Staff

Dr. Prudence Carter is the Sarah and Joseph Jr. Dowling Professor of Sociology at Brown University. Prior to joining Brown, she served as the E.H. and Mary E. Pardee Professor and Dean of the Graduate School of Education at UC Berkeley from 2016-2021. Carter has also been on the faculties of Harvard University and Stanford University. Her research focuses on understanding and addressing persistent racial, class, and gender inequalities in education and society.

Carter is a highly acclaimed scholar and author, receiving numerous awards and accolades for her work. Her book, Keepin’ It Real: School Success beyond Black and White, published by Oxford University Press, won the Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award from the American Sociological Association for its contribution to the eradication of racism and was a finalist for the C. Wright Mills Book Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems. She has also written Stubborn Roots: Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. & South African Schools and co-edited “Closing the Opportunity Gap: What American Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance” with Dr. Kevin Welner, both published by Oxford University Press.

Carter’s work has been widely published in numerous journals and books, including Critical Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Harvard Educational Review, Social Problems, Sociology of Education, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Teachers College Record, Review of Research in Education, and the British Journal of Sociology. It has also been featured on multiple national public radio and TV news programs.

Carter holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Brown University and Master of Art in Sociology and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She earned her Master of Philosophy and Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University.

She is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Education, Sociological Research Association, and the American Education Research Association and currently serves as the President of the American Sociological Association.