 Notably, he received the National Bar Association's A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Preservation of Human and Civil Rights (1999); Governor's Tribute to African-American Leaders of Excellence in State Service (2004) from New York Governor George Pataki; Austrian Decoration for Science and Art in the Division of for Science and Art, Vienna, Austria (2006); Proclamation of Dr. Gregory Howard Williams Day and Honorary Mayor-President by Mayor Kip Holden of Baton Rouge, Louisiana (2006); Key to the City from Mayor Daniel Canan of Muncie, Indiana (2006); Langston Hughes Award from The City College of New York for contributions to the Arts and Letters (2009); Bridges for a Just Community Distinguished Service Citation (2012); and George Washington University Law School Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award (2015).Williams is also honored by the Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties of the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University.Williams also received honorary doctorate degrees from the California Western School of Law (1997), Ball State University (1999), College of Wooster (2000), New York Law School (2009), Skidmore College (2010), and Columbia University (2016).