The Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy at Wayne State University Law School is proud to announce the appointment of Zack Schram as its new Senior Congressional Oversight Fellow. Schram brings to the Center deep institutional knowledge and decades of oversight experience on Capitol Hill.
As Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Schram oversaw some of the Senate’s most consequential oversight efforts. Before that, he served nearly nine years as Senior Counsel to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations under former Chairman; and Levin Center founder; Carl Levin, helping to spearhead bipartisan investigations into critical issues including abusive lending practices, money laundering, financial-system breakdowns, and counterterrorism intelligence failures.
“Zack Schram is among the leading congressional oversight practitioners and experts in Washington,” said Levin Center director Jim Townsend, “and we are thrilled to be able to bring him into this role where he will help to strengthen the practice of evidence-driven inquiry on Capitol Hill and defend key oversight institutions that are under increasing threat.”
At the Levin Center, Schram will join our work on the biannual Congressional Oversight Boot Camps – intensive training sessions designed to equip congressional staff with the tools and skills needed to run rigorous, fact-driven oversight. In addition, he will advise the Center’s legal and policy research agenda and support its ongoing efforts to promote transparency, accountability, and legislative oversight. “Senator Levin’s legacy is as relevant and important now as it has ever been,” said Schram. “I am honored to have this opportunity to support the Levin Center’s critical work advancing and defending the legislative branch’s constitutional authority to conduct oversight and investigations. As I learned from Senator Levin himself, ‘Good government requires good oversight.'”
With Schram on board, the Levin Center significantly expands its capacity to provide expert-level, practitioner-focused training and thought leadership aimed at ensuring that government at all levels keeps its promises.