An accomplished administrator, scholar, and sociologist who studies race and ethnicity and social inequality, Willie-LeBreton is known for her commitment to the liberal arts, strengthening community, and energizing the work of equity and inclusion. She is the author of several dozen articles, essays, reviews, and op-ed columns. Her first book, Acting Black: College, Identity and the Performance of Race (Routledge 2003), compares the experiences Black and white college alumni at comparable predominantly white and historically black institutions. Her second book, which she edited and to which she contributed, Transforming the Academy: Faculty Perspectives on Diversity and Pedagogy (Rutgers 2016), explores the experiences of people with marginalized identities in their roles as faculty and administrators in dominant academic spaces.
Willie-LeBreton considers herself an applied sociologist, bringing research and theory to bear on practice. She has worked with a broad range of groups and organizations to understand social dynamics and develop strategies to help the participants in organizations move their organizations toward self-awareness, transformation, compassion, and inclusivity.
In 2025, she gave the keynote address at the 40th celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life at Syracuse University; she gave a panel presentation at the National Conference of State Legislators 50th Anniversary Summit on higher education’s return on investment; and she served on the decennial accreditation review committee of Pomona College in Southern California.
Over the course of her career, she has been active in the Eastern Sociological Society, Sociologists for Women in Society, the Association of Black Sociologists, the American Sociological Association (ASA), and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, a regional association of Quaker meetings. For several years, she reviewed sociology and affiliated departments as a member of the ASA’s Departmental Resources Group. A thought partner in board governance, her board service has included the Executive Office and Budget of the American Sociological Association, Pendle Hill Quaker Center, Haverford College, Benchmark School, the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, and the Grand Canyon Conservancy. Currently, Willie-LeBreton serves on the boards of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Massachusetts and the national Women’s College Coalition, and acts in an advisory capacity to the private consultant Integrated Impact Group.
