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List of Brown University faculty

This list of Brown University faculty includes notable current and former professors, lecturers, fellows, and administrators of Brown University, an Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island. Among the awards received by faculty, fellows, and staff are seven Nobel Prizes, nine Pulitzer Prizes, and 17 MacArthur Fellowships.

Nobel laureates

MacArthur Fellows

  • Susan E. Alcock – professor of Classics, director of the Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World; MacArthur Fellow (2000)
  • Shirley Brice Heath – professor-at-large; MacArthur Fellow (1984)
  • Mari Jo Buhle – professor emerita of American Studies; MacArthur Fellow (1991)
  • Benedict Gross – associate professor of Mathematics (1982–1985); MacArthur Fellow (1986)
  • Stephen Houston – Dupee Family Professor of Social Science, professor of Anthropology; MacArthur Fellow (2008)
  • John Imbrie – professor emeritus of Geological Sciences; MacArthur Fellow (1981)
  • Jacqueline Jones – Clare Boothe Luce Visiting Professor (1988–1990); MacArthur Fellow (1999)
  • Ieva Jusionyte – Watson Family University Professor of International Security and Anthropology; MacArthur Fellow (2025)
  • Robert Kates – university professor emeritus; MacArthur Fellow (1981)
  • John Keene – visiting assistant professor (2001–2002); MacArthur Fellow (2018)
  • Ibram X. Kendi – visiting scholar and visiting assistant professor of Africana Studies (2013–2014); MacArthur Fellow (2021)
  • Deborah Meier – senior fellow (1995–1997), Annenberg Institute; MacArthur Fellow (1987)
  • David Mumford – professor emeritus of Applied Mathematics, recipient of the Fields Medal, MacArthur Fellow (1987)
  • David Pingree – university professor and professor of the History of Mathematics and of Classics, MacArthur Fellow (1981)
  • Gregory Schopen – Rush C. Hawkins Professor of Religious Studies, MacArthur Fellow (1985)
  • Jesse Shapiro – George S. and Nancy B. Parker Professor of Economics (2015–2021); MacArthur Fellow (2020)
  • John Edgar Wideman – Asa Messer Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies and Literary Arts; MacArthur Fellow (1993)
  • C. D. Wright – Israel J. Kapstein Professor of English; MacArthur Fellow (2004)

Pulitzer Prize recipients

Applied sciences

  • Linda Abriola – Joan Wernig and E. Paul Sorensen Professor of Engineering
  • Vicki Colvin – Vernon K. Krieble Professor of Chemistry and Engineering and director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering
  • Tejal A. Desai (Sc.B. 1994) – Sorensen Family Dean of Engineering (2022–)
  • Alan Needleman – Florence Pirce Grant University Professor of Mechanics of Solids and Structures (1975–2009)
  • Arto Nurmikko – L. Herbert Ballou University Professor of Engineering
  • Michael Ortiz – professor of Engineering (1984–1995)
  • Rob B. Phillips – professor of Engineering (1990–2001)
  • Christopher Rose – professor of Engineering (2014–)
  • Subra Suresh – professor of Engineering (1983–1993); current president of Nanyang Technological University, former president of Carnegie Mellon University and former director of the NSF

