William Julius Wilson

professor, sociology, Harvard University

William Julius Wilson is the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard University. Wilson received a Ph.D. from Washington State University in 1966. He then taught sociology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, before joining the University of Chicago faculty in 1972. In 1990 he was appointed the Lucy Flower University Professor and director of the University of Chicago's Center for the Study of Urban Inequality. Joining the faculty at Harvard in 1996, Wilson studies race and urban inequalities. His most recent work is *When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor*. Wilson is the recipient of numerous awards, including 41 honorary degrees and the National Medal of Science.