Shirley Williams-Scott ’73 ScM

Shirley Williams-Scott ’73 ScM, of Marrero, Ala.; July 29. She began her teaching career at Miles College as a graduate laboratory assistant and went on to teach life sciences as an instructor at Miles College and Lawson State Junior College. She then became an assistant professor of biology at Jackson State University and later a full professor of biology at Stillman College. While at Stillman, she served as acting chairperson of the natural science division as well as the faculty representative to the 1987 White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. She became an associate professor of research in the College of Pharmacy and graduate faculty at Xavier University in New Orleans and retired from her teaching career after her tenure at Southern University in New Orleans (SUNO), where she was a professor of biology and served as chair of the biology department. While at SUNO she was instrumental in developing several partnerships, including the Howard Hughes Internship Program in collaboration with the University of New Orleans, and was codirector of the SUNO/LSUMC Collaborative Research Initiative in Stress Biology Program. She also developed SUNO’s first marine biology program and lab. Shirley had an extensive research career that included studies on hypertension, glucose intolerance and hyperinsulinemia, B-6 deficiency, and glucose metabolism, and collaborations with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, National Science Foundation, Tulane University, and the Louisiana State University Medical Center. She was the author or coauthor of more than 50 scientific publications. In addition to her teaching and research, she served as a science evaluator for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) for Life Sciences, a grant reviewer for the Minority Research Center of Excellence Program (MRCE), and chair of the panel of the Research Improvement in Minority Institutions (RIMI) Program. Throughout her career she received numerous awards and honors. She was also instrumental in starting the Robert Charles Blakes Senior Bible College and Theological Seminary and served as the school’s first dean. She is survived by five children, 12 grandchildren, two brothers, a sister-in-law, and several nieces and nephews.