Teresa Williams has been appointed director of TRiO Student Support Services at Washington University in St. Louis. TRiO is a federally funded program that provides supplementary financial support and academic coaching for students who are low-income, the first in their families to attend college or have a physical or learning disability.
“Dr. Teresa Williams, a native of East St. Louis, Illinois, brings back to her alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis, 25 years of experience as a college administrator and college access advocate,” said Robyn Hadley, associate vice chancellor for student affairs and dean of the Office of Scholar Programs.
Williams was a TRiO student. And, to be honest, she said, the experience wasn’t great. Williams felt isolated from her classmates, some of whom looked down on her East St. Louis roots. And because she needed to work long hours at a local bank, Williams had no time to participate in co-curricular activities.
“I’m excited that Washington University has made great strides to recruit and support more low-income and first-generation students, but there’s more work to do,” Williams said. “My vision for TRiO Student Support Services at WashU is to strengthen students’ sense of belonging during their time at WashU by using a holistic approach to student-centered, broad-based quality programming.”
Before coming to Washington University, Williams worked for the East St. Louis School District as program manager for GEAR UP, a federally funded program that prepares low-income students for college. Williams also is a veteran higher education administrator who served as a dean at Quincy University, in Illinois, and at the University of Richmond, in Virginia. In addition to her undergraduate degree in African and African-American studies and in political science, both in Arts & Sciences, from Washington University, she earned a graduate degree in education from Webster University and a PhD in higher education administration from Saint Louis University.
Hadley said the TRiO program is one of many initiatives to support low-income students at Washington University. She noted that such students graduate at the same high rate as the general student population.
“The TRIO Program is strategically situated to support students and collaborate with campus partners such as Deneb STARS and the Office of Scholar Programs,” Hadley said. “I know Dr. Williams will continue to raise the bar for the program and our 200-plus TRiO Scholars.”