Kenneth L. Marcus ’91 has been named staff director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, an independent, bipartisan agency charged with monitoring and protecting civil rights. Recently appointed by President George W. Bush, Marcus serves as the agency’s senior executive officer and directs the work authorized by the agency’s eight-member panel of commissioners.
Marcus previously served as deputy assistant secretary of education for enforcement at the U.S. Department of Education, and beginning in 2003, possessed the authority of the assistant secretary of education for civil rights. He was the principal civil rights adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Education and oversaw the resolution of some 5,000 civil rights cases annually in 12 enforcement offices. He also was a commissioner on the Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Commission. Prior to working at the Department of Education, he held the post of general deputy assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.