Timothy J. Nelson

Timothy J. Nelson is a Lecturer at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Department of Sociology at Princeton University. His research focuses on fatherhood, particularly among low-income populations, and the sociology of religion, including studies of African American congregations.

• Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago (1997)

Nelson is co-author of Doing the Best I Can: Fatherhood in the Inner City (University of California Press, 2013) and author of Every Time I Feel the Spirit: Religious Experience and Ritual in an African American Congregation (NYU Press, 2004). He is currently collaborating on a book analyzing work and child support experiences of low-income fathers across four U.S. metropolitan areas. His prior academic appointments include teaching roles at Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Northwestern, and the University of Pennsylvania.