NSU Horizons Spring 2018

33 NSU HORIZONS “He is there for us all the time. He goes to every event,” said Hassan Sharam Pina, an M.B.A. finance student and GBSA executive administrator. “Dr. Williams has this particular charisma and a good energy. He connects with students. There is wise advice behind everything he’s doing.” Williams grew up on a farm near Punta Gorda, Belize, the second oldest of 10 children. His father drove a bulldozer. His mother was a homemaker. Neither of his parents could read or write. He credits them for his education. “Both of my parents were very influential in their own way. They had a vision to make all of us finish high school. And in a poor country, that is a magical and tremendous feat,” said Williams, who made a gift to the Huizenga College and named a classroom in the Carl DeSantis Building in memory of his parents. All 10 children finished high school and continued with college or a vocation. After earning an associate degree in Belize, Williams taught high school. After two years, he moved to Canada to earn a mathematics education degree at the University of Calgary. He later returned to Belize and taught high school math. From there, he moved into banking. In Belize, he later managed an agricultural marketing company that promoted products such as rice and sugar. During the evenings, he taught economics and finance at a local university. In 1994, he completed a Ph.D. in agricultural and applied economics and finance at the University of Georgia, where he also earned a master’s degree in agricul- tural economics. After moving to the United States, Williams worked as a commodity analyst at Burger King Corporation in Miami, while teaching as an adjunct professor. He began teaching at NSU part time in 2003 and became a full-time faculty member in 2007. His office wall features notes from former students and his motto—make the world a better place, one student at a time. “I remember teaching high school in Belize. Students would come to my home and sit at my dinner table, and I would teach them mathematics. Along the way, students come back to see me or they send me notes—‘Thank you for what you’ve done for me.’ It’s part of the ripple effect of teaching,” he said. Not long ago, an NSU alumnus who took Williams’ M.B.A. managerial finance class stopped by to visit. Wil- liams had written a recommendation letter for the student, who now manages a multibillion-dollar portfolio in the Middle East. “He said that letter got him a job at a big bank,” Williams recalled. “When you touch someone in a small way, it just might be enough to set them on a different path. You never know what’s going to make a difference.” ¨ Science has long known about the brain’s connection between music and math. Albert Williams uses that connection to engage his finance students.