Draft:James Herbert Williams

James Herbert Williams (born November 4, 1950) is an American professor of social work whose research and scholarship focuses on K-12 academic performance, youth violence, delinquency prevention, adolescent substance use, race and gender differences, and mental health service needs and utilization patterns in urban schools.

Williams is an Arizona Centennial Professor of Social Welfare at the Arizona State University School of Social Work; director of the ASU Center for Child Well-Being and program manager of the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation at the New York Community Trust, which supports research on understanding and resolving the problems facing families, individuals, and communities. He previously served as a Foundation Professor of Youth and Diversity in the ASU School of Social Work.

Prior to joining ASU, Williams served as professor, dean, Distinguished Emil M. Sunley Endowed Chair, and Milton Morris Endowed Chair at the University of Denver.

His funded research has included grants from the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development; the National Institute of Mental Health; the Danforth Foundation; the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease; and the U.S. departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services. Williams has published widely in the area of health disparities, disease prevention among African American women, juvenile delinquency, and conflict and human security in Northern Kenya.

Early Life and education

Williams' parents: Willie Herbert Williams and Ada Jane Williams

A third grade school photo of James Herbert Williams.

Williams was born in Magnolia, a small farming town located in Duplin County in southeastern North Carolina. His father, Willie Herbert Williams (1921-1956), was a World War II veteran and farmer. William's father was a sharecropper, a common practice for Black men during this time period. The sharecropping system played a major role in North Carolina's post slavery plantation economy. His mother, Ada Jane Williams (1919 – 1960), was a stay at home mother. Williams is extremely proud that his mother was a high school graduate and his parents owned their home, accomplishments that were highly unusual for Southern Blacks. He spent his formative years growing up with Jim Crow laws that forced racial segregation of services and facilities including the separation of public restrooms, drinking fountains, medical services, and schools.

After the death of his parents, James and his siblings move to Cleveland, Ohio in 1960 to live with their maternal grandmother, Rose A. Williams Johnson (1898 – 1977). During his youth, James returned to Magnolia each summer to be with his paternal grandmother, other family members, and childhood friends. James graduated from John Hay High School in Cleveland, Ohio in 1969.

Williams enrolled at Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 1972. Three years later, he graduated from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts with a master’s degree in Social Work.  Williams returned to school in 1989 and attained a master’s in Public Administration from the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He earned his doctorate in Social Welfare from the University of Washington School of Social Work in Seattle, Washington in 1994.

Career

With academic training in social work, social welfare, and public administration, Williams spent 20 years of practice in public health and mental health services with a focus on children and adolescents. The majority of his practice experience has been with ethnic minorities and families challenged by economic hardships. Over the years it became evident to Williams that historically, African-Americans bear a disproportionate share of the nation’s social ills such as health, education, crime, and issues of social control.

James Herbert Williams at a ceremony naming him the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity at George Warren Brown School of Social Work.

After earning his PhD., Williams served as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Washington School of Social Work, University of Washington in 1994. He became an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in Saint Louis, MO from 1995 – 2000. He earned tenure as an Associate Professor of Social Work and became Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work in 2000. He was named E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity and Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs at George Warren Brown School of Social Work in 2001.

Williams returned to his alma mater as a Visiting Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Washington School of Social Work in Seattle in 2004. He was also a member of the Social Development Research Group at the school. Williams later served as a Visiting Professor at the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI in 2004.

From 2002 through 2006, Williams taught at Washington University’s George Warren Brown School of Social Work in Saint Louis as the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity. He served as the school’s Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2002 to 2005.  He became assistant to the Chancellor for Urban Community Initiatives at Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO from 2004 to 2006. He also served as Associate Dean for the Master’s Program at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work from 2005 to 2006.

He was also named Foundation Professor of Youth and Diversity at the School of Social Work in the College of Public Service & Community Solutions at Arizona State University in Phoenix, AZ from 2006 to 2007. He also served as an Affiliate Professor at the School of Public Affairs at the ASU College of Public Service & Community Solutions during that time.

Williams at a University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work graduation ceremony in Durango, CO

Williams was named Professor of Social Work and Dean of the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver in Denver, CO in 2007. In 2010, he was also named the Milton Morris Endowed Chair of the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work. In 2016, Williams was awarded the title Dean Emeritus of the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work. He served as a Professor and the Distinguished Emil M. Sunley Endowed Chair of the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver in 2016 to 2017. Williams returned to Arizona where he served as Visiting Professor at the School of Social Work in what was renamed the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions at Arizona State University in Phoenix in 2016. He was also named Interim Director of the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center in the ASU School of Social Work from 2016 to 2019. Williams served as the school’s director from 2017 to 2021. He was appointed as the Arizona Centennial Professor of Social Welfare Services at the ASU School of Social Work in 2017 and continues to hold this endowed professorship.

Williams was a Visiting Professor at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw, Poland as part of the Erasmus+: European Union Programme for Education in 2019. That year he accepted a position as Distinguished Professor in the School of Sociology at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, where he served until 2021.

He served as Interim Associate Director for Doctoral Education at the ASU School of Social Work in Phoenix from 2020 to 2021 and was named Director of the ASU Center for Child Well-Being at the ASU School of Social Work in 2022. He continues to serve as Arizona Centennial Professor of Social Welfare at the school.

Research

Williams research primarily focuses on the intersection of race with key substantive areas of youth development and other social issues affecting African Americans with the goal of promoting more effective practice methods in African American communities.  

