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 land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(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'' magazine is a monthly publication dedicated to covering Los Angeles. Founded in the spring of 1961 by David Brown, the magazine is currently owned and published by Hour Media Group, LLC. Los Angeles magazine's combination of feat ...

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, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

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 university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

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 C ...

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 People from South Los Angeles American women academics