Frederick Lippitt Professor of Public Policy, Professor of Political Science and Urban Studies

Overview

Marion Orr is Frederick Lippitt Professor of Public Policy and Professor of  Political Science and Urban Studies at Brown University. He previously was a member of the political science faculty at Duke University.  Professor Orr earned his B.A. degree in political science from Savannah State College, M.A. in political science from Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta University), and a Ph.D. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park. 

Professor Orr's expertise is in the area of American politics.  He specializes in urban politics, race and ethnic politics, and African-American politics.  He is the author and editor of eight books. His most recent book, The House of Diggs: The Untold Story of Congressman Charles C. Diggs, Jr.'s Activist Leadership-- From Emmett Till to Anti-Apartheid -- And the Scandal that Nearly Erased a Social Justice Legacy (University of North Carolina Press), documents that Congressman Charles C. Diggs, Jr. of Detroit, Michigan was perhaps the most consequential Black federal legislator to ever serve in the U.S. Congress. Professor Orr's book, Black Social Capital: The Politics of School Reform in Baltimore (University Press of Kansas), won the Policy Studies Organization's Aaron Wildavsky Award for the best book published in 1999, and The Color of School Reform: Race, Politics and the Challenge of Urban Education (Princeton University Press), was named the best book in 1999 by the American Political Science Association's (APSA) Urban Politics Section. He is the co-editor (with Domingo Morel) of Latino Mayors: Political Change in the Postindustrial City.  He is also the author of numerous scholarly articles, essays, and reviews.


Professor Orr has held a number of fellowships, including an appointment as Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Presidential Fellowship from the University of California, Berkeley, and a fellowship from the Ford Foundation.

Professor Orr served as President of the APSA's Organized Section on Urban Politics, an elected member of the Governing Board of the Urban Affairs Association (UAA), an international organization devoted to the study of urban issues, served as Chair of UAA's Governing Board. Dr. Orr has also served as a member of the executive councils of the American Political Science Assocation and the National Conference of Black Political Scientists. He has served, or is currently serving, on the editorial boards of the Journal of Urban Affairs , Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis , and Urban Affairs Review .

Brown Affiliations

Research Areas