Author Profiles

Ohio has a rich literary heritage as well as some wonderful contemporary authors. Learn more about them here! You can sort by various categories and see who has participated in our annual book festival by using the category search on the left, or search by keyword (including partial author names) by using the search field on the right.

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Ric S. Sheffield

Ric S. Sheffield is Professor Emeritus of Legal Studies and Sociology at Kenyon College and the Director of the John Adams Summer Scholars Program in Socio-legal Studies. Before coming to Kenyon, he served for ten years as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio.  He began his legal career as a civil rights lawyer handling primarily sex and race discrimination cases. …Read More

Ric S. Sheffield is Professor Emeritus of Legal Studies and Sociology at Kenyon College and the Director of the John Adams Summer Scholars Program in Socio-legal Studies.

Before coming to Kenyon, he served for ten years as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio.  He began his legal career as a civil rights lawyer handling primarily sex and race discrimination cases.  He subsequently held the position of chief attorney as head of the state’s consumer protection division.

In addition to research that has focused upon the relationship between law and issues of gender, race, and ethnicity, he has spent several years examining issues involving the African American experience in rural Ohio.  He is among a select group of scholars chosen to participate in the Ohio Humanities Council’s speakers’ bureau, lecturing widely on issues of race and law as well as rural diversity.

He has published articles, reviews, and book chapters on topics including legal history, the legal profession, and African American social and legal history.  He is the author of the book “We Got By: A Black Family’s Journey in the Heartland.” His current project includes completion of a manuscript on voting rights cases from Ohio in the late 1860s and early 1870s.

A graduate of Case Western Reserve University where he attended college, graduate school in sociology and law school, he has served upon various statewide policy-making and regulatory boards.  During his career at Kenyon, he spent several years on the College’s senior staff as associate provost before his return fulltime to the faculty. Learn more: https://www.ricsheffield.com/