Michelle L. Meeks (she/they) (born August 1, 1998) is a Black American doctor of philosophy, receiving her Ph.D. in August 2026 from the Department of Philosophy at The Pennsylvania State University. She is currently employed at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Her areas of specialization (AOS) are Critical Philosophy of Race, Africana Philosophy, Black Feminist Philosophy, and Social & Political Philosophy. Her areas of concentration (AOC) are 20th-century Continental Philosophy, Ethics, Critical Theory, and Feminist philosophy more broadly. 

 

Meeks received her B.A. in philosophy from Emory University in 2020.  She wrote her undergraduate honors thesis, titled "Traces of Equilibrium: A Comparative Analysis of Anna Julia Cooper and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr," which explored how King and Cooper conceptualized philosophical notions of "equilibrium" in their resistance against racial oppression. Her thesis was written under the mentorship of Dr. George Yancy.  

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​Meeks also received her M.A. in philosophy from Pennsylvania State University in 2023. Her dissertation is titled On the Uses of the Dialectic: Angela Y. Davis, Abolition, and the Afterlives of Slavery. Her advisors are Dr. Robert Bernasconi and Dr. Nancy Tuana, and her dissertation committee members include Dr. Nicolas de Warren and Dr. Michael West. 

 

Outside of Academia, Meeks has worked for several law firms, which has given her insight into the relationship between her research in philosophy and legal studies. Her intellectual pursuits will continue to weave together Black Feminist Philosophy, Decolonial Theory, Carceral Studies, Existentialism, and Critical Theory in extraordinary ways. 

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