Professor Sandra Lawson, MA , Sociology

Sandra Lawson is a Sociologist focusing on the cross-sections between the issues of race, religion, gender and ethnicity.

In 2009 she moved to Baltimore from Atlanta to pursue a graduate degree in Jewish Studies from the Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University. Prior to moving to Baltimore she worked in Atlanta as a personal trainer, an Adjunct Professor, and served as the Investigative Researcher for the Anti-Defamation League’s Southeast Region, becoming the go to person when Law Enforcement in the South needed information on Hate Groups.

Sandra holds a Masters degree in Sociology from Clark Atlanta University and currently works as an Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the Community College of Baltimore County and Howard County Community College. Sandra also conducts workshops on diversity within the Jewish community.

Explaining in her workshops that “there still exists an unspoken assumption that all American Jews are white, and straight and in this concept of Jewish identity, Jews of color, and LGBTQ Jews remain invisible. Sandra’s own experience and commitment to Judaism is shaped by her identity as a Black Jewish Lesbian. Sandra is also an avid weight lifter, a former powerlifter, bodybuilder and a raw food vegan. She is passionate about fitness and nutrition and next fall she plans to attend rabbinical school and upon graduation hopes to be ordained as a Rabbi.