Clarence G. Williams , an innovator in higher education for three decades and a recipient of a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and Counseling Psychology from the University of Connecticut (1972) is Special Assistant to the President, and Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
Dr. Williams received the MA degree from Hampton University in 1967, and BA from North Carolina Central University in 1961. He attended Harvard University and Cornell University, 1975 and 1965 respectively.
Dr. Williams joined the administration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972 as Assistant Dean of the Graduate School. He was promoted to Special Assistant to the President and Chancellor for Minority Affairs in 1974. In 1980-1982 he held the position of Acting Director of the Office of Minority Education, and in 1984-1997, he assumed additional responsibilities as Assistant Equal Opportunity Officer, along with a broader scope of the Special Assistant position, to serve the MIT community as an ombudsperson. He has been designated as a neutral and impartial complaint-handler who is charged to take into account the rights of every person who may be involved in any given case or concern, and also the welfare of the Institute. Since 1992, he has been teaching a race relations and diversity course in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning.
He has held administrative positions at the University of Connecticut--Counseling and Testing Center (1969-1972) and Teaching Assistant (1970-1972); and Hampton University--Assistant Dean of Students and a member of the faculty (1964-1968); and as a high school teacher in Williamsburg, VA, (1961-1964).
He has initiated and coordinated several National Conferences and has numerous publications, including Reflections of the Dream 1975-1994 - Twenty Years Celebrating the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His second book, Technology and the Dream: Reflections on the Black Experience at MIT, 1941-1999, was published in January 2001. It consists of transcripts of oral history interviews of former students, black faculty, administrators and staff, and also nonblack faculty and administrators who have had an impact on blacks at MIT. This book received national and international recognition (Associated Press/Featured articles) in numerous publications. He is currently working on his third book tentatively titled, Search for Identity: A History of the Black Experience at MIT, 1865-2000.
Dr. Williams has lectured widely on the issues and challenges of our society, specifically on diversity and racial and cultural differences, in colleges, high schools, and national and international organizations. He stresses an all inclusive environment as it relates to the nation's diversified population in the technological and scientific work force in the 2000s. He was a collaborator at the International Conference on Social Inclusion, Innovation and the New Economy, National Institute of Working Life - Stockholm, Sweden (May 2002).
He also maintains involvement with precollege students and parents through participation as a member of numerous Boards in Boston and Cambridge schools, and community organizations. The missions of these boards are to address student achievement and success in the work force in the 21st century. Williams is a member of several local and national organizations.
He is a native of Goldsboro, NC. He and his wife Mildred (Cogdell) Williams have two sons, two daughters-in-law and one granddaughter, Cameron.