Melissa Nobles (born May 13, 1963) is an American

political scientist Political science is the science, scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of politics, political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated c ...

and

academic administrator Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the Faculty (academic staff), faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint ...

. She is currently Chancellor and Professor of Political Science at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. She previously served as the Kenan Sahin Dean of the

MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences The MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. The school has over 20 departments, department-level programs, and f ...

and Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science. Nobles' scholarship focuses on the comparative study of

racial politics Racial politics or race politics is the use of race, as a human categorization or hierarchical identifier, in political discourse, campaigns, or within the societal and cultural climate created by such practice. The phenomenon can involve the a ...

categorization Categorization is the ability and activity of recognizing shared features or similarities between the elements of the experience of the world (such as Object (philosophy), objects, events, or ideas), organizing and classifying experience by a ...

violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or Power (social and p ...

, and reconciliation.

Early life and education

Melissa Nobles was born on May 13, 1963 at Sydenham Hospital in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Her mother was a social worker while her father worked as a police officer. Nobles' mother and father were raised

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, respectively; both attended schools that were legally segregated on the basis of race. Nobles was raised primarily in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

; her family moved to

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

when she was in

junior high A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

. In high school, she was president of her school's Black culture club as well as class president. Nobles majored in history at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1985. At Brown, Nobles became interested in the

of Brazil. She completed a M.A. and Ph.D. in political science at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

under the direction of

James C. Scott James C. Scott (born December 2, 1936) is an American political scientist and anthropologist specializing in comparative politics. He is a comparative scholar of agrarian society, agrarian and non-state societies, Subaltern (postcolonialism), ...

. Nobles' 1995 dissertation was titled, ''Responding with "Good Sense:" The Politics of Race and Censuses in Contemporary Brazil''. After receiving her doctorate, Nobles conducted fellowships at the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

Institute for Race and Social Division and the

Harvard Radcliffe Institute The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...

Career

Nobles joined the faculty of MIT in 1999 as an associate professor of political science. She held the Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Professorship from 1997 to 2000 and was appointed the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professorship in 2010. Between 2013 and 2015, Nobles headed the university's department of political science. From 2013 to 2014, Nobles was vice-president of the American Political Science Association. In 2015 Nobles was appointed Kenan Sahin Dean of the

, making her the first Black dean of MIT's academic schools. Melissa_Nobles_November_2015

Nobles was appointed the university's chancellor in 2021. She succeeded

Cynthia Barnhart Cynthia Barnhart (born 1959) is an American civil engineer and academic. She previously served as the Chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the first woman to hold that position. Barnhart's work focuses on transportation and op ...

who served in the position from 2014 to 2021.

Selected works

* * *

References

External links

* Living people Place of birth missing (living people) MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty 21st-century American women writers American women political scientists American political scientists African-American women academic administrators African-American academic administrators American university and college faculty deans African-American social scientists Brown University alumni Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers African-American women writers Women heads of universities and colleges 1963 births {{US-polisci-bio-stub