Faculty and Staff Biographies

James Wilkerson began his role at Indiana University Southeast on April 6th, 2020. He is a Southern Indiana native, born in New Albany. He received his Bachelors degree in English from the University of Louisville in 2006. Later, he would earn his Masters degree in Communication from Bellarmine University in 2013. He would then receive his Juris Doctorate from the University of Louisville in 2018. 

James’ career in higher education began at Ivy Tech Community College in 2010 where he served as an academic counselor. In 2011, he would join the admissions team at Bellarmine University as the minority recruitment counselor. There, Wilkerson would create the Multicultural Visit Program; a series of admission outreach events that focused on multicultural high school students. In 2014, Wilkerson would return to the University of Louisville as the Senior Program Coordinator for the African American Male Initiative. As the head of this program, Wilkerson would work to strengthen black male retention at the university and provide resources to raise the overall black male grade point average.

 In 2015, Wilkerson began his role as an advocate for sexual assault prevention and healthy masculinity practices. This role has seen him guest lecture to numerous fraternity and sorority chapters throughout the southeast, as well as various high schools in the Kentuckiana area. In 2021, he was invited to present his research on toxic masculinity at TedXBloomington’s annual flagship event. In addition to being published in numerous legal publications, Wilkerson has served as a regular columnist in the Louisville Eccentric Observer and the “I Taught the Law” online legal journal. His column “The Title IX Guy” focuses on matters of sexual assault, masculinity, and bystander intervention. In 2021, his book “The Title IX Guy” was published on Nanny Goat Press. It would be named a best seller in Amazon's Gender and Law genre.

Dr. Wilkerson was named one of Louisville Business First’s 20 People to Know in Law in 2019 and was named as part of the publication’s 2021 Forty Under 40 class. Also in 2021, he was named Best Local Writer in the LEO's Reader's Choice Awards. He also serves on numerous boards including Louisville’s Domestic Violence Prevention Commission and the Forecastle Foundation Board of Directors. In his spare time, he loves to travel with his wife Alexandria and cheer on their favorite football team, the Minnesota Vikings.