Michael Cunningham, PhD

Michael Cunningham, PhD, received his PhD from Emory University in 1994, in educational/developmental psychology. He is a professor at Tulane University with a joint faculty appointment in the department of psychology and the undergraduate program in Africana Studies. He currently serves as the associate provost for Graduate Studies and Research and has served as the associate provost for Engaged Learning and Teaching, which included being the founding executive director for Tulane’s Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching. He has a program of research that focuses on racial, ethnic, psychosocial, and socioeconomic processes that affect psychological well-being, adjustment to chronic stressful events, and academic achievement among African American adolescents and their families. He has received external funding from several sources including the National Science Foundation, The Mellon Foundation, The Department of Education and the Louisiana Board of Regents. He has received Tulane’s highest teaching award and been designated as a Suzanne and Stephen Weiss Presidential Fellow. He has been recognized by the Society for Research in Child Development for Distinguished Contributions to the Society and more recently, he received the Society for Research on Adolescence’s Outstanding Mentor Award. He serves on several editorial boards including editor-in-chief of research in human development and coeditor for the American Educational Research Journal. Cunningham served as an associate editor of Child Development from 2007-2019 and he serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Negro Education.