When George H. Williams '65 returned to the College to teach
computer science in 1970, the department hadn't even been born. Until that time, he admits, “I had given no thought to teaching. It was fortuitous the opening was here. I looked at the approved curriculum and thought, 'What a wonderful program! I should find out who's teaching all these great courses.' What I found out was, it was me!”
Williams, now professor
of computer science and department chair, was the first faculty member hired at Union to teach what would later become computer science. Over the years, he's offered courses in operating systems, advanced programming
techniques, program design, systems programming, and information retrieval. Not surprisingly, he is also “the number-cruncher in the
family,” says his wife, Research Associate Professor of Biology Karen Williams.
The Williamses began collaborating following the completion of Karen's doctoral research on postpartum depression. Their goal was to develop a questionnaire that would help identify pregnant women at risk for this form of depression. The project was unusual in its emphasis on anticipating and preventing emotional and mental problems. Explains Karen, “These women tend to get lost in the system because sometimes the depression develops weeks or months after the birth of their babies. And pediatricians don't usually ask the mothers, 'And how are you doing?' There's a lot of guilt associated with postpartum depression, yet it's common-about 15 percent of women experience it.”
Karen and George co-authored (with their collaborators) an article in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine in 1998, as the culmination of two decades of research.
The two met on the Union campus in fall of 1963. “In those days, they were importing females from local colleges,” she says. “I was a student at Russell Sage. And this was a blind date.”
At the time, George was taking the five-year program in electrical engineering and economics. They married not long after graduation, and following George's graduation from Yale and the birth of their son in 1970, all three attended George's fifth reunion. While George went off to his job interview, Karen marched in the alumni parade. “I carried Chris in a backpack with a banner that read 'Union College Class of '92'-and indeed, the backpack message came true.” Christopher Williams '92 majored in political science and went on to Albany Law School; he's now a financial adviser with Ernst & Young.
Karen started teaching at Union in 1972, and has taught genetics, introductory biology, human heredity, human anatomy and physiology, comparative anatomy of the vertebrates, and topics in contemporary biology. She's also served as counselor in the Health Professions Programs and has taught the Hospital Health Care Practicum for students who are planning to go into the health professions. For the past eight years, she has coordinated the Summer Science Workshop, which brings talented minority high school students to campus.
The Williamses' most
recent collaborative effort was the establishment of a biotechnology mini-term abroad in Scotland. In the summers of 2001 and 2002, they led groups of students, looking
at ways in which the health care problems of the Scottish people are being addressed
by medical research and computer technology.
After retirement, they plan to stay in the Schenectady area for a few years before moving to Santa Cruz, Calif., where they have a home. Not people to remain idle, they plan to explore opportunities at the University of Santa Cruz. George also plans to continue his amateur radio activities, which he started at Union's W2UC.