Rate My Professor Yvette Alex-Assensoh

Yvette Alex-Assensoh serves as Vice President for Equity and Inclusion and Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Oregon, positions she has held since 2012. She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from The Ohio State University in 1993, a Master of Arts in Political Science from the same institution in 1991, a Juris Doctorate cum laude from Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 2006, and a Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude in Urban Affairs and Planning from Dillard University in 1988. Admitted to the Oregon and Indiana State Bars, she previously held a tenured professorship in Political Science at Indiana University Bloomington, where she also served as Dean of the Office for Women’s Affairs from 2008 to 2012, Director of Graduate Studies and Admissions from 2003 to 2007, and earlier roles as Assistant and Associate Professor starting in 1994. Additional appointments include Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Zagreb in Croatia (1999-2001) and Carolina Minority Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1993-1994).

Award-winning researcher, Alex-Assensoh specializes in ethnic and racial politics, political behavior, West African immigration, equity and inclusion in higher education, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Her scholarly contributions encompass seven books, including The SOULS of Black Faculty and Staff in the American Academy: Principles for Transformation and Retention (2023), Malcolm X: A Biography (2013, co-authored with A.B. Assensoh), Newcomers, Insiders, and Outsiders: Immigration and Racial Politics in the Early Twenty-First Century (2009, co-authored), Black and Multiracial Politics in America (2000, co-edited), Neighborhoods, Family, and Political Behavior in Urban America (1998), African History and Politics: Ideological and Military Incursions, 1900-Present (2001, co-authored), and Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation (2005, co-authored). She has published dozens of refereed journal articles and book chapters on topics such as African immigrants and African American politics, inner-city contexts and electoral participation, and race in the academy. Recipient of the Outstanding Research Award from the Association of Third World Studies (2010), American Council on Education Fellowship (2010-2011), Fulbright Scholar award, and funding from the National Science Foundation and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, she has led UO’s IDEAL framework for equity initiatives, coordinated national committees on diversity and teaching excellence, and delivered keynotes as a certified coach and equity strategist. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and Chronicle of Higher Education.