After getting a BA in History from Bowling Green State University (Ohio) and an MS in Industrial Relations from Cornell, Wesley taught grades 6-8 in the District of Columbia Public Schools for five years, initially through TFA. He then pursued a PhD in Sociology from UCLA, writing a dissertation on the historical development of legally institutionalized racism in former European settlement colonies, with a special focus on the United States. After teaching for several years in the Pitt Sociology department, since 2018 Wesley has been directing and teaching in the Law, Criminal Justice, and Society (LCJS) program and its predecessors (ADMJ, Legal Studies). Wesley's teaching and research focus on the relationship between law and social inequality, frequently from an historical perspective.
Courses Taught at Pitt
- Race, Class, Gender, and the Law
- Introduction to Law, Criminal Justice, and Society
- Critical Issues in Criminal Justice
- Criminological Theory
- Gender, Race, Class, and Criminal Justice
Education & Training
- PhD, Sociology - UCLA
- MS, Industrial Relations - Cornell University
- BA, History - Bowling Green University