The Department of English is excited to announce that Professor Andreá N. Williams has received the Susan M. Hartmann Mentoring and Leadership Award. 

According to the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, this award recognizes a faculty member, staff member or student “who has demonstrated outstanding mentoring to and/or leadership on behalf of women or other historically underrepresented groups at the university.” 

Williams specializes in African American literature and 19th-century U.S. literature. She’s the Director of The Women’s Place, The Ohio State University’s central resource for women. Outside of the campus, Williams has mentored underrepresented early career faculty at the Summer Institute on Tenure and Professional Advancement (SITPA). Williams is delighted to receive this award, and she says, “I’m thankful for the colleagues who nominated me for this honor and the many friends who join me in celebrating this moment.”  

Williams explains why she’s passionate about mentoring faculty, staff and students, both here on campus and through national programs. “In describing higher education, people often say that there is a ‘hidden curriculum’ of steps that you need to succeed, and yet these insights often are not shared with first-generation students, women facing the ‘glass ceiling’ of limitation, or people of color challenged by racism,” says Williams. “I want to make the structures of the academy more apparent so that more people have a chance to succeed.” 

Congratulations again to Professor Andreá N. Williams on this achievement!