R. Owen Williams, past president of the Associated Colleges of the South, previously served as president of Transylvania University. He edited The Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition (Greenwood Press), was an articles editor for the Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities, and has published in several books, magazines, journals, and encyclopedias. Williams served as Vice President of the New Haven Reparations Coalition and is currently vice-chair of the Board of Governors at Gratz College, the oldest Jewish college in America.