David Williams era begins (7/03/2007) | | |
 David Williams is UAH's fifth president Ray Garner, (256)UAH-NEWS | Dr. David Williams took the helm as president of The University of Alabama in Huntsville on Monday, spending his first hours meeting with his office staff and getting his Macintosh computer connected to his Madison Hall office. He drove around campus during the weekend after arriving in Huntsville Saturday morning. He remarked about the beauty of the campus, which he finds important because this is the "home away from home" for students who choose to attend UAH. Dr. Williams said his calendar for the first month will be full, meeting with the university's senior administration to "learn as much as I can as quickly as I can." "I want to be able to ask questions and learn facts. I don't want my impression to come from web sites," he said. "One thing that I have learned is that the weather is not as hot as everyone had led me to believe." Dr. Williams' arrival at UAH follows the culmination of a year-long search process that involved representatives from the campus and from the Huntsville community. University of Alabama Trustees Peter Lowe and Joe Ritch, both of Huntsville, led the search process. Dr. Williams was chosen as UAH's fifth president after the search committee culled more than 200 applicants for the job. His hiring came on March 14 at a called meeting of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees where he received unanimous support from the board. The new UAH president earned extensive research and academic credentials at Lehigh University where he had risen in the administrative ranks during his career and served as Vice Provost for Research for Lehigh before joining UAH. Dr. Williams earned his academic degrees from The University of Cambridge, one of the largest universities in the United Kingdom and a university that has a worldwide reputation for outstanding academic achievement as well as world-class original research. He earned his B.A., M.A., Ph.D., and Sc.D degrees from that prestigious university. His wife, Margaret, grew up in Australia and has lived in Pennsylvania since moving there from England with her husband in 1976. She attended the University of Sydney, receiving a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1974, and she completed a master's degree in Special Education at Lehigh University in 1980. The couple has three sons.
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