Humanities

  • Amanda Anderson – Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Humanities
  • Shadi Bartsch – W. Duncan MacMillan II Professor of Classics
  • Shahzad Bashir – Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Humanities
  • Rey Chow – Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Humanities (2000–2009)
  • Shaye J. D. Cohen – Samuel Ungerleider Professor of Judaic Studies and professor of Religious Studies (1991–2001)
  • Beshara Doumani – Mahmoud Darwish Professor of Palestinian Studies, president of Birzeit University
  • David Estlund – Lombardo Family Professor of the Humanities
  • James L. Fitzgerald – St. Purander Das Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Classics
  • Carlos Fuentes – professor-at-large in the Department of Hispanic Studies; widely considered the most influential author of the Spanish-speaking world since Jorge Luis Borges
  • Leela Gandhi – John Hawkes Professor of the Humanities and English
  • Dwight B. Heath – research professor of Anthropology; foremost anthropological researcher and scholar in field of alcohol studies
  • Stephen Houston – Dupee Family Professor of Social Science, professor of Anthropology
  • Adrienne Keene – Joukowsky Family Assistant Professor of American Studies; Native American academic and activist
  • David Konstan – John Rowe Workman Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Classics and of Comparative Literature (1987–2010)
  • Hans Kurath – professor of Germanics and Linguistics (1931–1946); known for publishing the first linguistic atlas, the Linguistic Atlas of New England, recipient of the Loubat Prize
  • Jacob Neusner – professor of Judaic Studies (1968–1989)
  • Adi Ophir – Mellon Visiting Professor of Humanities and Middle East Studies
  • Dom Illtyd Trethowan – visiting professor in Theology
  • Peter van Dommelen – professor of Archaeology and the Ancient World and Anthropology

Africana studies

  • Chinua Achebe – David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and professor of Africana Studies, Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic; author of Things Fall Apart, the most widely read book in modern African literature
  • Ama Ata Aidoo – visiting professor of Africana Studies and Literary Arts (2004–2009); Ghanaian novelist and playwright, one of Africa's best-known female writers
  • George Houston Bass – professor of Theater Arts and Afro-American Studies
  • Keisha N. Blain – professor of Africana Studies and of History
  • B. Anthony Bogues – Asa Messer Professor of Humanities and Critical Theory, professor of Africana Studies, director of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, professor of History of Art and Architecture
  • Michael Eric Dyson – assistant professor of American Civilization and Afro-American Studies (1993–1995)
  • Lewis Gordon – professor of Africana Studies (1997–2004)
  • Matthew Pratt Guterl – professor of Africana Studies and American Studies
  • Wyclef Jean – visiting fellow in Africana Studies (2010–11)
  • Ibram X. Kendi – visiting scholar and visiting assistant professor of Africana Studies (2013–2014)
  • Adrienne Kennedy – visiting associate professor (1979–1980)
  • George Lamming – visiting professor of Africana Studies and Literary Arts; Barbadian author, In the Castle of My Skin, Natives of My Person
  • Judy Richardson – Distinguished Visiting Lecturer of Africana Studies
  • Noliwe Rooks – L. Herbert Ballou University Professor of Africana Studies
  • Tricia Rose (A.M. 1987, Ph.D. 1993) – Chancellor's Professor of Africana Studies, associate dean of the Faculty for Special Initiatives, director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America
  • Greg Tate – visiting professor of Africana Studies (2012)
  • John Edgar Wideman – Asa Messer Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies and Literary Arts; two-time PEN/Faulkner Award winner

English and literary arts

History

Modern culture and media

  • Ariella Azoulay – professor of Comparative Literature and Modern Culture and Media
  • Tina Campt – Owen F. Walker Professor of Humanities and professor of Modern Culture and Media
  • Wendy Hui Kyong Chun – professor of Modern Culture and Media (2005–2018)
  • Tony Cokes – professor of Modern Culture and Media
  • Joan Copjec – professor of Modern Culture and Media
  • Mary Ann Doane – George Hazard Crooker Professor of Modern Culture and Media
  • Bonnie Honig – Nancy Duke Lewis Professor of Modern Culture and Media and Political Science
  • Robert Scholes – research professor of Modern Culture and Media; president, Modern Language Association; author, The Rise and Fall of English; co-author, The Nature of Narrative
  • Leslie Thornton – professor emerita of Modern Culture and Media

