Department of Sociology

PRUDENCE L. CARTER is the Sarah and Joseph Jr. Dowling Professor of Sociology and Peltz Ruttenberg Family Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America (CSREA). Prior to her appointment at Brown, she served as the E.H. and Mary E. Pardee Professor and Dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2016 to 2021.

Professor Carter's research explores the enduring inequalities in education and society, with a particular focus on their root causes and potential solutions. Her work examines how race, ethnicity, class, and gender shape academic achievement and mobility disparities both in the United States and globally.

Her award-winning book, Keepin’ It Real: School Success beyond Black and White (2005), critically analyzes cultural explanations for academic achievement and racial identity among low-income Black and Latino youth in the United States. The book received the Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award from the American Sociological Association’s Section on Race and Ethnic Minorities for its contributions to eradicating racism and was a finalist for the C. Wright Mills Book Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Carter's other notable works include Stubborn Roots: Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. & South African Schools and Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance (co-edited with Dr. Kevin Welner), both published by Oxford University Press. Stubborn Roots presents a multi-year, mixed-methods study of racial dynamics in majority-minority and majority-white schools in the United States and South Africa, shedding light on the cultural and organizational barriers to realizing school integration. 

Professor Carter’s scholarship has appeared in leading academic journals and edited volumes, including American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Harvard Educational Review, Social Problems, Sociology of Education, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Teachers College Record, Review of Research in Education, and the British Journal of Sociology. Her work has also been featured on numerous national public radio and media programs.

A proud Brown alumna, Carter earned a Bachelor of Science in applied mathematics and economics. She later received a Master of Arts in Sociology and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Master of Philosophy and Ph.D. in Sociology, Columbia University.

Carter is the recipient of multiple distinguished career awards from sections of both the American Sociological Association and the American Educational Research Association. She is a past president of the American Sociological Association and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Education, and the Sociological Research Association. She is also a fellow of the American Educational Research Association.