Yale Schwarzman Center Welcomes U.S. Sports Envoy for Skateboarding Dr. Neftalie Williams as Visiting Fellow in Race, Culture & Community

NEW HAVEN, Conn., June 29, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The first U.S. Sports Envoy for Skateboarding, Neftalie Williams, PhD, recently accepted a role at Yale University's new center for student life and the arts. Over the next year, Williams will be conducting research and forging connections through Yale Schwarzman Center as the organization's Visiting Fellow in Race, Culture & Community.

During his YSC fellowship, Williams, a sociologist and USC Provost's Post-Doctoral Scholar at the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, will help develop a cultural context and approach for the Center's programs that are rooted within New Haven and its culturally diverse communities.

Williams explains, "Skateboarding and action sports are a cultural lens for investigating issues of race, diversity, identity and youth empowerment. They also provide a way to broker new conversations that break down cultural barriers and provide opportunities for learning and mentorship among people from all walks of life."

Williams's "Beyond the Board" study, in partnership with USC and The Skatepark Project and The Tony Hawk Foundation, is the first national effort to study the impact of skateboarding on young people and their educational and career trajectories. As the YSC Visiting Fellow, Williams will explore primary sources related to relevant YSC-supported projects to date to develop scholarship in peer-reviewed journals and popular media. He also will contribute to the YSC's Finding a Line: Skateboarding, Hip-Hop and Community, a skateboarding festival now in development for 2022-23.

"As a scholar, artist, activist, diplomat and skateboarder, Neftalie breaks boundaries by blending identity, arts and sports, making him an exciting addition to the YSC community," said Garth Ross, executive director, Yale Schwarzman Center. "We look forward to incorporating his findings into our continued work in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at Yale—and sharing those findings with New Haven and communities across the country."

As the first Sports Envoy for Skateboarding for the U.S. Department of State, Williams introduced the concept of skateboarding as a tool for cultural diplomacy in both theory and practice. He aided the U.S. Embassy in the Netherlands in integrating young Syrian refugees into Holland. In Cambodia, his skate diplomacy efforts created new engagement between the U.S. embassy, Cambodian youth, and academic and cultural institutions. As former Chairman of Cuba Skate, Williams and the Cuba Skate team created fruitful cultural exchanges between Cuban youth and American professionals in Havana.

Expanding the public dialogue around diversity and inclusion, Williams has been featured in the New York Times and has upcoming book projects with Artisan Books and UC Press. He founded "The Nation Skate," a series featuring public panels, lectures, skateboarding demonstrations, and media that explores the relationship between race, diversity, and diplomacy through skateboarding, academia, and popular culture. He co-founded the College Skateboarding Educational Foundation (CSEF), a non-profit dedicated to creating scholarships for young skateboarders to pursue higher education. He also serves on the boards of The Skatepark Project (formerly the Tony Hawk Foundation), Skateistan, and McKinnon Center for Global Affairs at Occidental College. Additionally, Williams chairs the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for USA Skateboarding, a member organization of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. For more information visit http://www.neftalie.com.

About Yale Schwarzman Center
Yale Schwarzman Center (YSC) is transformational for Yale in providing, for the first time, a center for student life and the arts at the historic heart of the Yale University campus. YSC produces digital programs and collaborative arts experiences geared toward audiences within and beyond the Yale campus. Learn more at Yale Schwarzman Center and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @yale_schwarzman.

Media Contact

Janette Baxter, Big Voice Communications on behalf of Yale Schwarzman Center, 203-232-5112, [email protected]

SOURCE Yale Schwarzman Center