Lorrie Frasure

Dr. Lorrie Frasure is the inaugural Ralph J. Bunche Endowed Chair and a Professor of Political Science and African American Studies. She is the Director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at the UCLA. Frasure also serves as the Faculty Director for the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. She joined the faculty of UCLA in 2007 and became the first woman of color and the first Black female to earn tenure and to become full professor in the Political Science department. From 2019-2022 she served as Vice Chair for Graduate Studies in the Department of Political Science at UCLA. Frasure also served as the Acting Director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA from 2019-2020. Her research expertise includes racial/ethnic political behavior, African American politics, women and politics, immigrant political incorporation, and state and local politics. Her book, Racial and Ethnic Politics in American Suburbs (Cambridge University Press) is the 2016 winner of two national book awards by the American Political Science Association (APSA), including the Best Book about Race Relations in the United States from the Race, Ethnicity and Politics (REP) Section, and the Dennis Judd Best Book Award in Urban and Local Politics. She is also the co-author of the textbook, Uneven Roads: An Introduction to U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics (CQ Press; 3rd Edition). She is the recipient of the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, the university’s highest recognition for superior teaching. Frasure is also the recipient of several other awards including the Ford Foundation Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards, and the Clarence Stone Young Scholars Award of the American Political Science Association’s Urban Politics Section. A first-generation college graduate, Professor Frasure received her B.A. from the University of Illinois-Urbana, a Master in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, and M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland-College Park.

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