Rutgers Board of Governors appoints Jerome D. Williams to $3 Million Prudential Chair in Business

Williams will be focusing his research on entrepreneurship and social justice in the marketplace as well as teaching a class this fall on how entrepreneurs can reach multi-cultural customers.

“My whole career has been about social justice and equity in the marketplace and serving underserved consumers,” said Williams. “With our work at CUEED, we can make a real difference.”

Associate Professor of Business Strategy and Founding Director of CUEED, dt ogilvie, said she is thrilled to have  Williams pursue his research in the context of entrepreneurship . “We in the Management & Global Business department and CUEED are delighted to have Dr. Williams as our newest team member and are looking forward to working with him and to the many contributions he will make to our work and to RBS,” she said.

Prudential announced the establishment of the $3 million Prudential Chair in Business at Rutgers Business School in 2008. “We are especially honored to have Prudential, a company which exemplifies a long history of successful global business, stand up as our partner in building a new and important presence for Rutgers, as a premiere business school,” said Michael R. Cooper, dean of Rutgers Business School.

Prior to joining Rutgers Business School, Williams was the F.J. Heyne Centennial Professor, Department of Advertising, at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), where he also held a joint appointment in the Center for African and African American Studies where he started in 2003.

Williams has held positions at many prestigious universities including Penn State University and Howard University, and visiting appointments at Wharton Business School, University of Michigan and Georgia State University.  In addition, he has taught abroad at National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Chinese University of Hong Kong. 

Williams has been appointed to the “Evaluation Advisory Committee” for the  Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a CEO-led organization partnering with Michelle Obama, dedicated to a multi-year effort designed to help reduce childhood obesity by 2015.

He was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Food Marketing and Diets of Children and Youth that authored the report “Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity?”  The study was requested by Congress and sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Testifying in a number of court cases, Dr. Williams has served as an expert witness on consumer racial profiling, marketplace discrimination, and consumer response to advertising strategies. 

He has published extensively on multicultural marketing and serves on a number of journal editorial boards.  He is co-editor of Diversity in Advertising: Broadening the Scope of Research Directions, and co-author of a forth-coming book on consumer racial profiling.

Williams received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in Business Administration (Marketing), with a minor in Social Psychology in 1986. He also has an M.S. degree from Union College in Industrial Administration (1975), and a B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in English (1969).

Jerome is a longtime runner – captain of the track and cross country teams at the University of Pennsylvania where he set several records and he has completed over 20 marathons.  He also was a high school track star, and in October 2010, he will be inducted into a Pennsylvania high school athletic Hall of Fame.

He has been married to Lillian R. Williams for 42 years. The couple has five children and eight grandchildren.

About Rutgers Business School

Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick is an integral part of one of the nation's oldest, largest, and most distinguished institutions of higher learning: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Today, Rutgers Business School is educating more than 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students at two main campuses in New Jersey as well as five satellite locations in Jersey City, Morristown, Beijing, Shanghai, and Singapore. Rutgers Business School’s MBA program is ranked #17 nationwide for the employment rate of its graduates three months after graduation by U.S. News & World Report. Full-time MBA, including the option of a One-Year MBA track, and part-time MBA programs give excellent options for people looking to gain real-world, relevant skills needed in today's job market.