Specific Pioneering Contributions
James Herbert Williams, PhD, MSW, has been a groundbreaking social worker who has made numerous contributions to the discipline. After working for 17 years as a social worker in a variety of capacities (e.g. medical social worker, school social worker, maternal/child health social worker, HIV/AIDS outreach worker), he earned his PhD and began his distinguished career as a social work scholar. During his career he has held numerous important leadership positions that have helped shaped the direction of the discipline of social work, contributed numerous innovations to the discipline of social work through his research, and led several large schools of social work.
As a national leader, he has served in leadership positions of most of the important national academic social work organizations and thus has had a big part in shaping the discipline of social work in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For example, he has served as both the President and Vice-President of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), the President of National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work, the Treasurer of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, a member of the Executive Committee of the Grand Challenges for Social Work, a member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Social Work Education, a member of the Board of Directors of the Consortium of Social Science Associations, a member of the Advisory Board for the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy (CRISP), and Vice President of the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research (IASWR). These are just some of his national leadership activities – there are many more. For most of the above organizations, he not only served in top leadership roles, but also various task forces, commissions or subcommittees within these organizations, ranging from serving as a member of the Commission for Diversity and Social and Economic Justice, Co-chaired the Development Task Force for the Center for Diversity and Social and Economic Justice, the Commission of Educational Policy, the Board of Accreditation, and a member of the Advisory Board for the Katherine A. Kendall Institute for International Social Work Education for CSWE to the Conference Chair of the 2009 SSWR Conference. He also chaired the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation at the New York Community Trust. As a long-time member of NASW, his leadership activities at NASW are extensive as well, including serving on various committees (e.g. The ANSWER Coalition for NASW, NASW International Committee, NASW Book Committee). He has been called upon by NASW for his thought leadership, such as being an invited participant of the NASW co-sponsored Social Work Congress in 2010, an invited participating of the NASW Think Tank on “Investing in the Social Work Workforce” in 2011, an invited facilitator of the NASW Think on Advanced Practice Doctorates in 2013. He was a presenter at the CSWE-White House Briefing "Addressing the Social Determinants of Health in a New Era: The Role of Social Work Education," in 2013. Williams was integrally involved with ushering in many of the new directions in social work education and research, ranging from helping to shape and implement the Grand Challenges for Social Work to refocusing our national organizations towards an emphasis on inclusion and anti-racism. As a pioneering Black social work leader, he also has served as mentor to the next generation of Black leaders, such as through participating as leader in the Black Administrators, Researchers and Scholars in Social Work (BARS).
While his national leadership is enormously extensive and groundbreaking, he also has been a leading social work researcher. In his career he has published five books and more than 100 articles focusing on human security and economic sustainability, sustainable development, health promotion and disease prevention, behavioral health disparities and health equity, adolescent violence and substance use, mental health services for African American children, disproportionate minority confinement of African American youth in the juvenile justice system, school safety, and positive youth development. He also brought in more than $15 million dollars of funding to support his research projects nationally and internationally.
As Editor-in-Chief of one of the premiere social work research journals, Social Work Research, he also shaped the discipline with his regular editorials on a wide range of important topics (he also served on editorial boards of 8 other journals). His extensive knowledge of the discipline has led to a broad range of national and international consultations, ranging from serving on an expert panel on sustainable development strategies for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs to serving as an expert participant on the mental health needs of youth of color in the juvenile justice system at the Inter-American Institute for Youth Justice to serving as a consultant for multiple nonprofit local agencies in St. Louis, Phoenix, Seattle, Denver and other cities. He has often been invited for international keynote lectures, such as the Shanti K. Khinduka Lecture in Social Development at the ICSD International Conference in Indonesia, the Taiwan Association of Social Work Education Annual conference, the China University of Political Science and Law, the Young Zen Lecture, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China. the International Social Work Conference on Human Security and Sustainable Development in Botswana, and the International Disaster and Risk Conference (IDRC) and One Health Conference, Global Risk Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to name just a few. He most recently has served as a visiting scholar at National Taipei University and National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, and he has just been named a Fulbright Specialist. Professor Williams has been recognized for his research through many awards, and he has been inducted as a Fellow in the American Association of Social Work and Social Welfare and the Society for Social Work and Research.
Finally, Williams has also been a trailblazing leader at two leading schools of social work. Most recently, Williams was the director of the Arizona State University School Work where he served as director of one of the largest schools of social work in the country from 2017-2021. Previously, he served as Dean at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work for nine years. Under his leadership, both schools saw a significant rise in their national rankings and significant expansion in enrollment and research funding. His leadership at both schools has left a long legacy of excellence in social work education.
Career Highlights
Williams has been an active social worker for half a century. Williams earned his BA in Sociology at Grambling State University in 1972, followed by an MSW in Social Work in 1975 at Smith College and Master in Public Administration at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in 1989. He worked for 17 years as a social worker at numerous types of agencies in various practice fields. In order, these include: Social Worker at Adams County Department of Social Services in Commerce City, CO, Adult Service Unit Supervisor, Grant County Department of Social Services in Lancaster, WI, Medical Social Consultant at the Colorado State Department of Public Health and Environment Maternal and Child Health Program in Denver, CO, Social Worker, Colorado State Department of Public Health and Environment AIDS Risk Reduction Program in Denver, CO, Social Worker Pediatrics and Pediatric Oncology Department at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, CO, Social Worker at the Colorado Springs School District 11 in Colorado Springs, CO, Social Worker at the University of Washington Medical Center Virology (AIDS/HIV) Clinic in Seattle, WA, and Social Worker at the Trauma Center of Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, WA.
