About Me

I am a scholar of African religions and the African Diaspora in the Americas. My work is interdisciplinary, drawing most heavily on Cultural Anthropology, but also Women and Gender Studies, Ritual and Performance, and Postcolonial Theory.
- I have been a leader in the American Academy Religion and African Studies Association. My service on several Editorial and Advisory Boards of peer reviewed publications includes:
  - Religious Studies Review
  - Religion Compass Journal
  - Journal of the American Academy of Religion

Currently I work primarily as an independent Dissertation Coach, offering private sessions to doctoral candidates working on their Proposals or developing their research as they draft chapters.
- Drawing on over 20 years of focused workshop-style teaching and oversight of doctoral students’ work as the Dissertation Research Coordinator in a graduate program, I offer a repertoire of techniques, “tricks of the trade,” as well as a host of insights into the tried and true process of working through the typical difficulties students face on the path towards completion.
As a creative writer I won several Writers’ Residency Awards for Creative Non-Fiction. In 2019 I won an award in Ethnographic Writing from the Society of Humanistic Anthropology. For information on my memoir Ask for the Road. See “Publications”
I have a strong record of service in Academic Administration, especially Institutional Accreditation.
- I authored four separate, successful Accreditation reports for WASC
- I am trained in the Active Coping Assessment℠ System, a psychological measure for predicting management capability and performance outcomes, developed at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (see “Consultant” or CV)

- I am a Swiss citizen as well as American, and speak fluent French as well as some Italian.
- I hold a Level II certification as Yoga Instructor and also have certification in Yoga Nidra, a meditation-based form of deep integration. I am currently studying Taiji.

Laura S. Grillo