Wornie Reed

Dr. Wornie Reed, Professor Emeritus and a professor of sociology and Africana Studies at Virginia Tech, is also director of the Race and Social Policy Research Center in the Department of Sociology. He teaches courses in health and medical care, criminal justice, and Africana Studies.

Previously, he was director of the Africana Studies Program at the University of Tennessee/Knoxville and was a professor of sociology and urban studies at Cleveland State University, where he also developed and directed the Urban Child Research Center.

Dr. Reed chaired the Department of Black Studies and developed and directed the William Monroe Trotter Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He also held positions at Morgan State University, Washington University (in the Department of Sociology and the School of Medicine), and the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

In his career, Dr. Reed has produced seven books and numerous articles and research reports. A graduate of Alabama State University, he earned his masters and doctorate degrees in Sociology at Boston University. In addition to academia, he has worked in the federal government at the U.S. Bureau of the Census and in private industry with IBM Corporation.

Among the books he has written or edited are Racial Profiling: Causes and Consequences (with R. Dunn, 2011); Handbook of African American Health: Social and Behavior Interventions (with A.J. Lemelle and S. Taylor, 2011), Blacks in Tennessee, 2008; and African Americans: Essential Perspectives, 2003.

Professor Reed’s honors and awards include two Regional Emmys — received in 2000 and 2003 — for his work with Public Health Television, Inc., on the Urban Cancer Project, which produced television shows on cancer prevention aimed at African Americans.