Director of Student Affairs and DEI, and Faculty in Sustainability Management, The Earth Institute, Columbia University
John Williams (M.S. ’15, Ph.D. ’15) is director of student affairs and diversity, equity and inclusion for the graduate programs in Sustainability Management and Sustainability Sciences at The Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York. He leads the student affairs team, manages the admissions process, oversees the fellowship program and acts as the lead student affairs officer for more than 450 graduate students, among other duties. He is also a classroom instructor for the institute’s premier DEI course, Geographies of Environmental Justice & Sustainability.
Additionally, Williams serves on the Social and Behavioral Sciences faculty at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York, teaching history and geography, and is an adjunct assistant professor at Albany State University in Albany, Ga. A member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., Williams serves as the public relations director for its state of Georgia organization. In honor and memory of his “cousin/sister,” he established and serves as the executive director of the Tequela M. Dukes Legacy Foundation. In the five years since the foundation’s launch, it has awarded 10 scholarships to high school seniors, hosted community service events, participated in breast cancer awareness campaigns, and hosted back-to-school drives and other activities.