Barbara A. Perry
Carter Glass Professor of Government

Dr. Barbara A. Perry is Carter Glass Professor of Government and founding director of
the Center for Civic Renewal and the Virginia Law-Related Education Center at Sweet
Briar. In 1994-95 she was a judicial fellow at the U.S. Supreme Court, where she received the Tom C. Clark Award as the outstanding fellow that year. Most recently, Dr. Perry was the senior fellow for civics education at the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center. Her eight books include The Michigan Affirmative Action Cases (University Press of Kansas 2007), Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier (University Press of Kansas 2004); The Priestly Tribe:  The Supreme Court’s Image in the American Mind (Praeger 1999; winner of a 2001 Choice Award); “The Supremes”: An Introduction to the United States Supreme Court Justices, 2nd ed. (Peter Lang 2009); A “Representative” Supreme Court?  The Impact of Race, Religion, and Gender on Appointments (Greenwood 1991); and, with Henry J. Abraham, Freedom and the Court: Civil Rights and Liberties in the United States, 8th edition (University Press of Kansas 2003).  She is currently researching two new books: The Catholic Supreme Court Justices (Georgetown University Press) and Rose: Mother of the Kennedy Image (Norton). The author of more than 30 articles, Dr. Perry has lectured throughout the United States and is a frequent media commentator on public affairs. She is a regular guest on Wisconsin Public Radio’s program, “At Issue.”  Since 1995, she has served as a consultant for and taught in the annual Supreme Court Summer Institute, co-sponsored by the Supreme Court Historical Society and Street Law. Professor Perry earned a Ph.D. in government from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in politics, philosophy, and economics from Oxford University, and a B.A. in political science, with highest honors, from the University of Louisville.