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

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

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 or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities. Some ...

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

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. 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 includes 11 academic areas and works alongside six de ...

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

racial politics Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of va ...

categorization Classification is the activity of assigning objects to some pre-existing classes or categories. This is distinct from the task of establishing the classes themselves (for example through cluster analysis). Examples include diagnostic tests, identi ...

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

, 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 on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

and

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

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

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

; her family moved to

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtow ...

, when she was in

junior high Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

. In high school, she was president of her school's

Black culture Black culture can refer to: * African-American culture African-American culture, also known as Black American culture or Black culture in American English, refers to the cultural expressions of African Americans, either as part of or distinc ...

club as well as class president. Nobles majored in history at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, 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 university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

under the direction of

James C. Scott James Campbell Scott (December 2, 1936 – July 19, 2024) was an American political scientist and anthropologist specializing in comparative politics. He was a comparative scholar of agrarian and non-state societies. Trained as a political ...

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

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

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 an institute of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts ...

Career

MIT_Student_Award_Winners_-_MIT_Awards_Convocation_2024

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 The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political scientists in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, it publishes four ...

. In 2015, Nobles was appointed Kenan Sahin Dean of the

, making her the first Black dean of MIT's academic schools. Nobles was appointed the university's chancellor in 2021. She succeeded

Cynthia Barnhart Cynthia Barnhart (born 1959) is an American civil engineer and academic who has been serving as provost of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since March 2022. She previously served as the Institute's chancellor from 2014 to 2021. Barnha ...

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 American women academic administrators African-American academic administrators American university and college faculty deans African-American political scientists Brown University alumni Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers Women heads of universities and colleges 1963 births 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics {{DEFAULTSORT:Nobles, Melissa