If you’ve ever walked into the Intercultural Collective (IC) and wondered what happens behind the scenes, Chad Williams, executive director, has a simple answer: a lot.
Williams spends his days building relationships, supporting the teams that make up the IC and helping students find the resources and communities they need throughout their Syracuse University experience. Now seven months into the role, there’s one thing he keeps coming back to: making sure all students feel welcome.
“I look at myself as a culture builder,” Williams said. “Trying to set the tone in the environment for everybody who comes into the IC.”
This includes the people who work there, students who stop by, visitors looking for resources and even someone who simply gets lost in the building and walks through the doors.
Williams sees the IC as a place where all students can be heard, supported and connected to the right person or resource.
“We will welcome [them], we will support them and we will listen,” he said. “If we have an answer, we will provide. If we have options, we will provide. And even if we don’t, we will refer you to someone who might. We find ourselves being that bridge.”
So, What Does an Executive Director Actually Do?
Williams’ work goes far beyond what might show up on a calendar. The IC is made up of four teams, including Belonging and Student Success, the Center for International Services, the LGBTQ+ Resource Center and the Kessler Scholars Program. Williams works across those teams to make sure they have the resources and support they need.
His job also involves supervision, budgets, assessment and plenty of collaboration across campus. For Williams, that collaboration is especially important because no single team can meet every student’s needs.
“The work is very relational,” Williams said. “It’s this ability to build collaborations. We’re all on a team.” The team’s shared goal? Getting each student to experience their own definition of success during their Syracuse University experience and beyond graduation.
That means working with other departments and campus partners to help students navigate college in a way that feels personal to them.
His Path to Syracuse University
Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Williams was a first-generation, low-income college student and student activist. His own college experience wasn’t always easy. He remembers arriving at college without realizing he would need to pay for his textbooks and eventually taking an 18-year break before returning to graduate school.
His career has included teaching, community-based work, nonprofit work and several roles in higher education. Before Syracuse University, he worked at the University of California, Merced, as an assistant Dean of Students, focusing on student support services. That experience shaped how he approaches his work today.
Williams said he focuses on the strengths students bring with them rather than their challenges.
“We’re talking about students who are the most resilient, creative problem solvers that you will find on planet Earth,” he said.
That perspective is part of what drew him to Syracuse University. Williams said he was impressed that Syracuse University continued investing in resources designed to help students build community and belonging.
What Does He Want Students to Know?
If Williams could make sure every student knew one thing about the IC, it would be that the space is for them.
Whether they’re looking for a community, struggling to make friends, adjusting to college or simply trying to figure out where they belong, the IC is there to support them every step of the way. All are welcome.
“I enjoy engaging with students,” he said. “I like to jump in and just sit down and talk to students and see where their heads are at and what they’re learning, what they’re struggling with and what they’re enjoying.”
Williams is still getting to know Syracuse University, too. A longtime Syracuse University basketball fan, he is looking forward to attending his first game in person and becoming even more involved in campus life.
Connecting with the Intercultural Collective
So, the next time you pass an Intercultural Collective space, you might as well enter. You never know who you’ll meet, what you’ll learn or where the conversation might lead.
Stay connected and follow the newly launched Intercultural Collective Instagram @MYSU_IC. And if you’ve been meaning to meet him, Williams has a message for you: “Hit a brotha up.”
Written by Miracle Gross G’27, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, M.A.