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Dr. Zachery Williams, associate professor of African American history in the Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Akron, was named a Center for American Progress (CAP) Leadership Institute Fellow for 2013-2014. Williams is among the 15 people selected from a national pool of applicants that will participate in a series of CAP-directed seminars, activities and networking sessions with a broad array of leaders and experts in the progressive public policy movement. The program, based in Washington, D.C., aims to identify and assist the next generation of policy experts who have an interest in issues related to people and communities of color.

"As a policy historian trained in the intersection of race and social and public policy," says Williams, "the fellowship will enhance my research and training in the areas of African American policy history, U.S. history, and public intellectuals, race and policy.

Williams also is coordinator of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century's Research Consortium and co-founder of the Africana Cultures and Policy Studies Institute — organizations dedicated to the study of African American policy history and development of sustainable solutions to historic and contemporary problems impacting African Americans.

"This fellowship opportunity creates a more substantial synergy between my African American and American policy history research and teaching interests, and public engagement between the academy and the policy community," adds Williams. "It enables me to decisively demonstrate the critical role of the historian in policy research development and analysis, thus bridging the seemingly irreparable divide existing between these significant and interconnected facets of our public culture."

 Story by Drew Williams

Media contact: Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu.