Dr. Tamelyn Tucker-Worgs is a professor of political science and an expert on race and gender in American politics.  Her research focuses primarily on the black church and public life.

For over two decades she has been fascinated by the black church because through its lens, she has gained insight into a wide range of topics that include campaigns and elections, respectability politics, class, gender, sexuality, political behavior, Black liberation movements, Black conservatism and so much more. She has published key works in the area including her first book The Black Megachurch: Theology, Gender and the Politics of Public Engagement, which was the first book-length treatment of the political significance of the black megachurch phenomenon. The Black Megachurch was the recipient of the W.E.B. Dubois Distinguished Book Award given by the National Conference of Black Political Scientists and was named one of Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Titles (2012). 

She’s also published a co-edited volume, Black Religious Landscaping in Africa and the United States and recently completed the co-authored book manuscript Black Morality Politics in the United States (Temple University Press (forthcoming)). Among the many other book chapters and journal articles she’s published is a co-edited special issue of the journal Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, titled, "Black Religion and Spirituality: Creativity, Adaptation, and Resistance." She has been invited to participate in a variety of research projects and conferences and to give lectures about her work in the US and internationally.

A native of Houston, Texas, Dr. Tucker-Worgs graduated from Houston Public Schools. She earned a graduate certificate in women’s studies, a Master’s degree and PH. D (both in government and politics) from the University of Maryland College Park. She is a proud graduate of Hampton University- her beloved “home by the sea”, where she first found her love of the study of Black politics which set the course for the rest of her career.