Xavier Williams
MATUP Class of 2014–
Senior Policy Analyst at the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery.
Xavier is currently working as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR). He aids in the implementation of the recovery and resiliency plan for storm recovery within NYC. Xavier is a proud alumnus from MA Theories of Urban Practice at Parsons and feels that the program helped get him ready for the workforce in a very unique way. The driving questions within his practice include “Is this the best way we can do something?” and “What are we missing?” which are the same questions that students start with in the TUP program when analyzing an issue, an environment, a discourse.” According to Xavier, the TUP program challenged him to think, write, create and act as practitioner. He landed his position in the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery shortly after graduating from the program. Utilizing the skills he learned at Parsons, his work in the field was accelerated, being appointed as the Designated Chair of the Smart Growth Advisory Committee in the Fall of 2015. In the future, Xavier plans to take all of his experience and apply it to his background in construction and construction management, understanding a more systems level view of the process and asking the important questions.
Xavier challenges students of the program to think, write, and create as urban practitioners in order to create a foundation of a rewarding feedback loops between one’s own life and our increasingly more complex urban world.”
Interview with Xavier in 2012 as he entered the MATUP program.