Cornel West is the current holder of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair and professor at Union Theological Seminary. In his capacity as a professor, he teaches Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Philosophy of Religion, African American Critical Thought, and a wide range of subjects encompassing philosophy, politics, literature, cultural theory, music, and the classics.
West previously served as Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Princeton University.
West has written 20 books and edited over 14 additional volumes. He has also contributed forewords and blurbs for hundreds of authors. His most celebrated publications include Race Matters, Democracy Matters, and his memoir Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud.
In 2024, West was an Independent Presidential Candidate and delivered the Gifford Lectures 2023–2024, titled “A Jazz-soaked Philosophy for Our Catastrophic Times: From Socrates to Coltrane,” at the University of Edinburgh.
West earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in three years, and subsequently received both his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy from Princeton University, becoming the first Black man to earn such a degree from the university in 1980.