Rutledge Melvin Dennis (born August 16, 1939) is an American sociologist who is Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at George Mason University. A noted expert on the work of W. E. B. Du Bois, he was formerly the first coordinator of African American studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.^[1] He was the president of the Association of Black Sociologists from 1982 to 1983. In 2001, he received the Association's Joseph S. Himes Distinguished Scholarship Award.^[2] In 2006, he received the DuBois-Johnson-Frazier Award from the American Sociological Association. The statement accompanying this award described Dennis as "one of the leading scholars on DuBois."^[3] In 2010, he created the Dennis-Weathers award in honor of his parents and godparents. The award is given annually by Virginia Commonwealth University to an exemplary African American studies student.^[4]