Josef Sorett

Josef Sorett received a Bachelor of Science in Health and Exercise Science from Oral Roberts University in 1996. While at Oral Roberts, he played on the men's basketball team his junior and senior year, under coach Bill Self.{{Cite web |last=Dignan |first=Emma |title=From the court to College Walk: Dean Josef Sorett’s journey from college basketball to Morningside Heights |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/sports/2025/06/12/from-the-court-to-college-walk-dean-josef-soretts-journey-from-college-basketball-to-morningside-heights/ |access-date=2025-06-13 |website=Columbia Daily Spectator}}

an MDiv in Religion and Literature from Boston University in 2000, and his PhD in African American Studies from Harvard University in 2008.{{Cite web|last=Bollinger |first=Lee C |url=https://www.bu.edu/sth/dr-josef-sorett-sth-00-appointed-dean-of-columbia-college/ |title=Dr. Josef Sorett (STH '00) Appointed Dean of Columbia College |publisher=Boston University School of Theology |date=May 24, 2022 |access-date=May 1, 2024 }}{{Cite web |title=Administration |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/about/administration |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Columbia College |language=en}}

His doctoral dissertation is titled Spirit Soundings: Religion, Race and the Arts in Twentieth Century America.{{Cite web |title=News |url=https://louisville-institute.org/our-impact/awards/dissertation-fellowship/4958/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Louisville Institute |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Sorett |first=Josef |date=2008 |title=Spirit soundings: religion, race and the arts in twentieth century America |url=https://hollis.harvard.edu/primo-explore/search?tab=everything&search_scope=everything&vid=HVD2&lang=en_US&mode=basic&offset=0&query=lsr01,contains,990118279940203941 |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=hollis.harvard.edu |language=en}}

Sorett began teaching at Columbia University in 2009, and later became professor of religion and African American and African diaspora studies, chair of the department of religion, and director of the Center on African-American Religion, Sexual Politics and Social Justice. His research focuses on how religion has shaped cultures of Black communities and movements in the United States, from a perspective that straddles history, literature, religion, art and music. Sorett is the editor of The Sexual Politics of Black Churches published by Columbia University Press in 2022.{{Cite web|url=https://jbhe.com/2022/06/three-african-american-scholars-who-have-been-appointed-deans/ |title=Three African American Scholars Who Have Been Appointed Deans |website=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education |date=June 6, 2022 |access-date=May 1, 2024 }} The book investigates the politics of sexuality within Black churches and their communities. Sorett, who since 2022 has also served as Chair of Columbia University's Inclusive Public Safety Advisory Committee to "foster an inclusive campus community" with dialogue about campus racism, received Columbia's Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2022.{{Cite web |date=Fall 2022 |title=Meet Columbia's Five New Deans |url=https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/meet-columbias-five-new-deans |access-date=July 9, 2024 |work=Columbia Magazine }}{{Cite web |last=Andres |first= Dylan |title=Inclusive Public Safety Advisory Committee starts to make headway amid administrative turnover |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2022/02/22/inclusive-public-safety-advisory-committee-starts-to-make-headway-amid-administrative-turnover/ |date=February 22, 2022 |access-date=July 9, 2024 |website=Columbia Daily Spectator }}{{Cite web |title=The Inclusive Public Safety Advisory Committee |url=https://universitylife.columbia.edu/inclusive-public-safety |access-date=July 9, 2024 |publisher=Columbia University }}

Since July 2022, Sorett has been the dean of Columbia College and vice president of undergraduate education.

During Columbia's annual alumni reunion on May 31, 2024, Sorett texted with three other Columbia deans about an antisemitism panel on campus, responding "yup" to comments that the other deans had made and at one point texting "LMAO".{{cite news | last = Tress | first = Luke | date = August 9, 2024 | title = 3 Columbia deans quit after exchanging texts deriding campus antisemitism concerns | work = The Times of Israel | url = https://www.timesofisrael.com/3-columbia-deans-quit-after-exchanging-texts-deriding-campus-antisemitism-concerns/ | access-date = August 12, 2024}}{{cite news | last = Arnold | first = Sarah | date = June 22, 2024 | title = Three Columbia University Deans Placed On Leave Over Disparaging Antisemitism Texts | publisher = Townhall | url = https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2024/06/22/three-columbia-university-deans-placed-on-leave-over-disparaging-antisemitism-texts-n2640816 | access-date = August 12, 2024}}{{cite news | last = Clark | first = Jeffrey | date = June 21, 2024 | title = Three Columbia University deans placed on administrative leave over disparaging texts | publisher = Fox News | url = https://www.foxnews.com/media/three-columbia-university-deans-placed-administrative-leave-disparaging-texts | access-date = August 12, 2024}} Sorett apologized on June 9.{{Cite web |last=Sorett |first=Josef |date=July 8, 2024 |title=A Message from the Dean |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/news/message-dean |access-date=July 9, 2024 |publisher=Columbia College}} On July 2, a petition signed by more than 2,000 students, alumni, and parents was sent that called on the college to also remove Sorett for his role in the incident. The three other deans were suspended from their positions and eventually resigned from Columbia on August 8.{{Cite news |last=Otterman |first=Sharon |date=2024-08-08 |title=3 Columbia University Deans Who Sent Insulting Texts Have Resigned |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/08/nyregion/columbia-university-deans-resign-text-messages-antisemitism.html |access-date=2024-08-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US}}

• Spirit in the Dark: A Religious History of Racial Aesthetics (Oxford University Press, 2016){{Cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/699355|title=Spirit in the Dark: A Religious History of Racial Aesthetics by Josef Sorett (review)|first=Joseph|last=Winters|date=9 December 2018|journal=African American Review|volume=51|issue=2|pages=155–158|doi=10.1353/afa.2018.0027 |accessdate=9 December 2023|via=Project MUSE|url-access=subscription}}
• The Sexual Politics of Black Churches (Columbia University Press, 2022) editor{{Cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21567689.2023.2242682|title=The sexual politics of black churches: edited by Josef Sorrett, New York, Columbia University Press, 2022, 280 pp., $ 35 (paperback), ISBN: 9780231188333|first=Ashwin Afrikanus|last=Thyssen|date=1 August 2023|journal=Politics, Religion & Ideology|volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=614–616|accessdate=9 December 2023|via=CrossRef|doi=10.1080/21567689.2023.2242682|url-access=subscription}}
• Black is a Church: Christianity and the Contours of African American Life (Oxford University Press, 2023)

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Category:21st-century African-American academics

Category:21st-century American academics

Category:African diaspora studies scholars

Category:African-American academic administrators

Category:American academic administrators

Category:American religion academics

Category:American university and college faculty deans

Category:Black studies scholars

Category:Boston University alumni

Category:Columbia University faculty

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:Living people

Category:Oral Roberts University alumni

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:21st-century American male writers

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