JOINT CENTER News Room
Joint Center President Inducted into Memphis City School Alumni Hall of Fame
November 15, 2000
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Eddie N. Williams, president of the Joint Center, has been named as one of the six inductees into the 2000-2001 Memphis City Schools Alumni Hall of Fame. A past student of Manassas High School in Memphis, Williams has headed the Joint Center since 1972 and previously served as vice president for public affairs and director of the Center for Policy Study at The University of Chicago. He has also held positions in foreign affairs (U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and U.S. Department of State) and in journalism.
In accepting his award Williams said: "I regret that I will not be able to attend the ceremony, but am extremely pleased to be recognized by the Memphis City Schools. My formative years in the Memphis school system served me well, and I have many fond memories of teachers who inspired me to always do my very best and to reach my highest potential."
The other inductees are philanthropist Sam Cooper, Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, Phoenix Suns basketball star, artist Brenda Joysmith, Kemmons Wilson, founder of Holiday Inn, and Dr. Albert C. Yates, president of Colorado State University at Fort Collins. The award ceremony will take place on November 16.
Past honorees include Lois DeBerry, Tennessee state representative, singer Isaac Hayes, Benjamin Hooks, former head of the NAACP, Elvis Presley, actress Cybil Shepard, civil rights activist Maxine Smith, and Dr. Jane Walters, Tennessee commissioner of education.
Williams is active in a number of influential organizations and associations. In 1998 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which "recognizes men and women whose intellectual leadership has made a decisive difference in their profession or scholarly discipline." He is vice chairman of the Black Leadership Forum and Immediate Past Grand Sire Archon of Sigma Pi Phi fraternity (The Boule), the oldest and most influential African American fraternity in the United States.
He has received numerous honors and awards, including the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellows (or "Genius") Award, and citations for leadership by Ebony, National Journal, Washingtonian magazines, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Congressional Black Caucus, and other national caucuses of black elected officials.
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The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies informs and illuminates the nation's major public policy debates through research, analysis, and information dissemination in order to: improve the socioeconomic status of black Americans and other minorities; expand their effective participation in the political and public policy arenas; and promote communications and relationships across racial and ethnic lines to strengthen the nation's pluralistic society.
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