Dr. Carolyn A. Willliams is Professor and Dean Emeritus at the College of Nursing at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.  In 1984 she was appointed Dean of the College and served in that role to August of 2006.  Prior to her appointment at the University of Kentucky, she held several academic positions, including Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Associate Professor Nursing in the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Professor and Director of Graduate Program and Research at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University.

Dr. Williams earned her BS in Nursing at Texas Woman’s University, a MS in Public Health Nursing and a PhD in Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She has been actively involved in educational, research, and practice activities and in consultation.  Her practice and research interests include community-focused health programs with an emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention, the use of epidemiological strategies in health services management and evaluation, inter-professional practice and education, and the contributions of nurses to care delivery.  She has many publications in nursing, primary care, and public health, and she has served on numerous editorial boards and as a reviewer for several publications.  In 2001 she led the faculty at the UK College of Nursing in developing the first DNP (Doctorate of Nursing Practice) Program in the Country.

Dr. Williams has held many leadership roles including President of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and President of the American Academy of Nursing; Chairperson, ANA’s Commission on Nursing Research; Member, Program Development Board, American Public Health Association (APHA); and, member, Boards of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and Appalachian Regional Healthcare, Inc.  She has held appointments on National Research Study sections and on review panels for the National Institute for Nursing Research.  National policy-making roles include appointment by President Carter as a nurse member of the President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine, Biomedical and Behavioral Research and membership on the first US Preventive Services Task Force, U.S., DHHS. 

Dr. Williams has provided international consultation to South America through the Pan American Health Organization (WHO), to the WHO in Geneva, and as a member of WHO’s Nursing Advisory Panel.  In 2002 she served as a consultant in nursing education to the Ministry of Education in the United Arab Emirates.  She is a Fellow of the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the American Academy of Nursing (AAN).  She received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Texas Woman’s University in 1983, Alumna of the Year from the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2000, and the Mary Tolle Wright Founder’s Award for Excellence in Leadership from Sigma Theta Tau International in 2001.