Tobin Belzer

Tobin Belzer, Ph.D., is a sociologist of contemporary American Jewry. She has written numerous articles and regularly speaks to audiences of academics, community leaders, and lay-people around the country. Her work focuses on young adult Jewish identity, Jewish and Muslim relations, gender, and congregational studies. Belzer is a Research Associate at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California. She earned her PhD in Sociology from Brandeis University. As a doctoral candidate, she was awarded the Joshua Venture Fellowship for Young Jewish Social Entrepreneurs. This grant funded her research on the intersection of young adult Jewish identity and Jewish organizational culture. A book based on that project is forthcoming from the State University of New York Press. With Rabbi Julie Pelc, she is the co-editor of Joining the Sisterhood: Young Jewish Women Write Their Lives (SUNY Press, 2003). She is a 2007-08 Fellow of the Congregational Studies Team Engaged Scholars Project, funded by the Lilly Endowment.