Ronnie Williams honored for decades of service to UCA campus

Ronnie Williams, former vice president for UCA Student Services and Institutional Diversity, will soon have his namesake become a permanent part of campus with the renaming of the student center as the Ronnie Williams Student Center. 

The UCA Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Friday, Aug 13. to rename the student center in honor of Ronnie Williams’ decade-spanning service to students and the UCA campus community.

“For President Houston Davis and members of our Board of Trustees to believe that my three-plus decades on this campus have distinguished me in a way that my name to become a permanent fixture on a UCA building is humbling,” Ronnie Williams said.

“I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to serve our students as their chief advocate for twenty-five years. Our focus has always been on putting students first and helping them find their rightful place in our world,” Williams added.

Williams’ more than three decades career with UCA started in 1980, where he served as the Assistant Dean of Students till 1983. 

After a brief departure from UCA, Williams returned to campus in 1990 as the Director of Minority Affairs and in 1992 became the Assistant to the President through 1996.

In 1996, Williams was named the Vice President for Student Services and served in the role through 2013 and would serve as the Vice President for Student Services and Institutional Diversity until he retired in May. 

“Throughout Ronnie’s career at UCA, he was part of some of the university’s most celebrated occasions from the construction of new buildings to the expansion of our campus health care,” President Houston Davis said.

Williams’ distinguished career is filled with numerous rewards and well-deserved recognitions, according to President Davis. “But the true measure of his work is the thousands of students he impacted,” Davis said. 

Williams acknowledged the work of the Division of Student Services. “On both a personal and professional level, I am grateful to all men and women who make up the Division of Student Services. I would be remiss if I did not thank them for their support, dedication, and hard work. I would not have received this special recognition were it not for them,” Williams said. 

Later this year, the campus will celebrate the reveal of the name change on the Student Center building. 

“Renaming the Student Center to the Ronnie Williams Student Center is a fitting tribute to his legacy,” Davis said.