He’s a cook, singer, adviser, teacher, couturier, advocate, entrepreneur, social media meister, author, recording artist and much more.
Marvin Williams ’95 is a busy man.
Williams has sat in a dunking booth and participated in the “pie-in-your-face” challenge to help the University of Central Arkansas Staff Senate raise funds for scholarships and nonprofit donations. He has served on countless university committees, including the investiture committee for UCA President Houston Davis.
He volunteers at local elementary schools. He sings the national anthem at home games for several UCA sports, from volleyball to baseball, with many of them occurring on weekends. He also sings at several other events on and off campus.
“Someone will call me and ask me to do something. If I am available, I just [do] it,” Williams said. “I guess sometimes I don’t think these things are significant. I’m just filling in a need or doing what I’m asked to do or just trying to be helpful and useful.”
He admits that managing his schedule with all its activities can be daunting, but it never takes away from his role as Unlocking College Academics Now (UCAN) coordinator.
The UCAN program is a student success initiative at UCA aimed at students placed on academic suspension. Williams interviews every student to assess their needs and outline expectations for the program. Students agree to mandatory study hours and attendance at academic success workshops. Williams pulls together campus resources such as those offered through the Student Health Center or Office of Financial Aid for an orientation session. He brings in additional campus resources to conduct the workshops on study skills, communication tactics, time management and others.
Once students successfully complete UCAN, they are removed from academic suspension. Those are prized moments for Williams.
“I don’t ever want to be in a position where I’m not working on the ground with students,” Williams said. “I think if I were to be in a position where I didn’t have that contact where I’m helping them, it would take the joy out of it for me.”
Drawing from his experiences with UCAN students, Williams was one of the founding organizers of the campus’ Bear Essentials Food Pantry in 2014, which provides fresh, frozen and canned food to the UCA community. Students often told him stories of having little or nothing to eat. He remains active in keeping the shelves full by challenging campus offices to make donations, partnering with local churches and nonprofits, or watching the circulars at local stores to purchase items himself.
His activities do not end there.
He likes to fashion bow ties and boutonnières or a top hat and seersucker suit. One of his more infamous outfits is a purple “short suit.”
“It was an actual purple dress suit. Then I just cut it off and made shorts out of it,” Williams said.
He wore the suit for several years, sometimes with a top hat, to on- and off-campus volunteer events. That suit has been retired, but he still sports seersucker suits, bright floral print shirts and several other eye-catching ensembles befitting his personality.
“If I want a colorful shirt, a pink shirt or a yellow shirt, I’ll put it on,” Williams said. “I just wear what I like.”
In 2016, Williams penned a cookbook that, at his last count, has sold at least one copy in nearly every state in America and five other countries. He posts his recipes and images of his food on a Facebook page, “Marvin Williams’ Cooking Adventures.” The page has about 55,000 followers.
The Osceola, Arkansas, native learned how to cook while being raised by his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. As the oldest of three boys, he often had to help the women around the house with whatever tasks were needed, and that included cooking.
Williams also discovered his love and talent for singing as a child, when he began singing in his local church choir. Several years ago, he started a YouTube page to share some of his favorite traditional gospel tunes, the kind he listened to growing up. Williams said the page is up to nearly 15,000 followers. Many of them also follow his cooking page.
He credits his wife, Pearlie ’03, ’11, with helping and supporting all his work. The two met while members of the Ebony Singers at UCA, now Judah Chorale. Of course, Williams has been a staff adviser for that group.
“If it’s going to put a smile on someone’s face, edify someone or help them, that’s why I keep doing it,” Williams said. “Just being of service and helping people in general and making an impact is what I do.”