• Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1977

• M.A., University of Chicago, 1973

• B.A., Rice University, 1970

Full Professor

Professor Linda Williams, an outstanding colleague and friend.  Coming from Texas, she fought for justice, decency, and human rights all her life, and gave us an increased understanding of the roots of injustice and racism in the US and its politics.  Before coming to Maryland, Williams was on the faculty at Howard for more than nine years, Cornell and Brandeis Universities and held the position of Research Associate at Harvard.  She also served as the head of the Congressional Black Caucus' Research Group and had held the position of Associate Director of Research at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, both in Washington DC. 

Williams came to the University of Maryland, Department of Government and Politics in 1991 as an Associate Professor. She served as Acting Director of the Afro-American Studies Program from 1995-1996.  In August 2004 she was awarded Full-Professor in the Department of Government and Politics.  Williams was the author of "The Constraint of Race: Legacies of White Skin Privilege in America" which received the Michael Harrington Best Book Award, the W.E.B. Dubois Best Book Award and named the Best Book of 2004 on Public Policy and Race and Ethnicity awarded by the American Political Science Association's Organized Section on Race, Ethnicity, and Politics.  She was also author of "The Long Struggle for Black Political Empowerment" and co-author with Husband Ralph Gomes for the edited book "Exclusion to Inclusion: The Long Struggle for African American Political Power." 

Williams was a leading analyst of Black political behavior. She served as a consultant on election issues and interpreting election results to a variety of women's groups including the National Women's Political Caucus, the National Black Women's Political Caucus, the Coalition of 100 Black Women, and the women's issue group of the National Black Leadership  Roundtable.  

She has been interviewed by all of the major networks evening news programs, CNN, C-SPAN, MacNeil-Lehrer, Nightline, the Today Show, the three major news weeklies, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and many other prominent news media. 

Williams’ 1992 project entitled "Gender and the Politics of 1992" took the "Year of the Woman" as the starting point of her research.  Her areas of interest were American Politics, Public Policy, and Political Economy. Research interests include race, class, gender and politics; press, politics, and public policy; the American welfare state; urban politics; and public opinion and elections.

• "The Constraint of Race: Legacies of White Skin Privilege in America" (Penn State Univ Press) which received the Michael Harrington Best Book Award, the W.E.B. Dubois Best Book Award and named the Best Book of 2004 on Public Policy and Race and Ethnicity awarded by the American Political Science Association's Organized Section on Race, Ethnicity, and Politics.
   
• "From Exclusion to Inclusion: The Long Struggle for African American Political Power" (Praeger Publishers)

American Politics, Public Policy, and Political Economy. Research interests include race, class, gender and politics; press, politics, and public policy; the American welfare state; urban politics; and public opinion and elections.

• GVPT 100 Principles of Government and Politics
• GVPT 170 American Government
• GVPT 170H (Honors) American Government
• GVPT 170U (College Park Scholars) American Government
• GVPT 359 Topic in Comparative Politics: Inequality and Democracy
• GVPT 399 Politics of the City
• GVPT 399H (Honors) Politics of the City
• GVPT 462/AASP 499U - Urban Politics
• GVPT 479 Seminar in American Politics: Race and Politics
• GVPT 479 Seminar in American Politics: The Politics of Race
• GVPT 479 Seminar in American Politics: Race and Class
• GVPT 828 The Press, Public Opinion, & Politics
• GVPT 859 Selected Topics in Public Policy: American Social Policy
• GVPT 859 Selected Topics in Public Policy: Race, Politics, & Policy
• GVPT 859 Selected Topics in Public Policy: Public Policy of the Welfare State
• GVPT 863 Urban Political Economy
• BSOS 308H (Honors) Contemporary Issues: Interdisciplinary Approaches: Civil Society
• HONR 348 (Honors) Social & Behavioral Sciences: Urban Political Economy