Margarita Mooney Clayton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she teaches on topics such as philosophy of social science, Christianity and the Liberal Arts Tradition, and Aesthetics and Christian Education. In 2016, she founded Scala Foundation and continues to serve as Scala’s Executive Director. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Yale University and her M.A and Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University. She has also been on the faculty at Yale University, Princeton University, Pepperdine University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Yale University.

Her most recent books with Cluny Media The Wounds of Beauty: Seven Dialogues on Art and Education (2022) and The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal Arts (2021), grew out of her decades of experience as a teacher and scholar. In addition to her scholarly books and articles, she has written on culture, faith, and education for publications that reach wide audiences both inside and outside academia such as Comment, Plough Magazine, Real Clear Policy, Scientific American, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Miami Herald, America Magazine, First Things, Hedgehog Review, Public Discourse, Church Life Journal and the National Catholic Register. She has been interviewed by organizations such as the Acton Institute, Duke Divinity School, the Institute for Humane Studies, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and by Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio