Melissa Rogers

Melissa Rogers directs the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at Wake Forest University School of Divinity and serves as a nonresident senior fellow with Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. In 2009 Rogers was appointed by President Obama as chair of the first Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Previously she served as the executive director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, and was general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Her area of expertise includes First Amendment clauses and religious organizations, religious expression in American public life, government partnerships with religious and secular nonprofits, and the interplay of religion, policy, and politics. Rogers has co-authored a case book on religion and law for Baylor University Press, Religious Freedom and the Supreme Court (2008). She holds a J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Baylor University.