Michele Moody-Adams facts for kids

Michele Moody-Adams is an American philosopher and a leader in universities. She was the Dean of Columbia College and Vice President for Undergraduate Education at Columbia University from 2009 to 2011. She was the first woman and first African-American to hold these important jobs there. She later decided to step down from being dean, but she still teaches philosophy at Columbia. In 2021, she became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which is a group of very smart people.

Early Life and Education

Michele Moody-Adams grew up in Chicago on the Southside. Her dad was a schoolteacher, and they were very close. They often listened to opera and classical music together.

She went to Wellesley College and studied philosophy, graduating in 1978. Then, she went to Somerville College, Oxford in England on a special scholarship called a Marshall Scholarship. There, she earned another degree in philosophy, politics, and economics in 1980. She finished her studies at Harvard University, getting her Ph.D. in philosophy in 1986. Her Ph.D. paper was about moral philosophy and was guided by the famous philosopher John Rawls.

Career Highlights

Before joining Cornell University in 2000, Moody-Adams worked at Indiana University, Bloomington. There, she was a philosophy professor and also helped lead undergraduate education. At Cornell, she was a vice provost, which means she helped oversee education for all undergraduate students. She was also a special professor focusing on ethics and public life.

In 2009, she was chosen for a big role at Columbia University. Other leaders praised her, saying she was an "exceptional scholar and administrator." She was the first woman and the first Black person to be a dean at Columbia.

On August 20, 2011, Moody-Adams announced she would step down as dean. She felt that changes being made at Columbia University would reduce how much Columbia College could make its own decisions. She was also worried about how these changes might affect the college's money and academic quality. However, she still has a teaching position at Columbia. Today, she is a Joseph Straus Professor of Political Philosophy and Legal Theory in their philosophy department.

Personal Life

Michele Moody-Adams is married to James Eli Adams. He is a professor at Columbia University who studies Victorian literature. They have a daughter named Katherine, who was born in 1996.

Books and Ideas

Michele Moody-Adams has written many articles and two books. Her first book, Fieldwork in Familiar Places: Morality, Culture, and Philosophy, came out in 1997. In this book, she talks about how we can have different ideas about what is right or wrong, but still agree on some basic moral truths. She explores how different cultures think about morality. Moody-Adams believes that understanding ethics means looking at our own communities and how we interpret things.

Her second book, Making Space for Justice: Social Movements, Collective Imagination, and Political Hope, was published in 2022. This book asks important questions about social justice movements. It explores how these movements can help us achieve more fairness in the world. She uses examples of different movements and people who create change. Moody-Adams hopes her book can help connect ideas about justice with real-world actions.