Rev. Preston N. Williams

Rev. Preston N. Williams was named assistant to the chaplain at Penn State in 1956 and went on to serve as acting university chaplain until 1960. He regularly spoke out against discriminatory practices on and off campus, and he chaired the committee on interreligious affairs.

Williams left Penn State in 1962 for the Boston University School of Theology and later served as acting dean at the Harvard Divinity School. In 1975 he became director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African American Research. After his 2002 retirement, Harvard established the Preston N. Williams Black Alumni Award in his honor.