Traci Schlesinger
December 19, 2021
Dr. Traci Schlesinger was born in and raised in New Jersey, in the largely white working-class town of Dumont. She was hired by DePaul as an Assistant Professor of Sociology in 2006 and tenured as an Associate Professor in 2012. Traci was a scholar and an activist in equal measure. She devoted her life to social justice work. The focus of Dr. Schlesinger’s research was her analysis and critique of the criminal justice system, in particular its production and maintenance of racial stratification in the post-civil rights United States. In an interview, Dr. Schlesinger noted that she chose DePaul because of its mission of social justice and its location in a large city. Both her research and her teaching had tremendous impact; Traci is nationally recognized as an expert in her field, and she was a transformative teacher for students.