Education
Shortly after completing his Doctor of Philosophy at Yale University, Cousins went to India with the American Friends Service Committee and began a career in international community development.
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William Cousins
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Doctor Cousins was the first black faculty member at Wellesley College, and among the first African Americans to teach at a top liberal arts college
He led several projects over the years in which reliance on local leaders and community members, rather than outside aid, led to important improvement in slum living conditions. Notable among these was Cousin"s work in the 1970s through United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund on the successful model project in Hyderabad, India"s fifth largest city. There, Cousins and his team concentrated on creating a community spirit before attempting to improve homes and other community facilities.
Cousins was raised in Ansonia, Connecticut.
He was struck with polio when he was eight years old, and was initially unable to walk. He attended Newington (“Newington Home for Crippled Children”), an rehabilitation school, for several years and by the time he entered Yale University, he was able to walk with just a cane.
Cousins was awarded both his undergraduate and doctoral degrees in sociology from Yale University. Most of his career was in community development at the international level
He began with the international Cooperation Administration (predecessor of Agency for International Development) as a rural Community development Advisor in India and Iran.
In 1964, he was appointed by Then he became the first Peace Corps representative in Iran. This was followed by volunteering as one of the three founders of a pilot project in Urban Community Development in Baroda, India, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee. He has taught at four distinctly different Colleges.
Knoxville College, an historically black institutes.
Wellesley College, a New England women's College. Earlham College, a Quaker institution in Indiana and Federal City College in Washington District of Columbia. There he served as Professor, Chair of the Social Science Division and Interim Provost.
Cousins then returned to the academic world for nine years before accepting a job with United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund as an Urban Advisor in New Delhi. He retired from United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in 1987 as Senior Urban Advisor in their New York headquarters.
He has also been a consultant to United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, Cooperative American Relief Everywhere, the World Bank, John Snow Incorporated, Food Aid Management, Sister Cities and the government of India.
This has taken him to Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Egypt and Namibia.
