​About Robin M. Williams Jr.

Robin Murphy Williams (1914-2006) was born on October 11, 1914, in Hillsborough, NC, the son of Robin M., Sr. (a farmer), and Mabel (a homemaker). He received his B.S. in 1933 from North Carolina State College; his M.S. in 1935 from N.C. State and the University of North Carolina; his M.A. in 1939 from Harvard University; and his Ph.D. in 1943 from Harvard University. During World War II, he served in the Special Services Division of the US War Department in Washington, D.C., and the European Theater of Operations from 1942 to 1946.

As an Army researcher on the frontlines, he was a contributor to the classic work, The American Soldier. For much of his long and distinguished career at Cornell University (from 1946 to 1985, then emeritus from 1985 to 2003), he was a member of the Sociology Department. He served as chair of that Department from 1956 through 196l and was appointed the Henry Scarborough Professor of Social Science in 1967. After becoming Professor Emeritus in 1985, Williams continued to teach at both Cornell University and the University of California, Irvine. His research fostered understanding of some of the most difficult problems of American society. He devoted much of his career and writing to studies of intergroup tensions, race relations, war and peace, ethnic conflict, and altruism and cooperation.

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Dr. Williams was a Past-President of the American Sociological Association, Past-President of the Eastern Sociological Association, Founding Editor of Sociological Forum, and the Co-Chair of the Committee on the Status of Black Americans. Dr. Williams’ many awards and honors include the Commonwealth Award for Distinguished Service, the American Sociological Association’s Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award, and the Robin M. Williams, Jr. Distinguished Lectureship Award established by the Eastern Sociological Association.

His best-known works include The American Soldier (Vols. 1-11, 1949); Schools in Transition (1954); and What College Students Think (1960); The Reduction of Intergroup Tensions (1947); Strangers Next Door (1964), American Society: A Sociological Interpretation (1st edition, 1951; 2nd edition, 1960; 3rd edition, 1970); Mutual Accommodation: Ethnic Conflict and Cooperation (1977); and most recently, The Wars Within: Peoples and States in Conflict (2003). He was also a co-editor of A Common Destiny: Blacks and American Society (1989). He was the author as well of some hundred and fifty articles, monographs, and chapters in edited volumes.

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CURRENT LECTURER (2023-24): Claire Decoteau, University of Chicago at Illinois

Claire Laurier Decoteau received her PhD in Sociology from the University of Michigan (2008). Broadly, her research focuses on the social construction of health and disease, the politics of knowledge production, and peoples’ grounded experiences with healing and health care systems. Decoteau has received numerous awards for her scholarship and teaching. In 2022, she was awarded the Lewis A. Coser Award for Theoretical Agenda-Setting from the Theory Section of the American Sociological Association. She has also received the Junior Theorist Award, the Robert K. Merton Prize, the Star Nelkin Award and the American Sociological Association’s Dissertation Award. Decoteau has also received two awards for excellence in teaching from UIC, as well as the 2018 Graduate Mentoring award. Her areas of interest include: Social Theory, Cultural Sociology, Sociology of Health and Medicine, Sociology of Knowledge, Sociology of the Body, Globalization, Gender/Sexuality, Race/Ethnicity, and Ethnography

As part of the Society's attempt to enhance the sharing of ideas, one of our colleagues will be invited to spend time and give lectures on two campuses within the Society's jurisdiction during their year as the Williams Lecturer. The ESS Executive Office will provide transportation and honoraria: the host institution will take care of local arrangements, including room and board. The individual chosen for the Lectureship will receive an honorarium and will present two lectures on campuses in the ESS region during the terms of his or her appointment. (These campuses will be selected on a competitive basis.)

To apply for Dr. Claire Decoteau  to speak at your institution, please follow these guidelines:
In no more than 1 page (500 words), please let us know: 1) why Dr. Decoteau  is a good fit for speaking on your campus and what contributions the Williams lectureship will make to your community; 2) how the ESS Robin M. Williams, Jr. Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Decoteau  would be promoted if your campus is selected. The response to these questions should be a short statement (bullet points are fine). Deadline December 1, 2023.

Submit to: Simon Cheng, ESS Vice President: simon.cheng@uconn.edu

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TO NOMINATE SOMEONE FOR THE 2024-25 ROBIN M. WILLIAMS, JR. LECTURE:

Please send nominations (self-nominations welcome) in a letter detailing the reasons for the nomination along with no more than two supporting letters by December 15, 2023, to the Robin M. Williams, Jr., Lectureship Committee Chair:

Daniel Laurison, dlauris1@swarthmore.edu, ESS Vice President-Elect

Committee Members:

Derek Hyra, American University, ESS President-Elect

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