Fall 2009 Commencement speaker and WSU alumnus William Julius Wilson will also be the inaugural recipient of an award in his honor.

The William Julius Wilson Diversity Award will recognize those who have made contributions to social policy and diversity. Wilson will be presented with the award during the commencement ceremony, which takes place beginning at 10 a.m. Dec. 12 in Beasley Coliseum.

Wilson earned his doctoral degree in sociology from WSU in 1966. He is an expert in the fields of African American studies, race, civil rights, poverty and social and public policy issues.

Wilson was the 1998 recipient of the National Medal of Science, the highest scientific honor in the United States. He has also received 42 honorary degrees, including honorary doctorates from Princeton, Columbia, Johns Hopkins and Dartmouth.

In 1996, Wilson was selected as one of Time Magazine’s 25 most influential people. He has been elected to numerous scientific academies, including the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Wilson has authored or co-authored numerous publications, including his award-winning books “When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor” and “The Truly Disadvantaged,” which won the American Political Science Association Aaron Wildavsky Enduring Contribution Award.

Wilson joined the faculty at Harvard University in 1996 and is one of only 20 Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professors, the highest professional distinction for a Harvard faculty member. He has also worked as the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the University of Chicago.