Join us in welcoming Vanessa Williams to the DC History Center team!
Vanessa came on board officially in October 2024 as the manager of education. Prior to joining the team, she worked with us serving on the DC History Conference planning committee. Her role was to amplify ways for K-12 educators and students to engage in the annual conference and connect sessions to social studies standards.
Before assuming her role with the DC History Center, Vanessa served as the program manager for D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice, a project of one of our partners, Teaching for Change.
Vanessa also brings several years of secondary social studies teaching experience with her and a love for practicing public history with K-12 students.
On top of coordinating National History Day activity in DC, Vanessa will facilitate field trips, deliver signature professional development opportunities including Teach the District, share resources in the Education Desk newsletter, support summer interns, and nurture the relationships between K-12 students, local school systems, and historical sites and museums.
Vanessa holds a masters in Education, Culture, and Society from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, as well as a BA in Anthropology and Education from Davidson College. She has been featured on panels for the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium. She’s also been a guest on the EmpowerEd Educator Wellness Revolution, CrossStreets, and Anti-Racist Table podcasts, and her writing is published in Rethinking Schools and Education Post. She was raised in Jacksonville, Florida, and points to trailblazers like Mary McCleod Bethune, Anna Julia Cooper, and Zora Neale Hurston for shaping her combined love for history and K-12 education and inspiring her pedagogy.
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