Our Team

Christian Smith is the William R. Kenan Professor of Sociology. Smith is an American sociologist of religion and social theorist of critical realist personalism. He is the Principal Investigator of the Parental Transmission of Religious Faith project, the Science of Generosity Initiative, and the National Study of Youth and Religion. His recent books include The Paradox of Generosity: Giving we Receive, Grasping we Lose (with Hilary Davidson), Young Catholic America: Emerging Adults In, Out of, and Gone from the Church (with Kyle Longest), What is a Person?: Rethinking Humanity, Social Life, and the Moral Good from the Person Up, and Religion: What it Is, How it Works, and Why it Matters.

Sara Skiles is the project manager for research projects within the Center for the Study of Religion and Society, including the Cardus Religious Schools Initiative, the National Study of Youth and Religion, and the Parental Transmission of Religious Faith project. She earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of Notre Dame, and her research interests include cultural and educational stratification and young adult religiosity.

Michael Rotolo is a second year graduate student and University Presidential Fellow in the Department of Sociology at Notre Dame. He received his B.A. in Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2013) and his M.Div at Princeton Theological Seminary (2016). His primary areas of interest are Religion, Culture, Cognition, Morality, and Social Theory.

Bridget Ritz is a second year graduate student in the Department of Sociology and a Graduate Fellow with Notre Dame’s Center for Ethics and Culture. At the CSRS, she works with Christian Smith on the Global Religion Research Initiative and the Lilly Parenting Project. Her research interests are religion, culture, embodiment, and social theory. Bridget received her M.A. in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago (2015) and her B.A. in Politics from Ave Maria University (2013).

Feyza Akova is a second year graduate student in the Department of Sociology and a member of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society (CSRS). She holds an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Houston (2014) and bachelor's degrees in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Istanbul (2011). Before coming to Notre Dame she worked as a Reseach Intern at immigrant-oriented non-profit organizations in the U.S. Her research interests include religion, culture, and social theory with a focus on Turkey.

Peter graduated from the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at the University of Redlands in 2002 with an emphasis in Literature and Creative Writing. He has spent the interim decade working in the nonprofit world, helping to set up volunteer programs in Syria and the Palestinian Territories. His areas of interest include social movements, religion, and qualitative methods.