A magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Policy, Professor Cook graduated from the Yale Law School and practiced venture capital and corporate law. He has completed two post-graduate fellowships, the first in Ethics and the Professions at the Kennedy School of Government and the second in Religion and Public Values at the Harvard Divinity School. He teaches interrelated courses on race and class stratification, with a particular emphasis on progressive politics, voting rights, elections, and the legal structure of the political process. He has pioneered a groundbreaking course – Race, Inequality and Progressive Politics: Voting Rights in America – that brings professional, graduate, and undergraduate students from various disciplines into the same classroom to grapple with issues facing U.S. democracy.

At the local level, he works as a community practitioner, building bridges between the university and underserved populations, offering practicums on entrepreneurship and social innovation, global cities & urbanization, and community development. These courses provide students with a unique opportunity to partner with underserved communities in finding solutions to the complex problems they face. Professor Cook’s scholarship has explored the relationship between progressive religious theology and progressive politics in America. His book, The Least of These: Race, Law and Religion in American Culture, explores the relevance of the social gospel and Dr. Martin Luther King’s conception of the Beloved Community for race, class and cultural divides in American Society. For his work as a scholar and community activist who has worked with various grassroots and faith-based initiatives on community empowerment and economic development projects, the American Bar Association honored Professor Cook as One of 21 Lawyers Leading America into the 21st Century, citing his “unique synergy of action and thought.”