Dr. Cynthia Neal Spence

Spelman College
Associate Professor of Sociology

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Dr. Cynthia Neal Spence is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Spelman College and Director of the UNCF/Mellon Programs. Dr. Spence is a graduate of Spelman College where she earned her B.A. degree. She earned both the Masters and Ph.D. degrees from Rutgers University.

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Her teaching and research interests in the areas of sociology, criminology, law and violence against women support the Law and Criminology concentration in the Department of Sociology. As Director of the UNCF Mellon Programs, Dr. Spence creates, manages and oversees a suite of future faculty development and faculty career enhancement programs for UNCF (United Negro College Fund) students and faculty. The UNCF/Mellon Programs are housed at Spelman College and funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation.

 

Dr. Spence has served in the capacities of Assistant Dean for Freshman Studies, Associate Academic Dean and Academic Dean at Spelman College. Her interest in issues of higher education access, service-learning, gender role socialization and violence against women frame her research, writing, community service involvement and public speaking.   Her  publications include “A Woman’s College Perspective on the Education of Men” (2004) New Directors for Student Series and “The Spelman College Total Person Commits to Positive Social Change” (2006), Engaging Departments:  Moving Faculty Cultures from Private to Public, Individual to Collective Force for the Common Good.   Her most recent publication Does Race Trump Gender? Black Women Negotiating their Spaces of Intersection in the 2008 Presidential Campaign” is included in the edited volume “Who Should Be First? Feminists Speak Out on the 2008 Presidential Campaign” (2010).

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Contact Info:

Cynthia Neal Spence
Spelman College
Department of Sociology
350 Spelman Lane
Atlanta, GA 30314
404-270-5684
cspence@spelman.edu