Tricia C. Bruce, Ph.D. is a sociologist, researcher, and award-winning author of multiple non-fiction books and high-impact research reports. Her areas of expertise include religion, Catholicism, abortion attitudes, parishes/congregations, social movements, and social change.

Dr. Bruce is the author of Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church (Oxford University Press, 2017), Faithful Revolution: How Voice of the Faithful Is Changing the Church (Oxford University Press, 2011/2014), and How Americans Understand Abortion (also forthcoming as a book with the University of California Press). She is also coeditor of Polarization in the US Catholic Church (Liturgical Press, 2016) and American Parishes: Remaking Local Catholicism (Fordham University Press, 2019). Her writing has appeared in Time Magazine, Science Advances, The Wall Street Journal, Religions, Journal for the American Academy of Religion, Review of Religious Research, and more.

Tricia holds an MA and PhD in sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a BA in sociology and communication from Southwestern University. She is an affiliate of the University of Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Religion and Society. Previous appointments include tenured associate professor of sociology at Maryville College and research assistant professor with Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). She currently serves as Chair of the American Sociological Association Religion Section and Council member for the Association for the Sociology of Religion. Dr. Bruce offers professional research services as well as private research and writing coaching, subject to availability.

Inquire about Dr. Bruce’s availability for client-based research, public lectures, coaching, and media appearances here.

Tricia resides in Knoxville, Tennessee, where you’ll find her singing, playing guitar or mandolin, in barre class, running marathons, drinking vanilla lattes, walking the town with Brandon, and reading and building things with her 11- and 13-year old.

Dr. Bruce has been honored by book awards, community awards, and research grants from organizations including the following: