In the episode, host David Pluviose sits down with Dr. Wendi Williams, Fielding Graduate University's new provost and senior vice president.

Tune in as Dr. Williams shares how her experiences as a first-generation college student shaped the way she thinks about what it means to be an educator, educational administrator, and psychologist.

She shares how she plans to move the ball forward on important diversity issues and craft a student experience centered on health, wellness, and academic achievement.

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KEY POINTS:

• What attracted Dr. Williams to the field of psychology?
• The experiences of first-generation students.
• How Dr. Williams’s background informs her work today.
• Fielding University’s mission when it comes to student inequities.
• Reaching and supporting diverse learners.

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QUOTABLES:

“My background certainly has placed me in the position of seeing systems and structures and institutions that were not working in my favor and were not working with or for me. So, it really puts me in a space of ‘what would it have looked like for it to work for me or to work for my friends.”

“As a woman, as a psychologist, as a black woman, who's a black feminist psychologist, I understand and connect these elements of who I am with my professional and my political, and that all sort of sits inside of my research. But also, my practice as a leader — I think that it's critically important to lead in an authentic space to own all of who I am and to model that for others.”

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PRODUCTS / RESOURCES:

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In The Margins is produced by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education and edited by Instapodcasts (visit at instapodcasts.com)