Biography
Lea Williams is an independent scholar and educator, living and working in Greensboro, North Carolina. Currently, she teaches ESOL classes at Guilford Technical Community College. Williams began her career in higher education at the United Negro College Fund headquarters and has served in senior administrative positions at Bennett College and North Carolina A&T State University. She was the executive director of the Women’s Leadership Institute at Bennett College and the National African-American Women’s Leadership Institute, Inc.
Public Speaking
Williams has served as a speaker and a scholar in residence at numerous colleges and universities, among them Cardinal Stritch University, Frostburg State University, Marquette University, and St. Norbert College. She has presented at the International Conference on Servant-Leadership, sponsored by the Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership, the International Leadership Association annual meeting, and the MacArthur Leadership Series at Palm Beach Atlantic University.
Leadership & Board Service
Leadership development experiences include the Center for Creative Leadership, Gallup Leadership Institute and U.S. Army, Leaders Training Course for Educators.
Williams has served on the boards of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, Friends of the Greensboro Public Library (president 2014-2016), the Greensboro Historical Museum, People to People Liaison (vice chair), and the YWCA of Harlem and Greensboro. She chaired the citizens’ advisory council of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.
Awards & Honors
Awards and honors include the YWCA of Greensboro Leadership Award for Outstanding Service, Woman of Achievement Award in Education of the Greensboro Commission on the Status of Women, Hilda A. Davis Award for Educational Leadership of the National Association for Women in Education, Paducah Black Historian Achievement Award in Education, and Kentucky State University Distinguished Service Award. Among dozens of articles written on education issues, “Missing, Presumed Lost: Teachers of Color in the Nation’s Classrooms,” published in Black Collegian, won the 1989 Unity Award in Media for education reporting.
Degrees
Williams has degrees from Columbia University (M.S., Ed.D.), the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (M.A.), and Kentucky State University (B.A.).
