Melissa Nobles

Melissa Nobles
Nobles in 2024
7th Chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Incumbent
Assumed office
August 18, 2021
Preceded byCynthia Barnhart
9th Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
In office
2015–2021
Preceded byDeborah Kay Fitzgerald
Succeeded byAgustín Rayo
Personal details
Born (1963-05-13) May 13, 1963 (age 61)
New York City, New York, U.S.
EducationBrown University (BA)
Yale University (MA, PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsPolitical science
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Thesis"Responding with good sense": the politics of race and censuses in contemporary Brazil (1995)
Doctoral advisorJames C. Scott

Melissa Nobles (born May 13, 1963) is an American political scientist and academic administrator. She is currently Chancellor and Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1][2] She previously served as the Kenan Sahin Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science.[3]

Nobles' scholarship focuses on the comparative study of racial politics, categorization, violence, and reconciliation.[1][4]

Early life and education

Melissa Nobles was born on May 13, 1963[5] at Sydenham Hospital in Harlem, New York City. Her mother was a social worker while her father worked as a police officer.[6] Nobles' mother and father were raised South Carolina and Tennessee, respectively; both attended schools that were legally segregated on the basis of race.[7][8]

Nobles was raised primarily in the Bronx; her family moved to New Rochelle, New York, when she was in junior high.[6] In high school, she was president of her school's Black culture club as well as class president.[6][7]

Nobles majored in history at Brown University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1985. At Brown, Nobles became interested in the racial politics of Brazil.[9] She completed a M.A. and Ph.D. in political science at Yale University under the direction of James C. Scott.[10] Nobles' 1995 dissertation was titled, "Responding with 'Good Sense:' The Politics of Race and Censuses in Contemporary Brazil".[11] After receiving her doctorate, Nobles held fellowships at the Boston University Institute for Race and Social Division and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.[10]

Career

An image of Nobles with MIT Awards Recipients in 2024.

Nobles joined the faculty of MIT in 1999 as an associate professor of political science.[6] 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.[12] 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.[10]

In 2015, Nobles was appointed Kenan Sahin Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, making her the first Black dean of MIT's academic schools.[13] Nobles was appointed the university's chancellor in 2021. She succeeded Cynthia Barnhart who served in the position from 2014 to 2021.[14]

Selected works

  • Nobles, Melissa (2000). Shades of Citizenship: Race and the Census in Modern Politics. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-4059-3.
  • Nobles, Melissa (2008). The Politics of Official Apologies. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-46818-3.
  • Kwak, Jun-Hyeok; Nobles, Melissa, eds. (2013). Inherited Responsibility and Historical Reconciliation in East Asia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-07305-3.

References

  1. ^ a b "Melissa Nobles named MIT's next chancellor". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-30.
  2. ^ Blackstone, Andrea (2021-07-23). "Melissa Nobles Becomes MIT's Next Chancellor". Black Enterprise. Retrieved 2021-08-30.
  3. ^ "Melissa Nobles". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 2021-08-30.
  4. ^ "3 Questions: Melissa Nobles on the U.S. Census". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. April 2010. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  5. ^ Nobles.
  6. ^ a b c d Williams, Clarence G. (2003-02-28). Technology and the Dream: Reflections on the Black Experience at MIT, 1941-1999. MIT Press. p. 994. ISBN 978-0-262-73157-7.
  7. ^ a b Narayanan, Srinidhi. "SHASS Dean Melissa Nobles to assume Chancellor post". The Tech. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  8. ^ "Putting ideas into action". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  9. ^ "MIT SHASS: Community Profiles - Melissa Nobles". shass.mit.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  10. ^ a b c "Melissa Nobles | People | MIT Political Science". polisci.mit.edu. Retrieved 2021-09-03.
  11. ^ Nobles, Melissa. Responding with Good Sense: The Politics of Race and Censuses in Contemporary Brazil (PhD thesis). Yale University. OCLC 1172123047. ProQuest 304265694.
  12. ^ "Four faculty members appointed to professorships". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. October 1997. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  13. ^ "Melissa Nobles, Political Science | MIT Black History". www.blackhistory.mit.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  14. ^ "Melissa Nobles named MIT's next chancellor". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
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Academic offices
Preceded by 7th Chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2021–present 		Incumbent