SANDRA L. BARNES is the C.V. Starr Professor of Sociology. Prior to coming to Brown University, Barnes was a joint appointed Professor of Sociology in the Department of Human and Organizational Development in Peabody College and the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University (2008-2019).  She also served as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Vanderbilt (2016-2018). Dr. Barnes was the first female African American Assistant Vice Chancellor in the history of Vanderbilt University. 

Professor Barnes is engaged in mixed-methodological research on race and religiosity, in general, and the Black Church, in particular, as well as religion/spirituality and sexuality. Her scholarship also considers ways in which poor and working class urbanites are adaptive and resilient. Phi Beta Kappa, her academic record includes: 9 books; 3 edited volumes; over 60 peer-reviewed articles; 10 book chapters; 3 documentaries; a seven-year stint as editor of Issues in Race & Society: An Interdisciplinary Global Journal; and, PI or Co-PI on grants totaling over $2.5 million dollars. 

Some of her book publications include: Kings of Mississippi: Race, Religious Education, and the Making of a Middle Class Black Family in the Segregated South (with Ms. Benita Blanford-Jones, Cambridge University Press 2019); Empowering Black Youth of Promise: Education and Socialization in the Village-minded Black Church (with Dr. Anne Streaty-Wimberly, Routledge Press 2016); Live Long and Prosper: How Black Megachurches Address HIV/AIDS and Poverty in the Age of Prosperity Theology (Fordham University Press 2013); and, The Costs of Being Poor: A Comparative Study of Life in Poor Urban Neighborhoods in Gary, Indiana (SUNY Press 2005). Her articles have been published in SOCIAL FORCES, Social Problems, Journal of African American Studies, and Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Professor Barnes’ 2018 Emmy-nominated documentary, “Gary, Indiana: A Tale of Two Cities,” examines the influence of Black churches in poor urban spaces (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVNKiGCD9r0). Two subsequent documentaries, “About the Kids: Vol. 1 and 2,” focus on public education in Gary, Indiana (https://youtu.be/nNMrjD2vors and https://youtu.be/oPpWXGArFN0).

Professor Barnes served as the two-time President of the Association of Black Sociologists (2010-2012) and has presented her research in Beijing, China, Curitiba, Brazil, Dublin, Ireland, and at the Congressional Black Caucus of the Congress of the United States in Washington, D.C. Professor Barnes is the recipient of the 2019 Cox-Johnson-Frazier Award conferred by the American Sociological Association.