Research Associates
Tobin Belzer
Tobin Belzer, Ph.D., is a sociologist of American Jewry. Her research and program evaluations have focused on young adults’ Jewish identity, Jewish organizational culture, Jewish education, and comparative congregational studies. She has worked with numerous Jewish organizations and foundations including:…
Ran Boytner
Ran Boytner is the founding director of the Institute for Field Research. He is also co-founder of the Institute for Shared Heritage. Dr. Boytner earned his Ph.D. in archaeology from UCLA in 1998 and worked extensively in archaeological excavations in…
Brad Christerson
Brad Christerson is associate professor of sociology at Biola University. He has written extensively in the areas of religion, race, ethnicity, and globalization. He is co-author of Growing Up in America: The Power of Race in the Lives of Teens…
Lynn Swartz Dodd
Lynn Swartz Dodd was awarded a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA in 2002. She currently is a faculty member in Religion at the University of Southern California and directs the Archaeology Research Center. Her archaeological projects…
Matt Gainer
Matt Gainer is a documentary photographer whose work explores social and political movements, religious identity and community, and tensions between people and the environments they occupy — with particular focus on California and the American West. He is currently working…
Macarena Gomez-Barris
Macarena Gomez-Barris (currently on leave from IRG) is associate professor of sociology and American studies and ethnicity. Her research interests focus on memory, culture, and power. Her book Where Memory Dwells: Culture and State Violence in Chile, examines the memory…
Peter B. Gudaitis
Since 2007 Peter B. Gudaitis has served as the president of the National Disaster Interfaiths Network (NDIN), a network of local, state and regional disaster interfaith organization executives that provides resources, consultants, training and speakers to help build disaster resilient…
Martin H. Krieger
Martin Krieger, Ph.D., does social-science informed aural and photographic documentation of Los Angeles, including storefront houses of worship and industrial Los Angeles. He is also a research fellow of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture. Recently, Professor Krieger has…
Helen Land
Prior to joining the USC faculty in 1983, Helen Land was a psychiatric social worker and in-service coordinator, first with emotionally disturbed children and their families in residential treatment and later with abused, neglected and high-risk infants and their families.…
LaVonna Lewis
LaVonna Blair Lewis, Ph.D., MPH, is a Teaching Professor at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, and the Director of the USC Diversity in Healthcare Leadership Initiative. Dr. Lewis joined the USC faculty in 1996 and she was…
Eileen Luhr
Eileen Luhr is associate professor of history at California State University, Long Beach. Her work analyzes the intersection of religion, culture, and politics in the recent past. She is the author of Witnessing Suburbia: Conservatives and Christian Youth Culture (UC…
Nancy Lutkehaus
Nancy Lutkehaus is professor of anthropology, gender studies and political science at the University of Southern California. She is author or editor of five books, including Margaret Mead: The Making of an American Icon (Princeton University Press, 2009) and Zaria's…
Juan Martínez
Juan Martínez is associate provost for diversity and international programs, the academic director of the Hispanic Center and associate professor of Hispanic Studies and Pastoral Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He is an ordained Mennonite Brethren pastor.…
Craig McGarvey
Craig McGarvey is an independent consultant working with philanthropic organizations throughout the United States. He served for a decade with The James Irvine Foundation, first as director of administration and then as program director of Irvine’s Program in Civic Culture.…
Lori Meeks
Lori Meeks is associate professor of religion and East Asian languages and cultures. Her current research is centered on the social and cultural history of Buddhism in Japanese history. Much of her work has focused on clarifying the roles of…
Nadia Roumani
Nadia Roumani is the Co-Founder and Director of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute (AMCLI). Nadia has worked with a wide range of organizations over the past decade to better understand the needs of Muslim communities across the United States,…
Rhonda Roumani
Rhonda Roumani is a freelance journalist who has covered Islam and Muslim-related issues both in the U.S. and abroad. She has worked as a special correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor and her articles have appeared in a number of…
Rebecca Sager
Rebecca Sager is currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Her first book Faith, Politics and Power (Oxford 2010), examines the role of conservative evangelical movements in state implementation of faith based initiatives. Rebecca…
Donna Spruijt-Metz
Dr. Donna Spruijt-Metz’ research focuses on pediatric obesity, and is particularly concerned with understanding how Health modalities can be harnessed to influence psychosocial, metabolic and environmental factors to treat and prevent childhood obesity. She holds four master's degrees; two in…
Michelle Stewart Thomas
Michelle Stewart Thomas is an applied sociologist specializing in interventions designed to enhance the lives of clergy, couples, women, and people of color. She is most passionate about the Pastors Achieving Total Health (P.A.T.H.) program that she has developed. P.A.T.H.…
Daniel E. Walker
Dr. Daniel E. Walker is a Research Associate with the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California, Board Chair of the BLU Educational Foundation, and the President/CEO of Perfect Works, a consulting firm that uses…
Justin Wilford
Justin Wilford, Ph.D, is a cultural geographer whose work focuses on the intersection of religious community and the material environment, and more specifically on the ways social meaning is constructed and maintained in post-metropolitan, post-suburban space. He is the author…
Ann Marie Yamada
Ann Marie Yamada is associate professor of social work at the University of Southern California. Her work is centered on Asian American culture, faith based communities and community mental health services. Her research program involves collaboration with community leaders to…
Ann Marie Yasin
Ann Marie Yasin (currently on leave from IRG) specializes in Roman and late antique art and material culture and holds a joint appointment in the Departments of Classics and Art History. Her primary research interests include monuments and commemoration; social…