DRAGON SPOTLIGHT

Dr. Kimberly S. Adams is a professor of political science and the managing director of Adams Political Research & Consulting. A longtime political activist who worked as an intern on Capitol Hill in two Congressional offices in the mid-1990’s. She has participated in intensive campaign training seminars on women and politics and grassroots mobilization. She is a veteran of numerous federal, state and local candidate and issue campaigns. In 2021, she was appointed to serve on the board of directors for the American Association for University Women (AAUW). In 2020, she was elected to serve on the national board for the National Organization for Women (NOW).

Dr. Adams' areas of teaching include American National Government, Women and Politics, Racial and Ethnic Politics, Political Parties, Political Communication, the Legislative Process, Senior Seminar, and Campaigns and Elections. Over the years, she has served as a faculty leader for the Osgood Center for International Studies and the Washington Center’s Presidential Inauguration and National Convention Programs. Early in her career, Adams taught American Government for the Junior Statesman Program on the campuses of Georgetown University and Yale University.

Dr. Adams received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Political Science at the University of Southern Mississippi and her Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Mississippi. She has a track record of success in publication and public speaking and served as a political analyst on national and local news programs. She has presented research and given over 95 talks domestically and internationally on women, race, and politics. She has presented her research at the Salzburg Seminar in Salzburg, Austria; the Oxford Round Table in Oxford, England; the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, in Australia; and has given a series of lectures at the University of Rijeka in Croatia. Other countries include Portugal, Spain, Greece, Hungary, Czech Republic, Italy, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Her most recent presentation on the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act of 2022, was given at the Oxford Women’s Leadership Symposium’s virtual conference in March.

In November 2021, Dr. Adams received a certificate of completion on Mediation and Conflict Management from Harvard Law School’s Executive Education Program on Negotiation (PON). She is a member of numerous organizations including the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, the American News Women’s Club, the National Congress of Black Women, Inc, the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, the NAACP, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Dr. Adams is a charter member of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and serves on the national political action committee for the National Organization for Women (NOW PAC).

Adams graduated from R.H. Watkins high school in 1991, where she served as the student body president and a member of the basketball team. She is the daughter of Bonita Adams Seals and Richard M. Brown. and the maternal granddaughter of Hilda T. McGowen, and paternal granddaughter of Lauren and Katherine Brown, all of Laurel.