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(Washington, April 15) - On May 5, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) welcomes Dr. Abiodun Williams as Vice President of its Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention. Williams brings a combination of experience in the classroom and on the ground that makes him uniquely suited to head this primary division of USIP.

"The U.S. Institute of Peace is helping professionalize the field of conflict management, and Abiodun Williams will lead our work in the best kind of conflict—the one that is prevented," said Amb. Richard H. Solomon, president of USIP.

Dr. Williams comes to the Institute from the National Defense University, where he served as Associate Dean of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Before returning to this academic setting, he spent 13 years in a variety of assignments at the United Nations (UN). Most recently, Williams spent six years as Director of the Strategic Planning Unit in the Executive Office of the UN Secretary General, where he advised two Secretaries-General and managed relations with the UN’s international research and training institutes.

Prior to his New York assignment, Williams served on UN peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haiti and Macedonia. He also held faculty positions at Georgetown University, Rochester University and Tufts University. In addition to numerous articles and other publications, Williams is the author of two books: Preventing War: The United Nations and Macedonia (2000), and Many Voices: Multilateral Negotiations in the World Arena (1992).

USIP’s Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, which Williams will lead, manages the Institute’s prevention portfolio in places such as Iran, Pakistan, the Korean Peninsula, Lebanon and Zimbabwe. It also conducts research, identifies best practices, develops new tools for preventing violent conflict and supports related training and education efforts.

Trish Thomson, USIP’s executive vice president, said, "Abi’s understanding of international organizations, coupled with his practical, boots-on-the-ground experience, will be a great asset to the work of the Institute."