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Dr. Thad Williamson is a sought-after professor and civic activist. His research focuses on the intersection of theories of social justice and public policy, particularly as applied to urban politics and economic policy.  He writes regularly on current issues for a wide variety of popular and scholarly publications.

A recognized community leader on poverty reduction efforts in Richmond, Williamson served as the first director of the city’s Office of Community Wealth Building while on leave from the University during the 2014–15 and 2015–16 academic years. The Office is charged with implementing a comprehensive poverty reduction initiative encompassing education, employment, housing, and transportation. In December 2015, the Office was ratified as a permanent city agency. The Office of Community Wealth Building has been recognized nationally (including grant support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation) as a promising municipal model for tackling systemic poverty in urban communities.

Williamson previously served as a member of the mayor’s Anti-Poverty Commission and principal author of the commission’s final report, and as co-chair of the Maggie L. Walker Initiative for Expanding Opportunity and Fighting Poverty.

Following the November 2016 municipal elections, Williamson served as transition director for Mayor-elect Levar Stoney. Between January 2017 and June 2018, Williamson served as senior policy advisor to Mayor Stoney in a part-time capacity while continuing to teach at the University. He led the development of the RVA Education Compact, a systematic collaboration between the Mayor’s Office, School Board, and City Council to address the needs of schools and families in Richmond; and also the development of the City’s new Performance Management Office, aimed at facilitating improved operations for all City agencies and implementation of Mayor Stoney’s “One Richmond” agenda.

He is currently engaged in two research projects. The first focuses on community wealth building as a national policy paradigm capable of developing practical solutions to long-standing, racialized inequalities of wealth and power that have undermined democracy in the United States. The first publication from this project, an op-ed with Melody C. Barnes of the Aspen Institute, was published in The Hill in July 2018.

The second is a book-length study of contemporary Richmond, in collaboration with Dr. Amy Howard, assistant vice president of community initiatives and the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement at the University of Richmond. The book will assess the role of leadership in addressing the city’s most pressing problems over the past generation.

Williamson’s previous academic work focuses on the application of contemporary theories of social justice to political and economic institutions. Williamson co-edited (with Martin O’Neill) and contributed to Property-Owning Democracy: Rawls and Beyond, published in 2012 by Wiley-Blackwell. Other recent books include Leadership and Global Justice, co-edited with Douglas A. Hicks and published by Palgrave Macmillan Press, and Sprawl, Justice, and Citizenship: The Civic Costs of the American Way of Life, published by Oxford University Press.

Williamson serves on the boards of Richmond Opportunities Incorporated (serving Richmond public housing residents) and the Richmond Public Schools Education Foundation (serving RPS students and schools). He is a reviewer for numerous academic journals and university presses, and is a series editor for the Jepson Studies in Leadership book series.