William Julius Wilson
William Julius Wilson is Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Professor Wilson was born in 1935 in Derry Township, Pennsylvania and educated at Washington State University (Ph.D). He taught sociology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1965-71) and later at the University of Chicago (1972-96), where he also served as director for the Center for the Study of Urban Inequality (1990-96). He joined the faculty of Harvard in 1996. Professor Wilson was selected by Time Magazine as one of America's 25 most influential people. He is a recipient of the 1998 National Medal of Science, the highest scientific honor in the United States. His publications include: The Declining Significance of Race; The Truly Disadvantaged; and When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor.