McBride Appointed to Lead Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity at WashU

Dr. Dwight A. McBride, who is currently a senior advisor to the chancellor and the Gerald Early Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been appointed executive director of the school’s Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (CRE2). 

CRE2 was established in 2020 to bring the research force of WashU to study how race and ethnicity are integral to the most complex and challenging issues of the time.

Dr. Dwight A. McBride“This is crucial work, especially so in our current political context,” said McBride. “WashU’s scope and depth of research has the potential to be transformative across our campuses, in our community and beyond. I can’t wait to get started and to help grow CRE2’s vital mission and vision into the future.”

McBride is co-founder and co-editor of the annual open-access journal James Baldwin Review. He is a founding co-editor of “The New Black Studies” series at the University of Illinois Press. He is also a founding co-director of the Academic Leadership Institute, a partnership between Washington University and the University of Michigan that supports the development of academic leaders committed to advancing diversity and inclusion.

McBride is the former president of The New School in New York City and was provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Emory University. He also held served as a dean at Northwestern University and at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“Dwight brings a wealth of experience and an unwavering commitment to advancing scholarship and advocacy in the fields of race, ethnicity and equity,” said Dr. Beverly Wendland, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at WashU. “His innovative, interdisciplinary approach to university leadership and his research will be a vital asset to the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity.”