Peace Corps director visits UF to discuss efforts to build a globally civil society

February 16, 2012

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Aaron Williams, director of the U.S. Peace Corps, will speak at the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida’s Pugh Hall at 6 p.m. Feb. 21. The event is co-sponsored by the UF International Center and the Center for Leadership & Service. Parking and the event are free and open to the public.

Williams, the 18th director of the agency but only the fourth to actually serve as a Peace Corps volunteer, will discuss how the 50-year-old agency is trying to recruit new volunteers and build a civil society around the globe during a time of conflict, terrorism and revolution.

UF is ranked second in the nation among large universities for recent undergraduate and graduate alumni serving in the Peace Corps. Since taking over the agency in 2009, Williams has overseen a variety of sweeping reforms that seek to capitalize on a new generation of technically sophisticated volunteers and provide better protection to volunteers while abroad.

“We are putting in place a streamlined, state-of-the art process to recruit, select and place volunteers,” Williams told Congress in October. “And we intend to increase opportunities for Americans who have highly specialized skills and significant work experience, but who may not be able to make a 2-year commitment.”

Williams served as a volunteer from 1967 to 1970 in the Dominican Republic. After his service, he served as a vice president for international business development with RTI International. He also has been a senior manager at the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he attained the rank of career minister in the U.S. Senior Foreign Service. He served as executive vice president of the International Youth Foundation.

As USAID Mission Director in South Africa, Williams led a billion-dollar foreign assistance program during President Nelson Mandela’s administration. He was awarded the USAID Distinguished Career Service Award and was twice awarded the Presidential Award for Distinguished Service.