Eddie R. Cole
Biography
Eddie R. Cole, Ph.D., is Professor of Education and History at UCLA and a 2023-24 fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
A historian of higher education, Professor Cole’s research focuses on leadership, race, and social movements on American college campuses. His research explores power and systems of power; education’s impact on society; and higher education and organizational change.
His award-winning first book, The Campus Color Line: College Presidents and the Struggle for Black Freedom (Princeton University Press, 2020), is a history of how academic leaders shaped racial policies and practices during the mid-twentieth century. It received five book prizes:
- 2022: Outstanding Publication Award, American Educational Research Association, Division J.
- 2021: Outstanding Book Award, History of Education Society
- 2021: Frederic W. Ness Book Award, Association of American Colleges & Universities
- 2021: Outstanding Book Award, Association for the Study of Higher Education
- 2021: Critics’ Choice Book Award, American Educational Studies Association
His second book, With Faith in God and Heart and Mind: A History of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity (University of North Carolina Press, in-press), is a co-authored comprehensive and authoritative history of the fraternity, emphasizing its vital role through multiple eras of the Black freedom struggle.
In addition to those two books, Professor Cole has published articles in the Journal of African American History, Peabody Journal of Education, and Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.
Aside from the Radcliffe Institute, Professor Cole’s research has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation (now the Institute for Citizens & Scholars), the Spencer Foundation, the National Academy of Education, the University of Chicago, and Princeton University.
His engagement beyond the academy is demonstrated as a frequenter speaker; writer of op-eds in TIME, The Guardian, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Chronicle of Higher Education; and appearance as an expert commentator for CNN, BBC World News, MSNBC, and C-Span Book TV.
Professor Cole is also a senior fellow for the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy.
X/formerly Twitter: @EddieRCole
LinkedIn: @EddieRCole
Publications
Njoku, N. & Cole, E. R. (2024). “Little Kingdoms”: The Black College and the Gains and Losses of Desegregation. Journal of African American History. 109(1), 103-127.
Cole, E. R. and Burris-Greene, C. L. (2024). Black Higher Education: A Historiography of Perseverance and Triumph. In Laura W. Perna (Ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research (Springer Publishing).
Cole, E. R. (2023). Presidential Responses to Campus Racism: A Historical Perspective. In W. A. Smith and K. Lomotey (Eds.), The Racial Crisis in American Higher Education (Third Edition, SUNY Press).
Ris, E. W. & Cole, E. R. (2023). Promises Made: The Truman Commission Report at 75. Peabody Journal of Education, 98(3), 265-268.
Cole, E. R. (2020). The Campus Color Line: College Presidents and the Struggle for Black Freedom (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).
- 2022: Winner of the Outstanding Publication Award, American Educational Research Association, Division J.
- 2021: Winner of the Outstanding Book Award, History of Education Society
- 2021: Winner of the Frederic W. Ness Book Award, Association of American Colleges & Universities
- 2021: Winner of the Outstanding Book Award, Association for the Study of Higher Education
- 2021: Winner of the Critics’ Choice Book Award, American Educational Studies Association
Cole, E. R. (2020). Race at the Top: Historical Insights on the College Presidency and Racial Inequities. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 52(2), 17-21.
Cole, E. R. (2018). College Presidents and Black Student Protests: A Historical Perspective on the Image of Racial Inclusion and the Reality of Exclusion. Peabody Journal of Education, 93(1), 78-89.
Cole, E. R., & Harper, S. R. (2017). Race and Rhetoric. An Analysis of College Presidents’ Statements on Campus Racial Incidents. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 10(4), 318-333.
Awards & Grants
- 2023: Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University
- 2022: Winner of the Outstanding Publication Award, American Educational Research Association, Division J
- 2021: Winner of the Outstanding Book Award, History of Education Society
- 2021: Winner of the Frederic W. Ness Book Award, Association of American Colleges & Universities
- 2021: Winner of the Outstanding Book Award, Association for the Study of Higher Education
- 2021: Winner of the Critics’ Choice Book Award, American Educational Studies Association
- 2018: Early Career Award, Association for the Study of Higher Education
- 2018: Dean’s Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Education
- 2017: Mellon Emerging Faculty Leader, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
- 2017: Robert L. Platzman Memorial Fellowship, University of Chicago
- 2015: National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
