All College Day and Week: Fall 2022

Dr. Gregory D. Williams serves as president of Odessa College, a position he has held since January 2007. Accepting that post was a true homecoming for Dr. Williams, who began his journey in higher education as a student at Odessa College in 1983.

Before earning his doctorate in higher education administration from Baylor University, Dr. Williams’ educational journey also included the completion of three degrees from the University of Texas Permian Basin: first, a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a certification to teach psychology, history, and learning disabled students, followed by two master’s degrees, in education mid-management and in psychology, respectively.

Dr. Williams has led the OC team in breaking every major enrollment record, student retention record, student success record, and fund-raising record previously held by the college. His leadership has set OC on the path to becoming the best community college in the nation. In 2018, Odessa College was awarded Achieving the Dream’s Leah Meyer Austin Award. In 2017, and again in 2019, Odessa College was named an Aspen Institute Top 10 Community College. OC went on to win the Rising Star Award for Community College Excellence from the Aspen Institute in 2017 and 2019, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s 2017 Star Award.

On the local level, Dr. Williams currently serves or has recently served on the ECISD Education Foundation Board, Prosperity Bank’s Advisory Board, the Permian Basin Workforce Development Board, Odessa’s Comprehensive Master Plan Advisory Committee, and the Education Partnership Leadership Team.

On the state level, he serves or has recently served as Chair of the Texas Association of Community Colleges, the TACC Executive Committee, the TACC Rural College Committee, the TACC Legislative Committee, the Texas Student Success Council, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Business & Community Advisory Council.

On the national level, he recently served on the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Board of Directors and Executive Board. Dr. Williams was appointed to the Achieving the Dream Board of Directors in January, 2018, and continues to serve. He has also served on the Belk Center for Community College Leadership & Research Advisory Board since December, 2019.

Dr. Williams and his wife, Karen, have two sons, Kiaran and Gregory, and one daughter, Kara, who also is a graduate of Odessa College – notably as one of the first Dual Credit students to earn an Associate Degree from OC before graduating from high school.