Pamela Newkirk is a journalist, editor, professor, author, and multidisciplinary scholar. She has served as a Professor at New York University since 1993. Her scholarly work focuses on examining the impact that dominant portrayals in popular culture have on African American lives.

As an author, Newkirk published 'Diversity, Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business' with Bold Type Books in 2019. She is also the editor of two epistolary collections.