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 choose 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.

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

Her versatile work experience saw her as an editor for the Congressional Budget Office, Communications Director for a national science literacy project at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Division Director 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 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, to care for her aging parents now (2007) in their 90s.

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. In addition, Harty became an Adjunct Faculty member of St. Leo University, teaching "Catholic Tradition" at two branch campuses: one at the Mayport Naval base in Jacksonville, and the other in St. Augustine.

Contact Information

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