Danielle Allen to Become the First Black Faculty Member in the 77-Year History of the Institute for Advanced Study

Danielle Allen, dean of humanities and professor of classical languages and literature at the University of Chicago, is a scholar of great distinction in the academic world. For some years she has been recruited without success to the faculties of a large number of our nation’s leading universities.

Now it’s the famed Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, that she will call home. Beginning in July, Dr. Allen will become the UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science at IAS. She will be the only African American among the Institute’s 27 permanent faculty members. In fact, Allen is the first African American to be appointed to the permanent faculty in the 77-year history of the Institute.

Professor Allen, now 34 years old, is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University where she majored in the classics. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in the classics from Cambridge University. In addition, she has a master’s degree and Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University.

Professor Allen has been a member of the faculty of the University of Chicago since 1997. She is the author of two books: The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens (2000) and Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship Since Brown v. Board of Education (2004).

In 2002 Allen received the prestigious MacArthur Foundation genius award.

Copyright © 2007. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.