Michelle A. Stephens

Michelle A. Stephens is a Professor of English at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, since Spring 2011. She specializes in Caribbean, African American, and Black Diaspora literature and culture, Critical Race Theory, Gender & Sexuality, and psychoanalytic theory. She has served as Chair of the English Department (2016-2018) and Dean of the Humanities (2018-2020). Currently, she is the Founding Executive Director and Principal Investigator of the Mellon-funded Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice at Rutgers.

• PhD and MPhil in American Studies from Yale University
• BA in English from SUNY Stony Brook

Her research focuses on archipelagic American studies, race and psychoanalysis, and postcolonial theory. She has authored and co-edited multiple influential books in these fields, including Black Empire and Skin Acts. She has received prestigious awards such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Award and the Lawrence W. Kaufman Award. She teaches courses like Caribbean Literatures in English and Race and Psychoanalysis.

• A founding co-editor of Rutgers University Press’s Critical Caribbean Studies book series
• Member of editorial advisory boards for JAPA, Studies in Gender and Sexuality, and others
• Active in professional organizations including the American Studies Association and Modern Language Association