Wendy Williams
-
Mail code: 2780Campus: Poly
-
Dr. Wendy R. Williams is an Associate Professor of English Education who specializes in writing instruction, visual/multimodal narrative, and food studies. Her research has been published in leading journals, including the Journal of Visual Literacy, the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and English Journal. She has received funding from National Endowment for the Humanities, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Arizona Humanities.
Professor Williams has published two books on her research: 1. Listen to the Poet (2018, University of Massachusetts) uses a community-of-practice lens to take a closer look at a youth spoken word poetry group in the Phoenix-metropolitan area to ultimately reimagine writing instruction in schools. 2. Mentoring Youth Writers (forthcoming 2025, NCTE) examines research from a youth writing program and interviews with master teachers around the country to investigate how to inspire student creativity and nurture writing identity in schools and community programs.
Currently, she is working on her third book (data collected), which shares research on visual storytelling. In addition, she is editing a special issue on food studies for English Journal (Nov. 2026 issue).
Professor Williams serves on Ph.D. and M.A. committees and teaches in ASU’s innovative M.A. Narrative Studies Program. She designed CISA's Writing Certificate, has experience with course scaling, and has invented many new courses for ASU:
- ENG 394 Writing about Food
- ENG 446/520 Visual Narratives
- ENG 466 Studio Ghibli Films
- ENG 473 Critical Approaches to Children's Literature
- ENG 484/584 Internship: Mentoring Youth Writers
- ENG 505 Narrative Research Methods
Dr. Williams has also taught YA literature and writing/language teaching methods and supervised student teachers. Prior to becoming a professor, she taught high school (7 years) and middle school (2 years).
Professor Williams is currently interim Chair (Spring 2025) of the university-level Curriculum and Academic Programs Committee (CAPC) and is an elected member of the university’s Grievance Committee. Several of the changes she instituted while Chair of her college’s Awards Committee are still in effect today (e.g., establishing Project Grants, an Innovation Award, a Faculty Mentoring Award). At her own initiative, she has organized many new events/programs to serve ASU students/faculty and the local community: Young Authors' Studio Program (2017-2023), Sparky Slam (3), Humanities Dialogues (6), and Narrative Studies Symposium.
Dr. Williams has served as the “Teaching Creative Writing” Column Editor for English Journal, Editorial Review Board Member for the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Board Member for Arizona English Teachers Association, and Chair of NCTE's Achievement Awards in Writing Advisory Committee. She is currently serving as Co-Chair of NCTE/ELATE’s Commission on Arts and Literacies (120+ members). Professor Williams also reviews manuscripts for journals such as Research in the Teaching of English and presses/series such as Bloomsbury’s BFI Film Classics.
In addition to her work in the academy, Dr. Williams is a certified Maricopa County Master Gardener and a graduate of Scottsdale Culinary Institute’s Le Cordon Bleu program. She cooked alongside Chef Gregory Casale of Gregory’s World Bistro, wrote for Arizona Food and Lifestyles, and worked in event planning for Hilton. She has a monthly cooking column in the master gardener publication, Roots and Shoots. For fun, she studies cello and is working on Bach’s third suite. Years ago, she studied, taught, and competed in Shotokan karate and was invited to join the U.S. team (ISKF/JKA).
- Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction: English Education. Arizona State University
- M.Ed. Secondary Education: English. Arizona State University
- B.A.E. Secondary Education: English (Summa cum laude). Arizona State University
- A.O.S. Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts (Honors). Scottsdale Culinary Institute
