Dr. Sadaf Jaffer is a scholar & policy expert with 20+ years of public engagement, higher education, and governmental expertise.
Jaffer is Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer at Princeton University where she teaches courses on South Asian, Islamic, and Asian American Studies. Her research focuses on secular, feminist, and activist movements in South Asian Muslim and diasporic contexts with particular attention to the arts, literature, and popular culture. She has published with the Star-Ledger, the Hill, the Journal of Women’s History, Foreign Policy Research Institute, Huffington Post, Altmuslimah, and American Kahani.
She is passionate about mobilizing diverse stakeholders to address the needs of women, minorities, & economically under-resourced communities. Jaffer previously served in New Jersey’s state legislature where she represented the 16th Legislative District. Assemblywoman Jaffer advocated for the best interests of NJ's 9.2 million residents with special attention to her district’s 230,000 constituents. She championed increased funding for 9-1-1 call centers, teen suicide prevention programming, & translation services. Her legislative priorities included laws on election integrity, transportation, reproductive healthcare, & gun safety. She bolstered representation for women and minorities in politics as the first Asian American woman (with Ellen Park and Shama Haider) and the first Muslim American (with Shama Haider) to serve in the New Jersey Legislature.
Prior to joining the NJ legislature, Jaffer served two terms as mayor of Montgomery Township. In January of 2019, she shattered glass ceilings as the first South Asian American woman to serve as mayor in NJ and the first Muslim woman mayor of a municipality in the US. Her signature initiatives included creating and implementing a crisis communications plan to help Montgomery maintain some of the lowest COVID-19 infection and fatality rates in the state, leading the design and construction of a new municipal center and library, building trust and understanding by coordinating meetings for Black community members with the Township’s police leadership, and inaugurating a Youth Leadership Council.
Jaffer earned her bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and obtained her PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations with a secondary field in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality from Harvard University.
