Chinyere Oparah

Chinyere Oparah is a Professor of Sociology and Leadership Studies and seasoned administrator. Oparah has had a distinguished academic leadership career, serving as provost, dean of faculty and vice president of academic affairs. Born in the UK to Nigerian and British parents, she pursued her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Modern and Medieval Language and Literature at the University of Cambridge before attending Warwick University to pursue her master’s and PhD in Race and Ethnic Studies, and Sociology respectively. Oparah’s research interests lie at the intersections of women’s leadership, wellness, intersectionality, and social change. She has written and edited/co-edited numerous books and articles on topics ranging from maternal health inequity to Black women’s activism. She is also a nationally recognized thought-leader and frequent contributor to higher education blogs and publications on topics related to leadership, equity and innovation. An award-winning educator, Oparah teaches courses on the sociology of race and gender, health justice, research methods for social change and leading for equity.

• Ethnic studies
• Sociology of race and ethnicity
• Black feminist theory and praxis
• Intersectionality

• Black maternal health
• BIPOC women's and trans activism
• Race, gender and leadership
• Prison industrial complex abolition
• Research justice

• Canada Research Chair in Social Justice, University of Toronto
• Fellow, National Equity Project

• University of Warwick, PhD in Sociology, 1997
• University of Warwick,  MA, Race and Ethnic Relations, 1994
• University of Cambridge, MA, Modern and Medieval Languages, 1994
• Cambridge University, BA, Modern and Medieval Languages, 1989

• Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of San Francisco
• Provost and Dean of the Faculty, Mills College
• Associate Provost, Mills College
• Professor, Ethnic Studies, Mills College

• Visionary of the Year Award, Maternal-Child Health Champion Awards, 2017
• Faculty Member of the Year, Mills College of Color Awards, 2012
• Sarlo Award for Excellence in Teaching, Mills College, 2009
• Eugene E. Trefethen Professorship for Excellence and Innovation in Scholarship, 2008
• Mary S. Metz Professorship for Excellence and Creativity in Teaching, 2007

• Alicia D. Bonaparte and Oparah, Julia Chinyere. 2023. Birthing Justice: Black Women, Pregnancy and Childbirth, 2nd edition. New York: Routledge. 
• Trenka, Jane Jeong, Julia Chinyere Oparah and Sun Yung Shin. 2021. Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption, 2nd edition. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 
• Oparah, Julia Chinyere et al, 2018. Battling Over Birth: Black Women and the Crisis in Maternal Health Care. Amarillo, TX: Praeclarus Press.
• Sudbury, Julia and Margo Okazawa-Rey, 2009 (eds). Activist Scholarship: Antiracism, Feminism and Social Change. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
• Sudbury, Julia, 2005 (ed). Global Lockdown: Race, Gender and the Prison-Industrial Complex. New York: Routledge.