MSNBC television host, award-winning scholar and Wake Forest University alumna Melissa Harris-Perry (‘94) will return this summer to her alma mater as a chaired professor.
Host of the popular MSNBC show “Melissa Harris-Perry,” she joins Wake Forest’s Politics and International Affairs department from Tulane University, where she has served as a political science professor since 2011.
“My love affair with Wake Forest began when I was 16, so having the opportunity to return is thrilling beyond measure,” said Harris-Perry. “Wake Forest taught me the joys of learning, the responsibilities of citizenship, and the endurance of friendship. I welcome the challenge of joining this demanding and nurturing academic environment.”
Known for her creative and dynamic teaching style, Harris-Perry brings practical political and relevant cultural experiences to the classroom.
“Melissa Harris-Perry is one of the nation’s foremost intellectuals publicly exploring—and thoughtfully influencing—the intersections of politics, race, gender, religion and culture,” said Wake Forest Provost Rogan Kersh. “We are delighted that she has chosen to come home to Wake Forest and help ignite in our students the passion she has for contemporary political issues and social justice.”
Harris-Perry has been named a Presidential Chair, an endowed position that recognizes and supports exceptional faculty who embody Wake Forest’s teacher-scholar ideal. She is the second Presidential Chair honoree, joining Michele Gillespie of Wake Forest’s History Department.
Harris-Perry is founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South. Named for the foundational black feminist intellectual, activist, and educator of the early 20th century, the Anna Julia Cooper Project supports related programs, courses and research and will move with Harris-Perry to Wake Forest.
“I am most honored to have an opportunity to bring Anna Julia Cooper home to North Carolina,” said Harris-Perry. “Establishing a research center in Cooper’s name at Wake Forest University will preserve her legacy of black feminist scholarship that transcends the traditional boundaries between academy and community.”
Photo credit: Charles Ommanney for MSNBC
