is the Bandy Professor of Preaching at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.  She is the first Black and the first woman to hold what many consider the most prestigious preaching professorate in America.  She is the first tenured Black female Professor at Candler and the third Black female to attain the rank of Full Professor at Emory.  She served as Director of Black Church Studies at Emory University from 2007-2015.  Dr. Fry Brown was elected in 2012 as the first woman and the fourteenth Historiographer of the African Methodist Episcopal.  As Historiographer she is editor of the A.ME. Review and serves as the Executive Director of Research and Scholarship.

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Dr. Fry Brown obtained a Doctorate of Philosophy in Religious and Theological Studies from the Iliff School of Theology and the University of Denver, with an emphasis in Religion and Social Transformation (1996). Additionally, she earned a Master of Divinity from Iliff School of Theology (1988), a Master of Science degree (1975), and a Bachelor of Science degree (1973) in Speech Pathology and Audiology from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri.

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Dr. Fry Brown has extensive teaching and preaching experience in national, international academic, and ecumenical settings. A prolific author, Dr. Fry Brown’s books include Delivering the Sermon: Voice, Body, and Animation in Proclamation, Fortress Press (2008); Can A Sister Get a Little Help: Advice and Encouragement for Black Women in Ministry, Pilgrim Press (2008); God Don’t Like Ugly:  African American Women Handing on Spiritual Values Abingdon Press (2000); Weary Throats and New Song: Black Women Proclaiming God’s Word Abingdon Press (2003) and The 2006 African American History Devotional, Abingdon Press  (2006).  Additionally, she has published “Poetic Persuasion: A Master Class on Speaking Truth to Power” in Our Sufficiency Is of God: Essays on Preaching in Honor of Gardner C. Taylor (February 2010), “The Future of Black Preaching” in Homiletix  (November 2007), five sidebars for the Wesley Study Bible (October 2008), “Mother Day/Pentecost” African America Pulpit Lectionary (2008),  African American History Month Devotions (Abingdon 2006),  “Preaching the Lesson, Lectionary Homiletics, (five entries 2006), Abingdon Press African American Pulpit Library, (eight entries 2006 ), Kirk Byron Jones, editor, A Letter From Jarena Lee in 1999; “Remember Who Made Us” in Those Preaching Women, vol. 3, Ella Mitchell, ed, Judson Press, 1996; “Easter Sunday” and “Easter 4” in Abingdon Women’s Preaching Annual, Series 1, Year C, Abingdon Press, 1997; “Avoiding Asphyxiation: A Womanist Perspective on Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Transformation” in Embracing the Spirit:  Womanist Perspectives on Hope, Salvation, and Transformation, Emilie Townes, ed., Orbis Press, 1997; “Renovating Sorrow’s Kitchen:  African American Women Preaching Justice” in Preaching Justice, Christine Smith, ed., Pilgrim Press, 1998 and “Giving the Sermon Life” in Birthing a Sermon, (2001), Jana Childers, ed., Chalice Press. “Action Potential” in The Purpose of Preaching, Pilgrim Press (2004) as well as numerous other chapters and commentaries.

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Dr. Fry Brown is a member of the American Academy of Religion, Society for the Study of Black Religion, and the Academy of Homiletics. She is an ordained Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and an Associate Minister at New Bethel A.M.E. Church, Lithonia, Georgia. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. A native of Independence, Missouri Dr. Fry Brown is the second oldest of seven children of (late) William and Naomi Fry.  She is the mother of Veronica Nadyne Tinsley.