Rashawn Ray

Rashawn Ray is an AIR vice president and the executive director of the AIR Equity Initiative. Launched in 2021, the AIR Equity Initiative is a five-year, $100M+ investment in behavioral and social science research and technical assistance to address the underlying causes of systemic inequities and to increase opportunities for people and communities. The initiative’s work is done collaboratively with other organizations and communities, and focuses on developing approaches to moderate or mitigate the harmful effects on individuals living in communities segregated by race and place, with a particular emphasis on education, workforce, creating safer communities, and advancing health equity.

As Professor at the University of Maryland and Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution, Ray’s research addresses the mechanisms that manufacture and maintain racial and social inequity. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, Arnold Foundation, and Ford Foundation. His academic articles have appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, Science Advances, Social Science Research, American Education Research Journal, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Du Bois Review, and the Annual Review of Public Health. Ray’s books include Systemic Racism in America: Sociological Theory, Education Inequality, and Social Change (with Hoda Mahmoudi), How Families Matter: Simply Complicated Intersections of Race, Gender, and Work (with Pamela Braboy Jackson) and Race and Ethnic Relations in the 21st Century: History, Theory, Institutions, and Policy, which has been adopted over 40 times in college courses.