June 2, 2000
COLUMBUS - David Williams II, vice president for student and urban/community affairs at The Ohio State University, has been appointed vice chancellor, general counsel, and secretary of Vanderbilt University. He will also serve as a professor of law.
The appointment was announced today by E. Gordon Gee, chancellor of Vanderbilt and former president of Ohio State. Williams will serve in his current position until the end of July.
"David Williams has been a wise and valued counselor for me during my two years here at Ohio State," said Ohio State President William E. Kirwan. "He is an enormously talented administrator, a fine legal scholar and teacher, and an outstanding role model and mentor for our students. David has brought new energy and creativity to our student affairs activities, he has helped to guide our athletics program to high levels of achievement, and he has been instrumental in helping to advance our High Street revitalization to the point where major improvement is about to take place. All of us at Ohio State, and indeed, in Central Ohio, owe David deep appreciation for what he has done. We will miss him, and I wish him nothing but the best as he and his family embark on this new phase of their lives."
In his new role, Williams will be Vanderbilt's chief legal officer. He will direct the Office of General Counsel and the Office of Risk Management, and he will oversee activities related to the university's board of trust.
Williams has been at Ohio State since 1986 when he was named an assistant professor of law. He served as vice provost for minority affairs from June 1992 to August 1993 and was director of the University of Oxford - Ohio State summer law program. He achieved the rank of professor in 1995.
In 1993, Gee named Williams as vice president for student affairs, a position that now involves a wide range of activities, including student health services, athletics, housing and food services, Campus Partners, and support services for international students.
He has served on numerous college, university, and professional committees, and most recently served as co-chair of the Diversity Action Committee which is expected to present its report soon to Kirwan and Provost Edward J. Ray.
Williams said the decision to leave Ohio State was a difficult one.
"After 14 wonderful years, it is extremely difficult leaving this great institution and the many friends, and colleagues that Gail, Samantha, Nicholas and I have made at Ohio State and in Columbus," Williams said. "However, the chance to contribute to an excellent university like Vanderbilt is a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity. I look forward to combining the practice of law with service to the mission of Vanderbilt. In addition, I am excited to join the faculty of one of America's top law schools, and I look forward to continuing my lifelong passion of teaching.
"On top of all this, the chance to work again with Dr. Gee, whom I truly admire and consider one of the great academic leaders in the world, is something I could not pass up. I hope I am worthy of the decision of the good people at Vanderbilt."
Kirwan said that there will be a nationwide search to find a successor to Williams - a search that will be no less aggressive than the ones which resulted earlier this year in the recruitment of Dr. Bradley Moore, one of the world's leading chemists, as vice president for research, and the recruitment of Dr. Donna Evans, one of the nation's leading authorities on urban education, as dean of the College of Education.
"Change at a great institution such as Ohio State is a constant dynamic," Kirwan said. "Great people, such as David Williams, are recruited away from us, just as we attract great people from other universities. David is leaving a tremendous foundation and a great legacy for his successor."
Student Affiars Organizational ChartContact: Lee Tashjian
614-292-4373