Melissa Nobles
Nobles in 2024
7th Chancellor of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Incumbent
Assumed office August 18, 2021
Preceded by	Cynthia Barnhart
9th Dean of theMIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
In office 2015–2021
Preceded by	Deborah Kay Fitzgerald
Succeeded by	Agustín Rayo
Personal details
Born	(1963-05-13)May 13, 1963 (age 61) New York City,New York, U.S.
Education	Brown University (BA) Yale University (MA,PhD)
Scientific career
Fields	Political science
Institutions	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thesis	"Responding with good sense": the politics of race and censuses in contemporary Brazil (1995)
Doctoral advisor	James C. Scott

Melissa Nobles (born May 13, 1963) is an Americanpolitical scientist andacademic administrator. She is currently Chancellor and Professor of Political Science at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology inCambridge, Massachusetts.^[1][2] She previously served as the Kenan Sahin Dean of theMIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science.^[3]

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

Melissa Nobles was born on May 13, 1963^[5] atSydenham Hospital inHarlem,New York City. Her mother was a social worker while her father worked as a police officer.^[6] Nobles' mother and father were raisedSouth Carolina andTennessee, respectively; both attended schools that werelegally segregated on the basis of race.^[7][8]

Nobles was raised primarily inthe Bronx; her family moved toNew Rochelle, New York, when she was injunior high.^[6] In high school, she was president of her school'sBlack culture club as well as class president.^[6][7]

Nobles majored in history atBrown University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1985. At Brown, Nobles became interested in theracial politics of Brazil.^[9] She completed a M.A. and Ph.D. in political science atYale University under the direction ofJames 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 theBoston University Institute for Race and Social Division and theHarvard Radcliffe Institute.^[10]

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 theAmerican Political Science Association.^[10]

In 2015, Nobles was appointed Kenan Sahin Dean of theMIT 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 succeededCynthia Barnhart who served in the position from 2014 to 2021.^[14]

• 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.

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