He leads the UC Berkeley Othering & Belonging Institute[1] (formerly known as Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society[2]) and holds the Robert D. Haas Chancellor's Chair in Equity and Inclusion, Professor of Law and Professor of African American Studies and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
[7] powell was previously the executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University.
In 1977, Powell received an International Human Rights Fellowship from the University of Minnesota to work in Africa, where he served as a consultant to the government of Mozambique.
He is a co-founder of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) and serves on the boards of several national organizations including Tides.
powell has proposed that white identity was forged in the 17th century in order to police social hierarchy in the Thirteen Colonies of pre-independence America.