Mary James

Mary James is the A. A. Knowlton Professor of Physics, Emeritus, at Reed College. From 2014 to 2022 she served as the Dean for Institutional Diversity at Reed. In this role Professor James worked with partners across the college and profession to interrogate and reform systems, structures, policies, and norms that disproportionately benefit members of dominant groups while marginalizing members of historically underrepresented or minoritized groups.

Professor James was the co-chair of the AIP TEAM-UP Task Force that completed the two-year study on the causes and remedies for the underrepresentation of African American students earning bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy; and co-authored the groundbreaking TEAM-UP Report, The Time is Now: Systemic Changes to Increase African Americans with Bachelor’s Degrees in Physics and Astronomy. She is currently on the AIP Board of Directors, and formerly served as the chair of the APS Committee on Minorities in Physics, and member of the climate site visit team for the APS Committee on the Status of Women and Committee on Minorities.

Today, Professor James conducts workshops and consults with colleges, universities, and non-profits on inclusive hiring practices and inclusive practices for boards of directors, culturally responsive advising, inclusive pedagogical practices in STEM disciplines, and recentering the curriculum.

Professor James received her B.A. in physics from Hampshire College and her Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford University. Her principal areas of physics research have been in accelerator physics, astrophysics, and inclusive pedagogical practices in STEM disciplines.