Dr. Elana Riback Rand

Dr. Elana Riback Rand is an applied researcher and consultant whose work focuses on identity, belonging, and organizational culture in Jewish educational and communal life. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees at Columbia University, including an MA in Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College, and her PhD in Jewish Education from Yeshiva University's Azrieli Graduate School. Her 2023 dissertation, A Minority Within a Minority: Sephardic Adolescents in Ashkenazic Schools, examined how Sephardic students experience school belonging.

She was a 2021 to 2022 Doctoral Fellow at Brandeis University's Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education and a 2024 to 2026 Applied Research Fellow with the Collaborative for Applied Studies in Jewish Education (CASJE) at George Washington University. With CASJE she partnered with The Bronfman Fellowship and Campus Commons to study Jewish college students who take part in bridge building across differences on campus, research she wrote about in eJewishPhilanthropy in 2026.

As editor in chief of JIMENA's Sephardi and Mizrahi Education Toolkit, she helped create practical, role based guidance for teachers and school leaders seeking to build inclusive learning environments. Her essay Residents and Strangers, published in JIMENA's Distinctions journal, argues that teaching Sephardic and Mizrahi history and practice helps every student see the diversity of Jewish life. She leads workshops that help educators assess their schools and plan meaningful change.