The following is a Press Release from the United States Mint announcing Dr. Christopher Capozzola has been appointed to the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee as a Specially Qualified member in American History. Dr. Capozzola will be sworn in at the next CCAC meeting.
The United States Mint (Mint) announces the appointment of Dr. Christopher Capozzola to a four-year term on the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) as the member Specially Qualified in American history. He replaces Dr. Dean Kotlowski, who has served on the CCAC since 2018.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Adeyemo appointed Dr. Capozzola on May 29, 2023, and he will be formally sworn in at the next public CCAC meeting.
Capozzola is Professor of History and Senior Associate Dean for Open Learning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At MIT, he teaches courses in political and legal history, war and the military, and the history of international migration. In 2018, he was named a MacVicar Faculty Fellow, MIT’s highest honor for undergraduate teaching.
Capozzola is the author of Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen (2008) and Bound by War: How the United States and the Philippines Built America’s First Pacific Century (2020). During the centennial of the First World War, he co-curated The Volunteers: Americans Join World War I, 1914-1919, a multi-platform public history initiative, and he currently serves as an Academic Adviser for the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project. A former middle school history teacher, he works closely with secondary school instructors, and has served on the Development Committee for the College Board Advanced Placement exam in U.S. History.
In his current role at MIT Open Learning, he oversees MIT’s open online education offerings for learners on campus and around the world, including OpenCourseWare, MITx, and MicroMasters, as well as the Digital Learning Lab, Digital Learning in Residential Education, and MIT Video Productions.
About the CCAC
The CCAC was established by an Act of Congress in 2003. It advises the Secretary of the Treasury on theme or design proposals relating to circulating coinage, bullion coinage, Congressional Gold Medals, and other medals produced by the United States Mint. The CCAC also makes commemorative coin recommendations to the Secretary and advises on the events, persons, or places to be commemorated, as well as on the mintage levels and proposed designs.
The CCAC is subject to the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury. The United States Mint is responsible for providing necessary and appropriate administrative support, technical services, and advice.
The CCAC submits an annual report to Congress and the Secretary of the Treasury, describing its activities and providing recommendations.
About the United States Mint
Congress created the United States Mint in 1792, and the Mint became part of the Department of the Treasury in 1873. As the Nation’s sole manufacturer of legal tender coinage, the Mint is responsible for producing circulating coinage for the Nation to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint also produces numismatic products, including proof, uncirculated, and commemorative coins; Congressional Gold Medals; silver and bronze medals; and silver and gold bullion coins. Its numismatic programs are self-sustaining and operate at no cost to taxpayers.