Gail Garfield

Gail Garfield is Professor in the Sociology Department. She has blended her dual professional interest of advocating for social justice with scholarship. This duality is seen in her efforts to reshape social policies and practices in the areas of child welfare, public housing, drug treatment, poverty, violence against women, and race and race relations. She has worked as a senior policy analysis with the Community Services Society and the Manhattan Borough President’s Office of New York City. As the executive director of the Institute on Violence, she administered the program areas of research, policy advocacy, technical support, and outreach and education targeted toward the African American community. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy and a Master Degree in Sociology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, a Master of Arts Degree from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Child Psychology from the Institute of Child Development, both from the University of Minnesota. As an associate professor at John Jay College, she has conducted original research that is reflected in three noteworthy books: Through Our Eyes: African American Women’s Experiences of Violence and Violation (Rugters University Press 2005), Through Our Eyes: African American Men’s Experiences of Race, Gender and Violence (Rugters University Press 2010), and Tightrope: A Racial Journey to the Age of Obama (Rowman & Littlefield 2014).