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Today, he is President of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards; Chairman of a twenty-six member design award winning architectural, engineering and landscape architecture firm in Kansas City; and he lives in a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. On Saturday afternoon, May 6, 1995, in Atlanta, Georgia, he will be invested as a newly elected member of the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows.

Four decades ago, the senior class at Smithville [Missouri] High School chose as its president an Eagle Scout, named Homer Williams, who played in the band, sang in the choir and lettered in track. He performed with the jazz orchestra and served in the Student Senate at Northwest Missouri State before transferring to Kansas State University. Excelling in his studies for the Bachelor of Architecture, Williams won election to Tau Sigma Delta and Delta Phi Epsilon academic honoraries, and his classmates elected him president of the AIA student chapter.

Soon after graduation, Williams joined the renowned Colorado Springs architect, Carlisle B. Guy and was involved with such landmarks as the Broadmoor Hotel, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and the Summit House on Pikes Peak. By 1964 he was working for Gerald Ervin, an architect in Junction City, Kansas. Two years later, Williams was licensed and a partner in Ervin and Williams Architects.

A dozen years after graduating from Smithville High School, Homer Williams was in Kansas City and busy designing the new Smithville High as well as an extended care facility for Smithville Hospital. In time, Williams would be commissioned as the architect for the new library and other major buildings at Northwest Missouri State University where his post-secondary education had begun.

Homer Williams' successes as a practicing architect have been mirrored by his dedication to public and professional service. Active in Rotary International, he served on the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Zoning Adjustment, the Kansas City, Missouri, City of Fountains Committee, and was a member of the 1981 Edgar Snow Delegation visiting Chinese schools of architecture in Beijing and half a dozen other major cities. Appointed to the Missouri Board of Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors in 1982, Williams served as chair of the board's architectural division during the investigations of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel structural collapse. AIA Missouri honored Williams with its Distinguished Service Award in 1991. Then, in 1993, the Heart of America Council, BSA, honored Williams for his decades long-record of contributions to scouting.

His remarkable record of service to the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards includes stints as Regional Director, Treasurer, Co-Chair of the National Intern Development Program Coordinating Committee, Chair of the committee responsible for developing a computerized registration examination, and now, during 1994/95, NCARB President. One of the major thrusts of his presidency has been international reciprocity and practice. He has been at the forefront of collaborative initiatives involving such nations as the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Japan and China. After securing and signing an accord with China that led to adoption of a licensing examination based on the NCARB model, Williams recently traveled to Beijing for the initial administration of the new test.

Homer L. Williams exemplifies the energy, responsibility, innovation and dedication to quality the faculty of this college strives to foster in each student. We take pride in his accomplishments, and we delight in nominating him for a 1995 Kansas State University Distinguished Service Award.