By Edythe Bradley
Albany State University has named Dr. Richard H. Williams interim director of athletics at Albany State to succeed Dr. Joshua Murfree, who will become Dougherty County schools superintendent on Monday.
Williams serves as ASU’s faculty athletics representative and chair of the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. Williams served as athletics director since April 2007 after serving a year as interim director. He also was executive assistant to the president, administrative chief of staff and interim vice president for student affairs.
In a letter e-mailed to ASU students, employees, alumni and friends, Murfree wrote,
I have enjoyed my work in multiple positions and have attempted to be efficient in all of them … I leave this campus with a wealth of knowledge and experiences that will benefit me now and later in my future endeavors.”
Williams will oversee the management of Albany State’s 11-sport program, which includes football, volleyball, baseball, softball, women’s tennis and men and women’s basketball, cross country and track and field.
“The opportunity to serve as the interim athletics director at ASU is a very exciting and rewarding opportunity,” Williams said. “Having a grandmother and father (who played football, baseball, basketball, and ran track) who are both alumnus, I consider this a huge honor to assist in the great Golden Rams legacy here at Albany State University.”
A Thomasville native, Williams received a doctorate of dducation degree in exercise science/muscle physiology in 2002, master’s degree in dducation in 1997, and bachelor’s degree in education in 1995, all from the University of Georgia. He was named chair of the HPER Department in 2007, after serving two years as a professor and chair of the HPER Department at Langston University in Langston, Okla. From 2002-2005,
Williams served as a post-doctoral researcher in the Fellowship in Research and Science Teaching (FIRST) program in the Department of Physiology at Emory University’s School of Medicine. As a FIRST fellow, Williams completed his post-doctoral teaching at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health in the Department of Behavioral Science and Health Education; and at Morehouse College in the Department of Biology and Physical Education. Dr. Williams’ research agenda focuses on neuromuscular physiology and minority health disparities of adolescents and adults.
Active in numerous professional, civic, and social organizations, Williams is a member of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. He is also a member of Mount Zion Baptist Church of Albany and an active member of the Albany Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.
