A professor of Afro-American Studies, Asian American Studies and Sociology, and faculty director of the Morgridge Center for Public Service, Michael Thornton's areas of interest encompass racial attitudes, mental health and ethnic/racial identity. His work on racial attitudes ranges from examining survey data to understand what factors predict when blacks feel close to Asian Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, West Indians and Africans, to exploring black, Asian American, Latino, and mainstream newspaper coverage of interminority relationships. He also publishes on racial, gender and class differences in self-esteem and perceptions of personal control among black and white adults. Much of this work reflects his own family heritage: mother, Japanese; father, black; and wife, Dominican.

Academy Evenings Panel Discussion:

Did you miss Michael Thornton's February 16, 2010, panel discussion, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner: The Nature of Tolerance in 2050? You can watch it online or purchase the DVD from our Wisconsin Academy store.

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