William Powers Jr., is the 28th president of The University of Texas at Austin. Before taking office on February 1, 2006, he served as dean of the university's School of Law, where he won recognition for recruiting a world-class faculty and attracting highly diverse and talented students.

One of the nation's leading scholars in personal injury and products liability, Powers joined the law school faculty in 1977 and has taught torts, products liability, jurisprudence, legal process, civil procedure, conflict of laws and contracts. In 1997, the university named him to its Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He is a University Distinguished Teaching Professor and holds the Hines H. Baker and Thelma Kelley Baker Chair in Law.

A native of Los Angeles, Powers received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967. After graduating, he joined the U.S. Navy and was stationed on Bahrain Island in the Persian Gulf. Following his military service, he attended Harvard Law School, where he became managing editor of the "Harvard Law Review" and graduated magna cum laude in 1973.

Powers has held teaching appointments at the University of Washington, the Southern Methodist University School of Law, and the University of Michigan School of Law.

Powers was born on May 30, 1946. He is married to Kim Heilbrun, a commercial real estate attorney. He has five children.