LUTHER S. WILLIAMS Provost and Vice President for Academic ...

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs,
Dean, Graduate Studies and Research, and
Distinguished Professor of Biology and Director,
Integrative Bioscience Ph. D. Program
Tuskegee University
Phone: 334/725-2336
Fax: 334/725-2332
Email: luther.williams@tuskegee.edu
LUTHER S. WILLIAMS
Prior to joining Tuskegee University as the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs (2006-2009),
Dr. Luther S. Williams served as the William T. Kemper Director of Education and Interpretation at the Missouri
Botanical Garden from August, 2001- December 31, 2005. During that tenure, he designed and, in 2002
launched, the program of the Garden Education Compact, a collaborative effort between the Missouri Botanical
Garden and participating St. Louis City elementary and middle schools focused on inquiry- centered science and
mathematics teacher professional development, laboratory-based instructions and attendant assessment of
student learning outcomes. Prior to that appointment, he concurrently served as visiting scholar at the Payson
Center for International Development and Technology Transfer, Tulane University and Senior Vice President for
Strategic Planning, Bingwa Software Company (September, 1999 through July, 2001).
Dr. Williams served as the Assistant Director of Education and Human Resources, the National Science Foundation,
(NSF) from June, 1990 to September, 1999. The Directorate includes programs bearing on human resource
development, K-12 through the graduate level; pre-college mathematics and science education efforts inclusive
of systemic reform; informal education activities involving science and technology museums, television and other
media; undergraduate science, engineering and mathematics programs; experimental program to stimulate
competitive research (EPSCoR); graduate fellowships and traineeships; faculty awards for women; and
postdoctoral fellowship programs. Prior to his appointment as Assistant Director, Dr. Williams served as Senior
Science Advisor to the Director at the Foundation, 1989-1990.
Dr. Williams has a distinguished record as a scientist, educator, and administrator. From 1970 to 1973, he was
Assistant Professor of Biology at Purdue University, Associate Professor of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) from 1973 to 1974, Associate Professor of Biology,1974-79, Assistant Provost,1976-80,
Director of the Minority Center for Graduate Education.1977-80, and Professor of Biology,1979-80, at Purdue
University; Professor of Biology and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Washington University
1980 to 1983; Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the System-wide Graduate School and
Professor of Biology (held tenured professorship at both the Boulder campus and the Health Sciences Center,
Denver), the University of Colorado from 1983 to 1984; President of Atlanta University 1984 to 1987; and
Special Assistant to the Director, National Institutes of General Medical Sciences, NIH, 1987 to 1988, prior to
becoming Deputy Director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences in 1988.
Prior to and/or concurrent with employment in the federal sector, he held two NIH Career Development
Awards(one each at Purdue University and MIT) , was awarded NIH research grant support for the period of
1969-87, and held an American Cancer Society Research Grant, 1969-73; and served as a member of the
following: the original NIH Recombinant DNA National Advisory Committee,1979-81; the National Institute of
General Medical Sciences/NIH National Advisory Council, 1981-86; the National Biotechnology Policy Board,
the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services/Public Health Services/NIH,1990-94; various NIH research
grant study sections and review committees(e.g., the Microbiology Training Committee, the Minority Access to
Research Career Review Committee, the Microbial Genetics Review Group, the Evaluation Committee, Division of

Research Resources, NIH); and the U. S. Government Task Force on Women, Minorities and the Handicapped in
Science and Technology, the White House, 1987-90. During tenures as Dean of the Graduate School at
Washington University and the University of Colorado, he served as member of the Council of Graduate Schools’
Board and its Committee on the Graduate Record Examination(1981-85) and chaired the attendant Committee
on Minority Graduate Education/ the Educational Testing Service,1983-85. He also served for as a member of
the Health, Safety and Environment Committee for the U. S. Department of Energy National Laboratories/
University of California,1981-87 ; the Advisory Board, Offi ce of Technology Assessment, U. S. Congress,
1985-87; chaired, the Advisory Committee, Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellowship Program for Minorities,
1985-86; was a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on Scientifi c and Technical Manpower,
National Academy of Science 1981-83, the Advisory Screening Committee in Life Sciences, Fulbright-Hays
Fellowships, Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, 1978-81, and the Board of Trustees, Miles
College, 1984-87.He also served as a member of the National Advisory Committee, White House Initiative on
Historically Black Colleges and Universities on Science and Technology, 1986-89 and the Nomination Committee,
DANA Foundation Awards in Health and Education, 1991-95.
As a federal employee, he chaired the White House Biotechnology Science Coordinating Committee, Council on
Competitiveness; served as Vice Chair of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and
Technology’s Committee on Education and Human Resources of the White House Offi ce of Science and
Technology Policy ;and served as Vice Chair of the Offi ce of Science and Technology Policy’s National Science
and Technology Council Committee on Education and Training and chair of its Subcommittee on Excellence in
Science, Mathematics and Engineering Education.
Dr. Williams earned the B.A. degree in biology with distinction from Miles College in 1961, the M.S. degree in
1963 from Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta University), and the Ph.D. degree in microbial physiology in
1968 from Purdue University. He was a NIH predoctoral fellow at Purdue University(1966-68) and an American
Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry at the State University of New York, Stony
Brook, from 1968-1969.
The author of over 70 publications in professional scientifi c journals and more than 20 articles and reports
addressing science, mathematics, engineering and technology education, Dr. Williams, is a member of the
American Society for Microbiology, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is a fellow of the American Academy of
Microbiology, a AAAS Fellow, a fellow of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, and is the recipient of honorary
doctorate of science degrees from Purdue University,1987, University of Louisville, 1992, Capitol College,1996,
Bowie State.
University,1996, Tuskegee University,1997, and the University of the District of Columbia,2000. He received the
Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award in the Senior Executive Service in 1992 and the Presidential Distinguished
Executive Rank Award in the Senior Executive Service in 1993. In 1998, Dr. Williams received the fi rst
William H. Hinton Research Training Award from the American Society for Microbiology and was awarded the
Lacey Science Education Award, the New York Academy of Sciences in 2000. In 1997, he was named
distinguished alumnus of the School of Science, Purdue University; in 1999 was the recipient of the Augustus F.
Hawkins Education Service Award by the National Commission for African American Education ; was inducted into
the Black College Foundation Hall of Fame in 2004; was elected a member of the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity
(ETA chapter) in 2004; received the Trustees Award, the Academy of Science of St. Louis in 2004; elected to the
Board of the George Washington Carver Birthplace Association in 2004; and elected to the St. Louis Community
College Foundation Board in 2005. He is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Science and Technology,
Who’s Who in the Midwest, Men of Achievement, and Outstanding Young Men of America and elected to
Outstanding Educators of America and Outstanding Black Americans.

He was named one of the 50 most important Blacks in science research by Spectrum Magazine in 2005; and
was the recipient of the Catalytic Award for Systemic Change by Quality Education of Minorities, Inc., in 2006.
He served as a member of the National Advisory Council for the National Institute for Minority Health and Health
Disparities, NIH,2007-2010 and was appointed a member of the Council of Councils, Offi ce of the Director,
NIH, in 2009.