The daughter of sociologist
Charles Vert Willie, Willie-LeBreton attended high school in
Concord, Massachusetts. She earned a B.A. from
Haverford College in 1986. She completed a semester at
Spelman College during her undergraduate studies. She earned a M.A. (1988) and Ph.D. (1995) in sociology from
Northwestern University.
Charles M. Payne, Arlene Kaplan Daniels, and
Aldon Morris served as her committee members. She is the second African American in the role after
Ruth Simmons who served from 1995 to 2001. == Selected works ==