William’s scholarly agenda is based in both public health (risk and resiliency) and mental health (treatment and co-morbidity). His work is both conceptual and theoretical in identifying risk, protection and resiliency for delinquency and violence, understanding race differences in antisocial behaviors, the over representation of African American males in the criminal justice system, health promotion and disease prevention, mental health service needs and utilization patterns in majority African American schools, academic achievement, community intervention strategies and social issues of the African American community.  Williams fields of specialization include:

• Health Disparities
• Social and Sustainable Development
• Human Security
• Global Health Risk
• Prevention Science
• Juvenile Delinquency
• Mental Health Services in Public Schools

Recognition and Awards

Williams has served in numerous leadership capacities in the field of social work, delivered several keynote lectures, and has received numerous awards and distinctions for his work. Among them:

• In 2001, Williams was named the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at the Washington University, St. Louis.

Williams was named the Milton Morris Endowed Chair at the University of Denver. Pictured to William's left is Greg Kvistad and his daughter Kimberly Hardy. To his right is William's sister Rose Williams Smith and Robert Coombe.

• In 2006, Williams was named the Foundation Professor of Youth and Diversity at the Arizona State University School of Social Work.
• From  2007 to 2010, he served the  Society for Social Work and Research as Vice President-Elect, Vice President, Conference Chair, and Past Vice President.
• In 2009, Williams was an Invited Expert Participant for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in Nairobi, Kenya.
• Williams delivered the Provost’s Lecture at the University of Denver in 2009.
• He was named to the Milton Morris Endowed Chair at the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver in 2010.
• In 2010, Williams delivered the Annual O’Leary Lecture at the College of Social Work at The Ohio State University.
• Williams served as the President of the National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work from 2011 – 2014.

• In 2011, he received the Clinical Social Work Advocate Award from the Colorado Society for Clinical Social Work.

Williams stands with Edwina Uehara and Richard Catalano Jr. after receiving the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Washington School of Social Work in 2013.

• He was given the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the School of Social Work at University of Washington in 2013.

• The School for Social Work, Smith College awarded Williams the Day-Garret Award for outstanding contributors to professional social work in 2013.
• Williams delivered the 2013 Summer Commencement Address at the University of Denver.
• He was an Invited Participant at the 2013 Council on Social Work Education White House Briefing on the social determinants of health held at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
• From 2013 – 2018, Williams served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Social Work Research.
• Williams delivered the Diversity Lecture at the School of Social Work at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI in 2015.
• From 2015 - 2019, Williams served as President-elect, President, and Past President of the Society for Social Work and Research.
• Williams served as Chair of the National Advisory Committee of the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation in 2016.

Williams shakes hands with Colorado US Senator John Hickenlooper when the latter was Governor of Colorado at the 2012 fundraising gala for the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work's Bridge Project.

• In 2016, he was inducted as a "Fellow" of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.
• Williams was inducted as a "Fellow" of the Society for Social Work and Research in 2016.
• In 2016, he was named the Distinguished Emil M. Sunley Endowed Chair at the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver.
• Williams received the Ambassador Philip D. and Eleanor G. Winn Community Service Award from the Bridge Project, Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver in 2016.
• He was named Dean Emeritus of the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver in 2016.
• In the Fall of 2016, Williams was named the Arizona Centennial Professor of Social Welfare Services at the School of Social Work, Arizona State University.
• In 2018, Williams gave the Young Zen Lecture at East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai, China.
• Williams delivered the Shanti K. Khinduka Lecture in Social Development at the 21st ICSD International Conference of Strengthening Social Development to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in 2019.

Books

Abrams, L. S., Crewe, S. E., Dettlaff, A., & Williams, J. H. (Eds.). Social work, white supremacy, and racial justice: Reckoning with our history, interrogating our present, reimagining our future. New York: Oxford University Press.

Barth, R. P., Messing, J. T., Shanks, T. R., & Williams, J. H. (Eds.) (2022).  Grand challenges for social work and society: Milestones achieved and opportunities ahead. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bent-Goodley, T., Williams, J. H., Teasley, M. L., & Gorin, S. H. (Eds.) (2019). Grand challenges for society: Evidence-based social work practice. Washington, DC: NASW Press.

Herrenkohl, T. I., Aisenberg, E., Williams, J. H., & Jenson, J. M. (2011).  Violence in context:  Current evidence on risk, protection, and prevention.  New York: Oxford University Press.

Kumssa, A., Williams, J. H., & Jones, J. F.  (2011). Conflict and Human Security in Africa: Kenya in Perspective. Palgrave MacMillan Press

Personal life

Williams met his husband, Randall Mark Johnson, while attending a performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Williams lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his husband Randall Mark Johnson. He has six siblings: sisters Mary Catherine Watkins, Willie Rose Smith (1947-2013), and Ada Marie Pierce and brothers Daniel O’Neil Williams (1954-1997), Jerry Davis Williams, and Gary Michael James. Williams has one daughter, Kimberly Renee Hardy; two grandsons, Christopher Matthew Grimsley and Marco Alexander Grimsley, and one granddaughter Jorryn Adrika Skye Hardy. He has seven great grandsons: Marques Marlowe Grimsley, Micah Malik Grimsley, Moses Mason Grimsley, Malakai Matthew Grimsley, Mateo Mykal Grimsley, Myles Maximiliano Grimsley, and Messiah Macario Grimsley.