john a. powell is the founder and Executive Director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity at the Ohio State University, where he holds the Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties at the Moritz College of Law. Previously he founded and directed the Institute on Race & Poverty at the University of Minnesota Law School. A former National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union who was instrumental in developing state educational adequacy suits, he has written and taught extensively both in the U.S. and around the world.