Marion Orr (political scientist) facts for kids

Marion E. Orr is an American political scientist. He is a professor at Brown University, where he teaches about public policy and urban studies. Professor Orr studies how schools are improved in the United States. He also looks at politics in cities and the political lives of African-American and Latino communities.

Early Life and Education

Marion E. Orr started his college journey at Savannah State College. He earned his first degree in political science in 1984. He then continued his studies at Atlanta University, getting a master's degree in political science in 1987.

Later, he earned his PhD in government and politics from the University of Maryland in 1992. After finishing his studies, he worked as a special fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1993, he became a professor at Duke University. He moved to Brown University in 1999, where he teaches today.

Contributions to Education and Urban Studies

Professor Orr has written or edited eight books. One of his important books is Black Social Capital: The Politics of School Reform in Baltimore, 1986-1998, published in 1999. In this book, he explored how social connections and community networks, called "social capital," affect efforts to improve schools. He studied the city of Baltimore to understand these ideas.

His research for Black Social Capital involved many interviews and direct observations. Experts like John Portz praised the book for explaining how social and political forces helped or stopped school changes in Baltimore. This book was important for understanding cities and politics in general. It even won the Aaron Wildavsky Award in 1999.

Another book, The Color of School Reform, which he wrote with others, also won a major award. It was named the Best Book in 2000 by the Urban Politics Section of the American Political Science Association. This shows how important his work is in understanding urban education.

Professor Orr has received several other awards for his work. In 1995, he won the Rodney Higgins' Best Paper Award for a paper he presented at a national conference. In 2019, he received the Hanes Walton Jr. Career Award. This award honors political scientists who have spent their lives studying race and ethnic politics. It also recognizes those who help us understand how different groups can live together peacefully in a democracy.

From 2008 to 2014, Professor Orr was the director of the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University. He has also led the political science department and the urban studies program there. He has also been an editor for important journals like the Urban Affairs Review and the Journal of Urban Affairs.

Key Publications

• "Urban Regimes and Leadership in Detroit", Urban Affairs Review, with Gerry Stoker (1994)
• Black Social Capital: The Politics of School Reform in Baltimore, 1986-1998 (1999)
• The Color of School Reform: Race, Politics and the Challenge of Urban Education, with Jeffrey R. Henig, Richard C. Hula, and Desiree S. Pedescleaux (1999)
• Latino Mayors: Political Change in the Postindustrial City, co-edited with Domingo Morel (2018)

Recognized Achievements

• Rodney Higgins Best Paper Award, National Conference of Black Political Scientists (1995)
• Best Book Award, American Political Science Association Urban Politics Section (2000)
• Hanes Walton Jr. Award, American Political Science Association (2019)