Dr. Alveda Williams, Associate HR Director, The Dow Chemical Company, has received the Council for Chemical Research (CCR) 2013 Diversity Award. She is the first recipient from industry to receive this prestigious award which was presented at the CCR Annual Meeting in Arlington, Virginia recently. The award recognizes an individual who has directly enhanced organizational ability to advance and promote diversity within and among the three CCR sectors of industry, academia and government laboratories. Williams, a research scientist turned Human Resources director, demonstrated exemplary leadership in developing a diverse workforce, drove change and took personal accountability for the development of her employees and colleagues while addressing a critical issue in industry - how to attract and retain top underrepresented minorities to industrial careers in science and engineering.

"This is a very well deserved honor. Alveda has always been a champion of diversity, and has built the trust and respect of her colleagues through her outstanding work, proactive approach and dedication to people. She is a mentor and inspiration not only within our research community, but across our entire organization", said David Bem, global director, Dow Research & Development.

Williams was instrumental in creating and shaping the Building Engineering and Science Talent (BEST) program at Dow, an industry leading program. Alveda recognized an opportunity to enhance the diversity of Dow's R&D organization early in her career as a Ph.D. chemist. The annual BEST symposium exposes African American, Hispanic and Native American Ph.D. and postdoctoral scientists and engineers to the wide range of rewarding career opportunities in industrial research. For Dow, it brings a sustainable source of underrepresented minority Ph.D. talent into the R&D organization and since 2007, has resulted in a five-fold increase in recruiting success versus traditional channels at universities.

BEST was recognized by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) with their prestigious Golden Torch Award for Corporate Diversity Leadership and again when Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) leveraged the program to build the Dow/MIT ACCESS program. Williams, partnering with R&D leadership, has been credited with setting the bar for Dow's PhD. recruiting efforts, attracting hundreds of PhDs and delivering offer acceptance rates that are 40% higher than industry standards.

About CCR

The Council for Chemical Research is a nonprofit organization that brings together industry, academia and government laboratories that conduct research in chemistry related science and engineering in the US. CCR was formed in 1979 to promote cooperation in basic science research and encourage high quality education in the chemical sciences and engineering. CCR continues to further the mission of improving chemical innovation through collaboration and advocacy.www.ccrhq.org.

distributed by