She became an Pluralism Project affiliate with her project mapping San Diego’s religious diversity. Dr. Kirkley incorporated a field research project into an existing introductory world religions course at the University of San Diego, a private Roman Catholic liberal arts university. The course examined the historical development, foundational beliefs, ethical systems, ritual expressions, and community structures of Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Chinese traditions, and other religions. It also analyzes methodologies for the study of religions. While faculty and students at San Diego University often visit area communities of faith in this course, they had not heretofore incorporated structured ethnographic or participatory action research.