Ilana Horwitz

Current Position: 

Chair in Contemporary American Jewry - The Jewish Studies department, Tulane University

Ilana Horwitz

Dr. Ilana Horwitz is a sociologist of religion and education who asks how life course patterns differ based on people’s gender, ethnicity, race, social class, and religious upbringing.  Ilana is trained in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, and she was recently a guest editor of a special issue of Contemporary Jewry on research methods.  In her current brook project, God, Grades, and Graduation: How Religion Helps and Hinders Academic Success (Under Contract with Oxford University Press), Ilana examines how adolescents’ religious commitments shape their educational journeys.  She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Center on Longevity, and she earned her PhD in Sociology of Education & Jewish Studies from Stanford University. Ilana also earned a Masters in International Education Development from Columbia University’s Teachers College, and a Bachelors in Business Administration from Emory University. She is a former Institute for Education Sciences fellow and Wexner/Davidson fellow, and worked for several years as a management consultant and program evaluator. Ilana recently served on the Board of the Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education (CASJE) and is an affiliate of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University.