Faculty

Melissa Rogers - Email

Melissa Rogers serves as director of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity Center for Religion and Public Affairs and as a nonresident senior fellow within the Governance Program of The Brookings Institution. She also teaches courses on church-state relations and Christianity and public policy within the divinity school.  Rogers previously served as the executive director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in Washington, D.C. The Forum, a project supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, serves as a clearinghouse and a town hall for the discussion of the ways in which religion shapes ideas and institutions. Previous to her leadership at the Pew Forum, Rogers served as general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty based in Washington, D.C. In 2004, Rogers was recognized by National Journal as one of the church-state experts "politicians will call on when they get serious about addressing an important public policy issue." In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed her to his Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Rogers has co-authored a case book on religion and law for Baylor University Press, Religious Freedom and the Supreme Court. She has testified before the Judiciary Committee to the U.S. Senate.  Rogers earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was a member of the National Moot Court Team and a Legal Writing Instructor. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Baylor University.