Williams Visit to Focus on Diversity, Inclusion

10/27/2017 

Damon A. Williams Ph.D, an expert on diversity and inclusion, will speak at SUNY Cortland on Thursday, Nov. 2.

Williams’ Inclusive Excellence Scholar Residency includes an open community forum from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. in the Corey Union Function Room. The event is sponsored by the Institutional Equity and Inclusion Office.

On his personal website, Williams lists his priorities for a more inclusive future. His main areas of focus include empowering the next generation, leveling the playing field for female participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and using technology for creative and inspiring means, rather than using it to bully others.

Williams is the senior vice president and chief education officer for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He previously served as associate vice chancellor, vice provost, chief diversity officer and member of the educational leadership and policy analysis faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he founded the division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement.

He is the author of two books, Strategic Diversity Leadership: Activating Change and Transformation in Higher Education and the Chief Diversity Officer: Strategy, Structure and Change Management, which he co-wrote with Katrina C. Wade-Golden.

Williams’ work has been recognized by the NAACP and he received the Inclusive Excellence Award for Leadership from the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education.

In addition to his work with the Boys & Girls Clubs, he serves on the American Council on Education Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board, the University of California, Berkeley Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board, the Gallaudet University Diversity Advisory and the National Diversity Council Executive Board.