Melissa Lane is an American academic and professor at Princeton University, where she holds the Class of 1943 professorship in the Department of Politics. She graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1989 with a degree in Social Studies and later earned a M.Phil and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cambridge University, where she also served as a lecturer. Lane joined Princeton's faculty in 2009. Throughout her career, she has received numerous honors, including a Marshall Scholarship, Truman Scholarship, Guggenheim Fellowship in 2012, and the Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize in 2015. A political theorist, Lane specializes in ancient Greek political thought and its modern significance.

Early life and education

Lane attended public schools in Los Angeles, California, serving as a student member of the California State Board of Education. She graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in Social Studies in 1989. She briefly worked as an aide and speechwriter for President Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica after college who she met after he gave the Harvard graduation speech. She then studied at Cambridge University as a Marshall, Truman, and Phi Beta Kappa scholar, graduating with a M.Phil in 1992 and Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1995.

Academic career

She taught at Cambridge University in the Faculty of History as a lecturer after graduating. In 2009, she joined Princeton University as a professor; in 2014, she was endowed the Class of 1943 professorship in the Department of Politics. She is associated faculty in the Department of Classics an Philosophy. She directed the Center for Human Values from 2016 to 2024 and was the first director for the Program in Values and Public Life. She teaches in the history of political thought, specializing in ancient Greek thought and in normative political thought about environmental ethics and politics. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2012 and a 2015 Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize, among other awards. She has been a fellow at King's College, Cambridge, the Royal Historical Society, and the Royal Society of Arts.

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Selected publications