During her undergraduate years at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Dr. Brittany (Brit) M. Williams remembers when her first student affairs supervisors and mentors were University of Vermont Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) alumni. Since then, ̽̽ has always piqued her interest.
"Beyond my interpersonal connections, ̽̽ HESA and have strong national and international reputations; graduates who are doing field-altering, meaningful work; and a strong commitment to equity and justice,” says Williams, who joins the program as an assistant professor this year. “Given education's shifting cultural and political landscape, I wanted to be in a program where those values are not only espoused, but also embedded, embraced, and intentionally financially supported.”
Dr. Williams teaches courses on student development theory, college student development, and organizational theory. Her research broadly focuses on equity, bias, racial and identity development, social class and classism in educational contexts, , and education as a social determinant of health.
As a 2022 National Academy of Education (NAEd)/ Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow, Williams studies Black college women and HIV/AIDS in Metro-Atlanta. “My ongoing work supported by the NAEd/ Spencer Fellowship program in health equity is the very beginning of what I endeavor to be a long career exploring health equity from an education-based and educator-trained lens,” she says.
Recently her personal and professional advocacy appeared across the national stage in AIDS United, National Public Radio, Teach for America, the National Black Women’s Health Imperative, and the National Minority Aids Council. She is also a proud co-founder #SisterPhD and #CiteASista, two digitally rooted co-mentoring communities for Black women.
Prior to joining the professoriate, Williams worked in housing and residence life, career services, academic affairs, and student engagement. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, she obtained her Ph.D. in College Student Affairs Administration and Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Research from the University of Georgia.
With college enrollment down nationally, and down especially for students of color, Williams believes that institutions of higher education are at a crossroads with how to attract students of color given the broader social and political atmosphere around the college-going process, as well as the challenge to recruit and retain faculty and staff of color. “My work provides insights and offers solutions for predominately white institutions like ̽̽ to deal with these issues head-on,” she explains, “especially as greater institutional competition means we need to work harder to attract students from a shrinking pool wherein students have seemingly endless options.”
Long before Congress passed , also known as The CROWN Act of 2022, Williams began working with colleagues to explore how natural hair impacts and influences Black college women. Her research findings were published in the earlier this year.
“I knew these realities were ever-present since there are states where I will never seek to live because my hair (locs) was rendered legal to discriminate against,” she says. “Some of these issues may seem like minutiae because people lack context and knowledge, but they have real, material consequences in people's lives. I use my research, my teaching, and my approach to learning to address and consider those things and to help bring along people for whom that understanding isn't immediate.”
Looking ahead, Williams plans to continue shifting her focus to the nexus of education and health. "Covid-19 brought to the forefront many issues that those in education and studying education have known for a while, such as educator burnout, stress, and lack of quality health education for students," she says. “I want to better understand and communicate these issues to and alongside people outside of public health spheres, to be accessible and meaningful in articulating the physical and health associative value of college education, particularly for Black folx, given our disparate negative health outcomes."
Her recently published research in revealed that Black women with at least a bachelor’s degree had better chronic stress management when compared to all other groups of Black women by education. Yet there was one part of the data that she found surprising: Black women with some college or only an associate degree had the worst chronic stress outcomes within their model. Williams believes this raises questions about the differences between institution types and health outcomes for Black women, as well as overall higher education retention given public discourse on free community college for all.
Along with the excitement of working with students and continuing her research, Williams looks forward to exploring all that Vermont can offer in her free time. “My immediate to-do list includes hiking, learning to ski, and getting to know the local community,” she says.
About ̽̽'s HESA Program
ղ’s Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration (HESA) graduate program prepares student affairs professionals to collaboratively transform higher education. Led by award-winning faculty and their campus partners, the program promotes strong and enduring relationships with fellow colleagues. Full-time and part-time students with various levels of experience and backgrounds are welcome to apply.
