Professor Marcus D. Pohlmann did his undergraduate work at Cornell College and his graduate work at Columbia University. He has taught at Bates College, The College of Wooster, Arkansas State University, Rhodes College, Denver University, Colorado State University, and was the first political scientist to teach in the Soviet Union as a Fulbright Senior Lecturer.
He was at Rhodes from 1986 to 2018 where he chaired the Department of Political Science for more than half of those years. He coached the college’s highly competitive intercollegiate mock trial team to 4 national championships, is the winningest coach in intercollegiate mock trial history, and was named to the American Mock Trial Association’s Coaches Hall of Fame. He currently teaches courses on U.S. Politics, Black Political Thought, Urban Education Policy, and Constitutional Law: Civil Rights and Liberties. He is the only Rhodes faculty member ever to win all 3 of the school’s top annual awards: the Clarence Day Award for teaching, the Jameson Jones Award for service, and the Clarence Day Award for scholarship. He was also a two-time winner of the Rhodes Student Government’s “Outstanding Faculty Member Award.”
His writing has appeared in Political Science Quarterly, The Journal of Politics, New Political Science, The Journal of Urban Affairs, Urban Affairs Review, The Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, and Presidential Studies Quarterly, as well as in National Forum, the Washington Post, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of several books including Opportunity Lost: Race and Poverty in the Memphis City Schools (2 editions); Black Politics in Conservative America (4 editions); African American Political Thought (6 volumes); Landmark Congressional Laws on Civil Rights (with Linda Whisenhunt); Racial Politics at the Crossroads: Memphis Elects Dr. W.W. Herenton (with Michael Kirby); Governing the Postindustrial City; and Political Power in the Postindustrial City. He also has given expert testimony on racial voting patterns in Memphis and served as a consultant for the Memphis City School Board.
Selected Videos
Overcoming Our Political Polarization
Education
B.A., Cornell College
