Tobin Belzer

Tobin Belzer, PhD, is an applied sociologist whose research and program evaluations have focused on Jewish identity, arts and culture, experiential education, leadership training, organizational culture, congregational studies, teens, emerging adults, identity, character development, gender, inclusion, media and technology, and education.  She has worked with and for numerous organizations and foundations including: the Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Yiddish Book Center, the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, The Koret Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, the Jim Joseph Foundation, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, The John Templeton Foundation and the Covenant Foundation.  Belzer is a Contributing Fellow at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC) at the University of Southern California. She was a 2014 Visiting Scholar at the Taube Center for Jewish Studies at Stanford University and a Research Associate at the CRCC from 2004-2014.  From 2010-2012, Belzer served as the Senior Project Director at Rosov Consulting, LLC, a strategic consultancy that helps foundations, philanthropists and Jewish communal organizations meet their goals, assess progress, and enhance impact. Belzer earned her Ph.D. in sociology and master’s degree in women’s studies 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.  Belzer was a 2007-08 Fellow of the Congregational Studies Team's Engaged Scholars Program, funded by the Lilly Endowment. She was awarded the Hadassah Award for Excellence in Writing about Women from the American Jewish Press Association. With Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, she is the co-editor of Joining the Sisterhood: Young Jewish Women Write Their Lives (SUNY Press, 2003).