Jorja Leap is an American anthropologist and adjunct professor in the social welfare department at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA). She is also Director of the Health and Social Justice Partnership at UCLA and is a nationally recognized gang expert. In 2011, Leap was named one of ''

Los Angeles Magazine ''Los Angeles,'' formerly known as ''Southern California Prompter'', is a monthly magazine based in Los Angeles, California. It focuses on telling regional news, culture, lifestyle, entertainment, and fashion stories from Los Angeles and the br ...

s Action Heroes for her policy work and gang intervention efforts in the Los Angeles area. ''Los Angeles Magazine'' named her as one of the "50 Most Influential Women in Los Angeles" in 2012, and in the same year she won the Joseph Nunn Alumna of the Year award at UCLA.

Early life

Leap was born and raised in

South Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of Downtown Los Angeles, downtown. It is de ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Education and career

Leap completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees from UCLA. In 1978, she received a B.A. in Sociology. In 1980, she earned a master's degree in social work, and in 1988 she received a Ph.D. in psychological anthropology. Her dissertation, under the name Jorja Jeane Manos Prover, was ''Culture-makers: Hollywood writers as an American elite''. She was a lecturer at

California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...

from 1980 to 1990, and at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

from 1990 to 1992, before joining UCLA as a lecturer in 1992.

Books

In 1994, under the name Jorja Prover, Leap published the book ''No One Knows Their Names: Screenwriters in Hollywood''. In March 2012, Leap published ''Jumped In: What Gangs Taught Me About Violence, Drugs, Love, and Redemption''. In 2015, she published ''Project Fatherhood: A Story of Courage and Healing in One of America's Toughest Communities''.Reviews of ''Project Fatherhood: A Story of Courage and Healing in One of America's Toughest Communities'': * * * *

References

External links

Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leap, Jorja Year of birth missing (living people) Living people UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs alumni American social workers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American women writers California State University, Fullerton faculty University of Southern California faculty American women anthropologists Educators from California American women academics Activists from Los Angeles