Honorary Degrees

C. Brian Williams is a native of Houston, Texas and a graduate of Howard University. Williams first learned to step as an Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. – Beta chapter member in the spring of 1989. While living in southern Africa, he began to research the percussive dance tradition of stepping, exploring the many sides of this exciting, yet under-recognized American art form and founded Step Afrika! in 1994. Williams has performed, lectured and taught in Europe, Central and South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean and throughout the United States. Through Williams’ leadership, stepping has evolved into one of America’s newest cultural exports and inspired the designation of Step Afrika! as Washington, D.C.’s official “Cultural Ambassador.”

In 2022, the National Endowment for the Arts designated Williams as a National Heritage Fellow, the nation’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts. He is the recipient of numerous artist fellowships, including the World Alive! Distinguished Artist Award by Arts Emerson; the Mayor’s Arts Award for Visionary Leadership from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities; Distinguished Arts Award from the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts; and the Pola Nirenska Award for Contemporary Achievement in Dance. He is also featured in "Soulstepping," the first book to document the history of stepping. He also earned the Mayor’s Art Award for Innovation in the Arts and has led the company to multiple Metro DC Dance Awards for “Outstanding New Work,” “Excellence in Stage Design/Multimedia” and “Outstanding Group Performance.” Williams has been cited as a “civic/community visionary” by NV Magazine, a “nation builder” by the National Black Caucus of State Legislators and a “minority business leader” by the Washington Business Journal. His work is featured prominently at the Smithsonian Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

As executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, Gina F. Adams is responsible for directing the international and domestic legal, security, and government affairs for FedEx Corporation and its subsidiaries, which includes ensuring that global business activities are conducted in compliance with international, federal, state and local government regulations. She is also a member of the executive committee, a group responsible for planning and executing the company’s strategic initiatives.

Before assuming her current role in 2024, Adams served as corporate vice president of government and regulatory affairs, where she was instrumental in shaping and promoting the policy interests of FedEx while working closely with government officials, policymakers, and industry associations on issues related to domestic and international commerce, infrastructure and transportation. She joined FedEx in 1992 as a managing attorney for international regulatory affairs and is a four-time recipient of the FedEx Five Star Award, the company’s highest employee achievement award.

Adams received her Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs from American University, a JD from Howard University School of Law and an LL.M in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University Law Center. She also holds an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Trinity Washington University. She began her professional career in the Attorney Honors Program at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Adams is an active member of the community and serves on numerous non-profit and business sector boards, including Chair of the American University Board of Governors, Vice Chair of the Board of the Economic Club of Washington, the Howard University School of Law Board of Visitors, and the National Air and Space Museum Board.

In 2018, Adams was inducted into the D.C. Hall of Fame and honored by the American Association of Airport Executives Foundation with a permanently endowed scholarship awarded yearly to female students enrolled in accredited aviation programs. She was recognized in 2022 by the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., with the inaugural Arne M. Sorenson Excellence in Leadership Award for strengthening ties between the local business, civic, diplomatic and philanthropic communities.

Accomplished journalist and award-winning author Wil Haygood grew up in Columbus, Ohio and entered Miami University in 1972. As in high school, Haygood was determined to earn a spot on Miami's basketball team. During the 1973–1974 season, he was a proud Miami University junior varsity team member. He graduated from Miami in 1976 with a degree in urban planning. Still, exhibiting a knack for storytelling early on, he began in journalism at the Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette and moved to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette two years later.

In 1984, Haygood became a staff writer at the Boston Globe, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and remained there for several years before becoming a writer for the Washington Post in 2002. As an investigative reporter, Haygood traveled all over the world, including France, Germany, India and South Africa, where he witnessed Nelson Mandela's liberation from prison and Somalia, where he was kidnapped and ransomed by rebels.

In 2008, while working at the Washington Post, Haygood wrote his article "A Butler Well Served by This Election," which became the basis for the 2013 award-winning motion picture "The Butler," directed by Lee Daniels and starring Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey.

Haygood has authored seven nonfiction books, including prize-winning and critically acclaimed biographies of 20th-century figures: "Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America," "King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell Jr.," "In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr.," and "Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson." His other books include "Tigerland," "Two on the River," about a 2,500-mile journey down the Mississippi River, and "The Haygoods of Columbus."

Among his journalism honors are the National Headliner Award, the New England Associated Press Award, the Sunday Magazine Editors Award, the Paul L. Myhre Single Story Award, the Virginia Press Association Award, and the National Association of Black Journalists Award for feature writing and foreign reporting.