Dr. Williams currently serves as an assistant professor in the Middle Level and Language & Literacy programs in the department of Instruction and Teacher Education at The University of South Carolina. Currently, she supervises middle level pre service interns as they prepare for student teaching and has taught courses in ELA methods and assessment, instructional strategies for reading, integrated curriculum and socio-cultural perspectives. She has thirteen years of middle school experience. Dr. Williams' research focus includes life histories and identities of pre service teachers, culturally responsive teaching and issues of social justice, critical literacy through a critical race lens. Dr. Williams facilitates PD focused on culturally sustainable pedagogy in middle schools.