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

Leon Neil Cooper – Nobel laureate (Physics, 1972), "father of superconductivity," and developer of the BCM theory of synaptic plasticity in neuroscience; Thomas J. Watson, Sr. Professor of Physics Peter Howitt – Nobel laureate (2025, Economic Sciences), co-originator of the Schumpeterian paradigm with Philippe Aghion, professor emeritus of Economics John M. Kosterlitz – Nobel laureate (2016, Physics), for the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition (condensed matter physics); Harrison E. Farnsworth Professor of Physics (1982–) Lars Onsager – Nobel laureate (Chemistry 1968), for discovering Onsager reciprocal relations, research instructor in Chemistry (1928–1933) Vernon L. Smith – Nobel laureate (2002, Economic Sciences), for developing empirical and scientific methods into economic research; professor of Economics (1967–1968) George Snell – Nobel laureate (1980, Physiology or Medicine), for discovering the genetic bases of immunological reactions; instructor in Biology George Stigler – Nobel laureate (1982, Economic Sciences), on the influence of government regulation on the economy; professor of Economics (1946–1947)

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

Bernard Bailyn – Charles K. Colver Lecturer (1965); recipient of the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for History and 1987 Pulitzer Prize for History; recipient of the 2010 National Humanities Medal Richard Eberhart – Phi Beta Kappa poet (1957); recipient of the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry Forrest Gander – professor of English and Comparative Literature; recipient of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Be With David Kertzer (A.B. 1969) – Paul Dupee University Professor of Social Science; recipient of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, The Pope and Mussolini Philip Levine – visiting writer (1985); recipient of the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, The Simple Truth Amy Lowell – Marshall Woods Lecturer (1921); recipient of the 1926 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, What's O'Clock Paula Vogel – Adele Kellenberg Seaver '49 Professor of Creative Writing (1984–2008); recipient of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, How I Learned to Drive Gordon S. Wood – Alva O. Way University Professor and professor of History; recipient of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for History, The Radicalism of the American Revolution

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 Olakunle George - professor of English and Africana Studies 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

Robert Coover – T.B. Stowell Professor Emeritus in Literary Arts (1981–2012) Robert Creeley – professor of English; poet associated with the Black Mountain poets Brian Evenson – professor of Literary Arts (2003–15) Forrest Gander – professor of English and Comparative Literature; recipient of the Pulitzer Prize Michael S. Harper – professor of English; first Poet Laureate of the state of Rhode Island John Hawkes – professor of English (1958–1988); author, The Blood Oranges, Second Skin Edwin Honig – professor of English and Comparative Literature (1957–1982) Michael Ondaatje – visiting professor (1990) Elizabeth Rush – assistant professor of the Practice, Nonfiction Writing Program; Pulitzer Prize nominee Barbara Herrnstein Smith – Distinguished Professor of English (2003–11) Paula Vogel – Adele Kellenberg Seaver ’49 Professor of Creative Writing (1984–2008); Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Rosmarie Waldrop – visiting scholar of Literary Arts Arnold Weinstein – Edna and Richard Salomon Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature C. D. Wright – Israel J. Kapstein Professor of English; MacArthur Fellow (2004)

History

Omer Bartov – Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies Paul Buhle – senior lecturer emeritus Richard Bushman – postdoctoral fellow in History and Psychology (1963–1965) James T. Campbell – professor of American Civilization, Africana Studies, and History (1999–2008) Deborah Cohen – professor of History (2002–10) Natalie Zemon Davis – assistant professor of History (1959–1963); recipient of the 2012 National Humanities Medal James N. Green – Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Professor of Modern Latin American History and Portuguese and Brazilian Studies Susan Ashbrook Harvey – Willard Prescott and Annie McClelland Smith Professor of History and Religion (1987–) David Herlihy – Barnaby Conrad and Mary Critchfield Keeney Professor and professor of History R. Ross Holloway – Elisha Benjamin Andrews Professor Emeritus and professor emeritus of Central Mediterranean Archaeology Evelyn Hu-DeHart – professor of History and professor of American Studies Forrest McDonald – professor of History (1959–1967) Edmund Morgan – associate professor of Colonial History (1946–1955) Tara Nummedal – John Nickoll Provost's Professor of History James T. Patterson – Ford Foundation Professor Emeritus and professor Emeritus of History (1972–2002); winner of the 1997 Bancroft Prize Joan Wallach Scott – founding director of the Pembroke Center, Nancy Duke Lewis University Professor (1981–1985) Morton Smith – assistant professor of Biblical Literature (1950–1955) John L. Thomas (Ph.D. 1961) – George L. Littlefield Professor of American History emeritus; winner of the 1964 Bancroft Prize Gordon S. Wood – Alva O. Way University Professor and professor of History; Pulitzer Prize for History winner, The Radicalism of the American Revolution