WILLIAM A. KEYES IV, PH.D

Bill Keyes hitchhiked from North Carolina to Washington, DC in 1978 to pursue a dream of working in public policy. He realized that dream by working in a staff position at the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress and as a White House Senior Policy Advisor.

He is proud to be the founder and president of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship. The organization selects some of America’s best and brightest African American male college students for an intensive two-summer program in Washington, DC. Among the young men the Institute has served since 2003 are Rhodes Scholars, Fulbright Scholars, Truman Scholars, Udall Scholars, and the recipients of numerous other prestigious academic honors. They have earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa and Golden Key International. They have earned PhD’s, MD’s, JD’s, MBA’s, and other degrees. And they are working as pastors, teachers, college professors, entrepreneurs, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, doctors, and a judge.

Awards Keyes has received for his work in education include the Mac A. Stewart Distinguished Award for Service by the Todd A. Bell National Resource Center at Ohio State University and the Dr. Asa G. Hilliard Model of Excellence Award from the College Board. He also received the Warrior Award at the 2017 International Colloquium on Black Males in Education.

Keyes has also received numerous awards from his alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was tapped for the Order of the Golden Fleece, the most prestigious honorary society at UNC and the oldest university honor society of its kind in the nation. And, as a doctoral student, he was inducted into the Frank Porter Graham Honor Society. In October 2019, he was presented with the prestigious Harvey E. Beech Outstanding Alumni Award at UNC’s Black Alumni Reunion and in April 2022, he was presented the Distinguished Service Medal by the General Alumni Association. Last fall, he received the William Richard Davie Award, the highest award the Board of Trustees bestows. Keyes is the only person in the 227-year history of the University of North Carolina to earn a PhD while serving on the board of trustees.

Bill Keyes is an Archon in the Beta Nu Boulé in northern Virginia and designed their social action program, which is similar to the one we have at Gamma Zeta.