well as national and international television and radio appearances, including the Today Show with Phil Donahue, National Public Radio, and the BBC.

Harty answers the question "where are you from?" with "conceived in Italy, born in Germany, and weaned in England." In 1996, she moved for the 38th time to St. Augustine, Florida, where her aging parents lived and where she now remains.

Since leaving her political work in Washington, D.C., Harty has resuscitated her theology degrees with a lecture series, predominantly with Unitarian Universalist Fellowships throughout NE Florida and SE Georgia. For awhile, Harty was an Adjunct Faculty member of St. Leo University, teaching "The Catholic Tradition" at three branch campuses (St. Augustine, Orange Park, and Mayport Naval base in Jacksonville), until SLU got wise to her liberal orientation and did not renew her contract. A consequence that explains her appreciation of the more tolerant and expansive perspective of Unitarian Universalists, which continue to seek her theological acumen.

Contact Information

Sheila T. Harty
4020 Grande Vista Blvd #126
St. Augustine, FL 32084-1332
Telephone:  904 / 826-0563
Cell:  904 / 377-4947