Doris Williams-Powell’s introduction to Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
(PCOM) was a summer job in high school. Born and raised in the Mantua neighborhood
of West Philadelphia, Williams-Powell was selected for one of two openings in PCOM’s
storeroom through a summer program offered by the city.
Then, the summer before her senior year at Overbrook High School, she was hired part-time in PCOM’s print shop. Williams-Powell would finish her schooldays a bit before 1:30 p.m. and work at PCOM from 2 to 5 p.m.
She started that part-time job in 1978. Today, Williams-Powell directs Distribution Services and recently marked her 45th year at the College, making her one of the longest-tenured employees at PCOM. She and her team of seven make sure that mail, both external and interoffice, gets delivered on time and to the correct place across PCOM’s three locations.
The youngest of 11 siblings—seven brothers and three sisters—Williams-Powell contemplated college but said the prospect of a salary and that PCOM had “been so nice to me” in her initial experiences is what drew her to start working at the college right out of high school.
Her first full-time position was in bulk mail (shipments of 200 pieces or more) before she worked in mail operations. In the early days, Williams-Powell would stamp address labels using a “clunker” of a machine that had a foot pedal and ribbons to facilitate stamping.
“I’m in charge of everything I started out doing,” she said of her current role, which she’s held for about a decade. “I love change.”
Williams-Powell describes herself as a “working boss,” someone who will be there to do “whatever needs to be done” and a supervisor who wants everyone on her team to learn, just as she’s done for nearly five decades. Williams-Powell describes her attitude toward Distribution Services employees as one of encouragement: “Come on, we can do this.”
Though many colleagues have departed the College or retired over the years, Williams-Powell said “there have been some wonderful people” she’s worked with, ticking off names of former supervisors or college leaders from decades ago as if they had stopped by her Evans Hall office yesterday.
“It is family—really and truly it is,” she said of PCOM. “I just like helping people.”
For the past 125 years, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) has trained thousands of highly competent, caring physicians, health practitioners and behavioral scientists who practice a “whole person” approach to care—treating people, not just symptoms. PCOM, a private, not-for-profit accredited institution of higher education, operates three campuses (PCOM, PCOM Georgia and PCOM South Georgia) and offers doctoral degrees in clinical psychology, educational psychology, osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy, and school psychology. The college also offers graduate degrees in applied behavior analysis, applied positive psychology, biomedical sciences, forensic medicine, medical laboratory science, mental health counseling, physician assistant studies, and school psychology. PCOM students learn the importance of health promotion, research, education and service to the community. Through its community-based Healthcare Centers, PCOM provides care to medically underserved populations. For more information, visit pcom.edu or call 215-871-6100.
Brandon Lausch
Executive Director, Strategic Communications
Email: brandonla@pcom.edu
Office: 215-871-6312 | Cell:
717-371-0609
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