Dr. Williams taught at EIU for 25 years.  He found satisfaction interacting with his colleagues, students, and staff, but also with the many service personnel on campus to whom he would talk or wave to when seeing them.  He greatly enjoyed teaching and served as the Faculty Advisor for the Psi Chi for several years. 

He graduated from Smithfield High School in Rhode Island and served in the US Navy as a Hospital Corpsman during the Vietnam War. Prior to his time at EIU, he taught at a number of places, including Boston University, the University of Massachusetts, Loyola University, and North Central College in Naperville. He obtained post-doctoral training at the University of Chicago’s Drug Abuse Research Center, the Neuroscience Division of Abbott Laboratories, and at Queen Mary & Westfield College of the University of London in England. His doctoral training was primarily in Biopsychology. 

Dr. Williams’ research focus was in the biological basis of behavior and psychopharmacology. He conducted research on a variety of topics including the effects of drugs of abuse on brain reward mechanisms, the measurement of neurotransmitters, the relationship between neurochemical events and ongoing behavior, the behavioral physionics of stress-related responding, human factors performance, and the relationship between psychology and religion. He also served as both a reviewer and guest editor of research manuscripts for several professional journals in psychology and religion, and was an author and co-author on many published journal articles, as well as co-author on three editions of an introductory psychology textbook - Understanding Psychology. 

Dr. Williams was actively engaged in the Charleston Community as a Judge of Elections in Coles County and a member of the Knights of Columbus, American Legion, and the Fox Ridge Foundation; he was also an active supporter of Boy Scout Troop 141 in Charleston, serving as an adult committee member and former treasurer. His service and commitment to scouting was recognize by having been selected for membership in the Order of the Arrow, scouting’s national honor society. Dr. Williams passed away in August 2018.