Nate Williams PhD
Associate Professor
Phone: (618) 650‑3426
Office: 1140 Founders Hall
About Dr. Williams
Hailing from Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was a high school teacher, Dr. Nate Williams (he/him/his/brother), received his doctorate in Urban Education Studies from IUPUI and currently he is an Associate Professor in the Teaching & Learning Department at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. His community-based scholarly activism centers on deciphering current education reform, while ensuring the educational liberation of all marginalized people. Dr. Nate’s research is unapologetically critical and couched in anti-racism practices that center on his overall philosophy of liberating self through the pursuit of freedom, while chasing the shadow of justice. Specifically, Dr. Nate works for and with marginalized communities to increase people’s understanding of their educational and human rights by taking complex policies and making them accessible to the masses. As an activist, Dr. Nate has participated in multiple forums (i.e. community town halls, television, radio, etc) for nearly a decade on the untold truths of charter schools, school vouchers, and the expansion of neoliberal policies in urban cities across the nation. As well, Dr. Nate has played a pivotal role in the development of emerging activist. Currently, Dr. Nate is involved with creating more humane discipline practices for incarcerated Black men in the state of Illinois.
In addition to Dr. Nate’s scholarly activism, Dr. Nate also studies Black-biracial identity development.
Education:
- Ph.D., 2015, Indiana University Indianapolis
- M.A., 2012, Indiana University Bloomington
- B.A., 2009, IUPUI, Indianapolis
Research Profile
As someone from a marginalized group, Dr. Nate sympathizes with similar communities, who are often exploited by the imbalanced relations between researchers/outsiders and the community. As such, Dr. Nate is committed to doing research for marginalized communities such that the people in those communities become collaborators in the research - sometimes called community-engaged research across the social sciences. Here are some examples of some of the community-engaged scholarship Dr. Nate has participated in:
Example 1: Dont Trust the Mind Trust
Example 2a (shorter version): Illusion of Choice *short version
Example 2b (longer version): Illusion of Choice *long version
Example 3: Untold truths: Pushouts in charter schools
Example 4: Newspaper_About a forum where I presented .
Example 5: Magazine_ Cites me at multiple community forums .
Example 6: Interview on a local news outlet.
Example 7: Blog on local activism
Publications:
*Williams, N. A. (Accepted – Fall 2020). The white I don’t like in me. Part of a series in Dismantling White Supremacy One Student at a Time: PHD students experiences through Narrative. [Special issue] International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
*Williams, N.A. & Ware, C. (2019). A tale of two “halfs”: Being Black, while being biracial. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
*Williams, N. A. (2017). The Black kitchen-table agreement: The power of silence during the era of Trump. [Special issue] International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
*Scheurich, J. J., & Williams, N. (2017). An Urban School Principal Encounters a Group of Teachers Who Seek to Address Racism in Their School. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 20(1), 64-79.
*Scheurich, J. J., Bonds, V. L. Phelps-Moultrie, J. A., Currie, B. J., Crayton, T. A., Elfreich, A., Bhathena, C. D., Kyser, T. S., & Williams, N. A. (2016). A community-based framework for educational equity with explicated exemplars. Race, Ethnicity, and Education. [Author order random except for lead author.]
*Scheurich, J. J., Williams, N., & Daniels, D. (2016). Public universities profiteering on charter schools serving students of color: The Ball State University charter authorizer case. National Journal of Urban Education and Practice.
*Williams, N. A. & Annamma, S.A. (2014). We know racial disproportionality in discipline is a problem; What’s the policy got to do wit’ it? A paper published at the International Conference for Urban Education. Montego Bay, Jamaica
*Scheurich, J. J., Williams, N., Phelps-Moultrie, J., Cannon, M. A., Sosa, T., & Shaver, E. J. (2016). Racism in schools. In Lomotey, K. (Ed.). People of color in the United States: Contemporary issues in education, work, communities, health and immigration. Volume I. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
**Scheurich, J. J., Cosby, G., & Williams, N. (2017, July 23). Think national, fight local: Fighting a national neoliberal “destroy public education” model at the local level. Published on Diane Ravitch’s blog, dianeravitch.net, July 23, 2017.
**Williams, N. A. (2017, April). “Communities taking back their schools,” supports white supremacy. Indianapolis Recorder. Editor piece. Retrieved from http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/opinion/article_1cbbe040-5753-11e7-8df8-af5e53a0b063.html
**Williams, N. A. (2016, April). Nothing new under the sun [white paper]. Indianapolis Branch # 3053 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
**Cosby, Gayle, Williams, N. A. & Scheurich, J. (2015, October). Ordinary Indianapolis citizens no longer run IPS schools. Indianapolis Recorder. Editor piece
**Scheurich, J., & Williams, N. (2014, May 4). Indiana schools fail to advance black students. NUVO. Retrieved from http://www.nuvo.net/GuestVoices/archives/2014/05/04/indiana-schools-fail-to-advance-black-students
**Williams, N.A. (2012). Cultural Competency for Indiana [white paper]. Indiana Department of Education. Indiana
Developed a concept paper for the former Indiana’s State Superintendent of Instruction, which highlighted the importance of having culturally competent teachers and what measures should be implemented to ensure that educators, schools, and districts are culturally responsive to the needs of all students
