Carol M. Swain

 

Carol Swain has lived the American Dream. From a family of twelve children suffering from extreme rural poverty in Bedford, Virginia, she has risen to professor in the halls of Vanderbilt University. Through her nonprofit educational organization, The Veritas Institute, she now works to restore the hope of the American dream: that individuals can rise above the circumstances of their birth, that opposing groups can listen to each other and benefit from civil dialogue, and that ordinary people can have voice. 

 

Professor Swain is widely recognized as an expert on race, immigration, black leadership, and evangelical politics.  She has been asked to comment on some of today’s most divisive issues by BBC Radio, CNN’s Lou Dobbs, CNN’s Paula Zahn, Fox News,  PBS’s Washington Journal, PBS’s The News Hour with Jim Lehrer,  ABC News, to name just a few.

 

She has authored award-winning books including Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress (Harvard University Press, 1993, 1995: reprinted University Press of America, 2006). Black Faces won the Woodrow Wilson prize for the best book published in the U. S. on government, politics, or international affairs in 1994, and was cited by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in Johnson v. DeGrandy, 512 U.S. 997 (1994) and twice by Justice Sandra Day O’ Connor in Georgia V. Ashcroft, 539 U.S.___ (2003).

 

Praise for Swain’s research:

 

“Carol Swain is one of the most original and interesting thinkers I know.  I recommend her work to anyone who wants to think hard about the problems this country faces.” — Jane Mansbridge, Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University.

 

“Carol Swain shines a powerful light on issues...People across the ideological spectrum have a great deal to learn from this thoughtful and courageous scholar.” — Robert P. George, Princeton University

 

Dr. Swain’s most recent books include The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration (Cambridge University Press, 2002) that was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, Contemporary Voices of White Nations (Cambridge University Press, 2003, edited with Russ Nieli), and most recently she edited Debating Immigration (Cambridge University Press, 2007). Dr. Swain plans to write an autobiography to inspire others to fulfill their highest aspirations and will continue to work to help America find faith in itself through the use of facts, stories, and experiential dialogue.

Professor Swain is currently Professor of Political Science and Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University and a member of the James Madison Society at Princeton University, where she was a tenured professor prior to coming to Vanderbilt. She received a B.A. from Roanoke College and M.A. from Virginia Polytechnical Institute and State University. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and in 2000 was awarded a M.L.S from Yale Law School. She is a foundation member of the Virginia Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. She is a member of the Tennessee Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and was recently appointed by President George W. Bush to the advisory board of the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

Contact: Carol M. Swain, Vanderbilt University Law School, 131 21^st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203. (615) 322-1001 (O), (615) 310-8617 ( c). E-mail: carol.swain@vanderbilt.edu

Website: http://.www.carolmswain.net