Executive Committee Member
The Honorable Teta V. Banks serves as National Chair of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA). She is the first person of African descent to hold this position in UNA-USA’s 75-year history. Ms. Banks leads the organization’s 20,000 members and 200 chapters in connecting American communities to the mission and work of the United Nations and advocating for US funding for UN agencies.
Ms. Banks is an educator, writer, civil rights advocate and diplomat. Originally from Monrovia, Liberia, she spent her childhood in Detroit, Michigan where her parents were civic and religious leaders as well as educators who were directly involved in the Civil Rights Movement and were personal colleagues of such historic leaders as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mrs. Rosa Parks.
She also serves on the faculty at Prairie View A&M University of the Texas A&M University System and is Chair of the Humanities Program. She has served on several university faculties, including Spelman College, Howard University, Washington University, and Rutgers University where she served as Interim Director of the African American Studies Program. Banks was appointed as a liaison for the White House Initiative on Black Colleges and Universities and continues to work on and research issues regarding Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Ms. Banks serves as consultant to the Embassy of the Republic of Liberia and is the Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Liberia in Houston. In this role she has assisted in the rebuilding of this war-torn nation, including serving as a member of the Advisory Council of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (the first of its kind to operate throughout the Diaspora).
Ms. Banks was educated at Wellesley College, Howard University, Wayne State University, and Oxford University.