Philosophy

  • Nomy Arpaly – professor of Philosophy
  • Jason Brennan – assistant professor of Philosophy (2006–2011); author of Against Democracy
  • Dan W. Brock – Charles C. Tillinghast, Jr. University Professor and professor emeritus of Philosophy (1969–2002)
  • Roderick Chisholm (A.B. 1938) – Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Humanities and professor of Philosophy
  • David Christensen – professor of Philosophy
  • James Dreier – Judy C. Lewent and Mark L. Shapiro Professor of Philosophy
  • David Estlund – Lombardo Family Professor of Philosophy
  • Joel Feinberg – assistant professor of Philosophy (1955–1957)
  • Mary Louise Gill – David Benedict Professor of Classics and Philosophy
  • Paul Guyer – Jonathan Nelson Professor of Humanities and Philosophy
  • Christopher S. Hill – William Herbert Perry Faunce Professor of Philosophy
  • Jaegwon Kim – William Herbert Perry Faunce Professor of Philosophy; philosopher of mind, action theorist
  • Charles Larmore – W. Duncan MacMillan Family Professor of the Humanities and professor of Philosophy
  • Felicia Nimue Ackerman – professor of Philosophy
  • Martha Nussbaum – professor of Philosophy (1985–1995); philosopher, wrote The Fragility of Goodness while teaching at Brown
  • Bernard Reginster – Romeo Elton Professor of Natural Theology
  • Ernest Sosa – philosopher, epistemologist

Natural sciences

Biology

  • Elizabeth L. Brainerd – Robert P. Brown Professor of Biology and professor of Medical Science
  • David E. Cane – Vernon K. Krieble Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and professor emeritus of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry
  • Anne Fausto-Sterling (Ph.D. 1970) – Nancy Duke Lewis Professor Emerita of Biology
  • Susan Gerbi – George D. Eggleston Professor Emerita of Biochemistry, professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry (Research)
  • Judy Liu – Sidney A. Fox and Dorothea Doctors Fox Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science
  • Kenneth R. Miller (Sc.B. 1970) – professor of Biology; supporter of evolution involved in numerous public debates and trials about the teaching of intelligent design in schools
  • Masatoshi Nei – professor of Biology (1969–1972); recipient of the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences (2013)
  • Wally Snell – assistant professor of Botany (1920–1921); associate professor of Botany (1921–1942); Stephen T. Olney Professor of Botany (1942–1945); athletic director (1943–1947); professor of Natural History (1945–1959)

Neuroscience

  • David Berson – Sidney A. Fox and Dorothea Doctors Fox Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, discovered third photoreceptor in the eye (in addition to rods and cones)
  • John Donoghue (Ph.D. 1979) – Henry Merritt Wriston Professor of Neuroscience, professor of Engineering
  • Michael J. Frank – Edgar L. Marston Professor of Psychology, director of the Center for Computational Brain Science
  • Leigh Hochberg (B.Sc. 1990) – L. Herbert Ballou University Professor of Engineering
  • Karla Kaun (Ph.D. 2007) – associate professor of Neuroscience
  • Diane Lipscombe – Thomas J. Watson, Sr. Professor of Science, professor of Neuroscience, Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani Director of the Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science
  • Christopher I. Moore – professor of Neuroscience
  • Michael Paradiso (Ph.D. 1984) – Sidney A. Fox and Dorothea Doctors Fox Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science and professor of Neuroscience

Chemistry

Cognitive and psychological sciences

  • Sheila Blumstein – Albert D. Mead Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences
  • Judson A. Brewer – director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Center, and professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences
  • Mary Carskadon – adjunct professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences
  • Russell Church – Edgar L. Marston Professor Emeritus of Psychology
  • William Damon – professor of Education (1989–1997)
  • Philip Lieberman – George Hazard Crooker University Professor Emeritus
  • Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson – author and psychoanalyst
  • William H. Warren – Chancellor's Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences

Earth sciences

  • Kim Cobb – professor of Environment and Society and professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences
  • Karen M. Fischer – Louis and Elizabeth Scherck Distinguished Professor of the Geological Sciences
  • Meredith G. Hastings – professor of Environment and Society and Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences
  • James W. Head (Ph.D. 1969) – Louis and Elizabeth Scherck Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the Geological Sciences
  • Timothy D. Herbert – Henry L. Doherty Professor of Oceanography, professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences
  • John Imbrie – professor emeritus of Geological Sciences
  • Amanda Lynch – Sloan Lindemann and George Lindemann, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Environment and Society and professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences
  • James M. Russell – chair of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences
  • Peter H. Schultz – professor emeritus of Geological Sciences, professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

