Jennifer Merritt Faria
Ph.D., Sociology, University of Virginia
Jennifer Merritt Faria is Sr. Director of Academics at Santa Clara University's Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, where she leads academic programming that advances Miller Center's mission to accelerate social enterprise that addresses global poverty and protects the planet. She additionally teaches courses on social enterprise research in conjunction with the Department of Sociology and the Miller Center Lewis Family Fellowship.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Vanderbilt University, a Master of Management degree from Northwestern University, a PhD in Sociology of Education from the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, and a Master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry from Santa Clara. Grounded in critical theory, informed by the Ignatian pedagogical tradition, and anchored in the principles of solidarity and accompaniment, her own research focuses on the ways university-community engagement initiatives can elicit “mutual transformation” and spiritual connection.