Robert Adams Jr.

Robert Adams holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. He focuses on the themes of religion, education, and identity in Africa and the African Diaspora. Dr. Adams has worked for the last three decades in higher education, research think tanks, and philanthropic foundations. Robert has conducted fieldwork in Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Mozambique, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, and the United States. In 2008, he taught at the Catholic University of Sao Paulo as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar in the history department.

Currently, he serves as the Senior Vice President for Programs at the NEA Foundation in Washington, D.C. He oversees programs for individual educators, including professional development opportunities, educator collaboration, and small grants to fund new courses, including the Global Learning Fellowship and Grants to Educators programs. At the Foundation, Robert leverages his experience to help educators become leaders in the classroom and beyond.