Danielle S. Allen

Danielle S. Allen
UPS Foundation
Professor
School of Social
Science

Danielle Allen is a political theorist who has published broadly in democratic theory, political sociology, and the history of political thought. Widely known for her work on justice and citizenship in ancient Athens and its application to modern America,  Allen is the author of The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens (2000), Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown vs. the Board of Education (2004), and Why Plato Wrote (2010).  In 2002 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for her ability to combine "the classicist's careful attention to texts and language with the political theorist's sophisticated and informed engagement." Allen is currently working on books on the Declaration of Independence, citizenship in the digital age, and education and equality.

Ph.D., Classics, Cambridge University, 1996; Ph.D., Government, Harvard University, 2001; Assistant Professor, Classics, University of Chicago, 1997–2000; Associate Professor of Classical Languages and Literatures, Political Science and the Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago, 2000–03; Professor of Classical Languages and Literatures, Political Science and the Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago, 2003–07; Dean, Division of Humanities, University of Chicago, 2004–07; Institute for Advanced Study, UPS Foundation Professor, 2007–; MacArthur Fellowship, 2002; Trustee, Amherst College, Institute for the International Education of Students, Pulitzer Prize Board, Mellon Foundation, and Princeton University.