Medicine and public health

Physics

Formal sciences

Computer science

Mathematics

Applied mathematics

Social sciences

Political science and international studies

Economics

  • Anna Aizer – Maurice R. Greenberg Professor of Economics
  • Mark Blyth – William R. Rhodes '57 Professor of International Economics and director of the Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance
  • Phillip D. Cagan – professor of Economics (1959–1966)
  • John Friedman – professor of Economics, chair of Economics and professor of International and Public Affairs
  • Oded Galor – Herbert H. Goldberger Professor of Economics, developer of the unified growth theory
  • Alvin Hansen – instructor in Economics (1916–1919)
  • Peter Howitt – professor emeritus of Economics, Nobel laureate (2025, Economic Sciences), co-originator of the Schumpeterian paradigm with Philippe Aghion
  • Rafael La Porta – Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney University Professor of Economics
  • Ross Levine – James and Merryl Tisch Professor of Economics; advisor to the United States Treasury, Federal Reserve System, and World Bank; highly cited economist, ranked 10th in the world, according to RePEc
  • Glenn Loury – Merton P. Stoltz Professor of Social Sciences and professor of Economics
  • Hyman Minsky – associate professor of Economics (1949–1958), namesake of the Minsky moment
  • Emily Oster – JJE Goldman Sachs University Professor of Economics and International and Public Affairs
  • William Poole – Herbert H. Goldberger Professor of Economics (1974–1998); president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis (1998–2008)
  • Susanne Schennach – Professor of Economics
  • Roberto Serrano – Harrison S. Kravis University Professor of Economics
  • Jesse Shapiro – George S. and Nancy B. Parker Professor of Economics (2015–2021)
  • Vernon L. Smith – professor of Economics (1967–1968); Nobel laureate (2002, Economic Sciences)
  • George Stigler – professor of Economics (1946–1947); Nobel laureate (1982, Economic Sciences)
  • David N. Weil (A.B. 1982) – James and Merryl Tisch Professor of Economics
  • Ivo Welch – CV Starr Chair of Finance and Economics (2004–11)

Sociology

  • Sandra Lynn Barnes – C.V. Starr Professor of Sociology, chair of Sociology
  • Prudence Carter – Sarah and Joseph Jr. Dowling Professor of Sociology
  • Scott Frickel – professor of Environment and Society and Sociology
  • Dennis Hogan – Robert E. Turner Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Population Studies
  • Jose Itzigsohn – professor of Sociology
  • J. Timmons Roberts – professor of Environment and Society and Sociology
  • Susan Short – Robert E. Turner Distinguished Professor of Population Studies
  • Mark C. Suchman – professor of Sociology (2008–)
  • Lester Frank Ward – professor of Sociology; first president of the American Sociological Association and "father of American sociology"
  • Dennis Wrong – assistant professor of Sociology (1956–1961); during his tenure, published The Oversocialized Conception of Man in Modern Sociology

Visual and performing arts

Unclassified

Deans

Dean of the college

Dean of the graduate school

  • Carl Barus – dean of the Graduate Department (1903–1926)
  • Andrew G. Campbell – dean of the graduate school (2016–2022)
  • Donald Hornig – dean of the graduate school (1952–1953)
  • Barnaby Keeney – dean of the graduate school (1926–1953)
  • Robert Bruce Lindsay (A.B., Sc.M. 1920) – dean of the graduate school (1954–1966)
  • Edmund Morgan – acting dean of the graduate school (1951–1952)

Dean of the School of Public Health

  • Ashish Jha – dean of the School of Public Health (2020–)
  • Bess Marcus – dean of the School of Public Health (2017–2020)

Dean of the School of Engineering

  • Tejal A. Desai (Sc.B. 1994) – dean of the School of Engineering (2022–)
  • Lawrence Larson – founding dean of the School of Engineering (2011–2022)

Provosts

Presidents

References