Byron D’Andra Orey

Byron D’Andra Orey earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Mississippi Valley State University, an MPA from the University of Mississippi, an M.A. in Political Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and a Ph.D. from the University of New Orleans. He currently serves as a W.K. Kellogg fellow with the Kellogg foundation.

Upon receiving his Ph.D., he taught at the University of Mississippi, was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and currently teaches at Jackson State University where he is Professor and past Chair of the Political Science Department.

Professor Orey’s research is in the areas of race, politics, and social justice, focusing heavily on the psychology of Black trauma, implicit bias, voting rights, police reform, and systemic racism. He has conducted lectures at Oxford University, Yale University, and Spelman College, has published over thirty peer-reviewed scholarly articles and book chapters, presented manuscripts at over 100 conferences, and received nearly $800,000 in research grants and fellowships to conduct research and mentor students.

As the director of the Jackson Political Science Research Laboratory, he has established a pipeline of students of color entering Ph.D. programs. Over the last ten years, 18 of his former research assistants have enrolled in some of the top Ph.D. programs across the country.  In the fall of 2020, three of the lab’s former students enrolled in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and one student enrolled in the Kennedy School of Public Policy at Harvard. This student was also a Rhodes Scholar finalist.

Some of his work has been published in the American Politics Research, Twin Research and Human Genetics, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, Social Science Quarterly, Journal of Women, Politics and Policy, Race and Policy, and the Journal of Black Studies. Commentary by Professor Orey has also appeared in several media outlets, including Al Jazeera, MSNBC, CNN, the Daily Beast, and the News Hour (PBS).