After earning his PhD in Social Work at the University of Washington, Seattle in 1994, he obtained his first faculty position at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis in 1995. He earned tenure in 2000, and in 2001 was installed as the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity and appointed as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. During this period he also held visiting faculty positions at the University of Washington and the University of Hawaii. He held several leadership positions at Washington University, including Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Dean for the Master’s Program, and Assistant to the Chancellor for Urban Community Initiatives. In 2006 he was hired by School of Social Work at Arizona State University as the Foundation Professor of Youth and Diversity. One year later he was hired as Dean at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work where he served as Dean and Milton Morris Endowed Chair from 2007-2016. He became Director and Arizona Centennial Professor of Social Welfare Services at Arizona State University School of Social Work in 2017. He stepped down from this role in 2021 after 13 years of leading large schools of social work and now serves as Director for the Center for Child Well-Being and Arizona Centennial Professor of Social Welfare Services at Arizona State University School of Social Work.
Biographic Information
Professor Williams was born in 1950 in rural North Carolina. He was one of seven children of a sharecropper father and mother who prized education. His parents died when he was 10, and he was subsequently raised by his grandmother. He currently lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his husband and commutes to Arizona State University. He is an enthusiastic international traveler.
Significant Achievements and Awards
• 2025 – Visiting Scholar, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, Taiwan and National Dong Hwa University,
Hualien, Taiwan.
• 2019 – Shanti K. Khinduka Lecture in Social Development, 21st ICSD International Conference of
Strengthening Social Development to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
• 2019 – Visiting Lecturer, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland, Erasmus+:
European Union Programme for Education.
• 2018 – Distinguished Professor, School of Sociology, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing Shi,
China.
• 2017 – Arizona Centennial Professor of Social Welfare Services – School of Social Work, Arizona State
University.
• 2016 – Fellow, American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.
• 2016 – Ambassador Philip D. and Eleanor G. Winn Community Service Award – The Bridge Project, Graduate
School of Social Work, University of Denver.
• 2016 – Distinguished Emil M. Sunley Endowed Chair – Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver.
• 2016 – Fellow, Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR).
• 2013 – Distinguished Alumnus Award – School of Social Work, University of Washington.
• 2013 – Day-Garrett Award – School for Social Work, Smith College.
• 2011 – Clinical Social Work Advocate Award – Colorado Society for Clinical Social Work
• 2010 – Milton Morris Endowed Chair – Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver.
• 2006 – Foundation Professor of Youth and Diversity – School of Social Work, Arizona State University.
• 2001 – E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity – George Warren Brown School of Social
Work, Washington University, St. Louis.
Significant Publications
• Marsiglia, F. F., Huang, C. K., Williams, J. H., Munyuwiny, S., Makunyane, L., Molobe, D. I., Freeman, R., Kulis,
S., Ogbonnaya, I. & Lightfoot, E. (2024). Substance use among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa: A narrative
review of epidemiological data. African Journal of Alcohol and Drug Abuse (AJADA), 12, 80-111.
• Abrams, L. S., Crewe, S. E., Dettlaff, A., &Williams, J. H. (Eds.) (2023). 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.
• Williams, J. H. (2018). Race and poverty: Growth areas for the social work research agenda. Social Work
Research, 42, 67-72.
• Williams, J. H. (2015). Marshaling social responses to environmental changes. Social Work Research, 39,
195-198
• Williams, J. H., & Tedeschi, P. (2013). Developing a research agenda that supports global practice. Social Work
Research, 37, 165-167.
• 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
• Williams, J. H., Van Dorn, R. A., Bright, C.L., Jonson-Reid, M. & Nebbitt, V. E. (2010). Child maltreatment and
delinquency onset among African American adolescent males. Research on Social Work Practice, 20, 253-259.
• Williams, J. H., Horvath, V. E., Wei, H., Van Dorn, R. A., & Jonson-Reid, M. (2007). Teacher’s perspectives of
children’s mental health service needs in urban elementary schools. Children and Schools, 29, 95-107.
• Williams, J. H., Davis, L. E., Johnson, S. D., Williams, T. R., Saunders, J. A., & Nebbitt, V. E. (2007). Substance
use and academic performance among African American high school students. Social Work Research, 31, 151-
161.
• Williams, T. R., Davis, L. E., Miller-Cribs, J., Saunders, J., & Williams, J. H. (2002). Friends, family and
neighborhood: Understanding academic outcomes of African-American youth. Urban Education, 17, 408-431.
• Williams, J. H., Auslander, W., Houston, C., Krebill, H., & Haire-Joshu, D. (2000). African-American family
structure: Are there differences in social, psychological, and economic well-being? Journal of Family Issues, 21,
838-857.
• Williams, J. H., Stiffman, A. R., & O’Neal, J. L. (1998). Violence among urban African American youths: An
analysis of environmental and behavioral risk factors. Social Work Research, 22, 3-13.