Wendy Williams
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Mail code: 2780Campus: Poly
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Dr. Wendy R. Williams is an Associate Professor of English Education who specializes in writing instruction and visual/multimodal narrative. Her research has been published in leading journals, such as English Journal, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, English Teaching: Practice and Critique, Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, Pedagogies: An International Journal, Journal of Visual Literacy, and more. She has received funding from National Endowment for the Humanities, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Arizona Humanities.
Professor Williams is the author of two books that share original research on writing in communities. 1. Listen to the Poet: Writing, Performance, and Community in Youth Spoken Word Poetry (2018, University of Massachusetts) takes a closer look at a youth spoken word poetry organization in the Phoenix-metropolitan area through a community-of-practice lens.
2. Mentoring Youth Writers: Six Strategies to Bring out the Author in Every Student (2025, National Council of Teachers of English Press) takes readers inside the Young Authors’ Studio program to explore creativity, writing identity, and mentoring in action.
Currently, she is working on her third book (data collected), which shares research on visual narrative forms including picturebooks, graphic novels, film, and animation. In addition, she is editing a special issue of English Journal on food studies in English language arts with ASU doctoral student, Adriana Diaz-Heppler.
Professor Williams teaches in ASU’s innovative M.A. Narrative Studies Program, and she designed CISA's Writing Certificate. She serves on Ph.D. and M.A. committees, has experience with course scaling, and has created several 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 Mentoring Youth Writers (Internship)
- ENG 505 Narrative Research Methods
In addition, Dr. Williams has taught YA literature courses and the writing and language methods courses for preservice teachers at ASU and supervised ASU and NAU student teachers. Prior to becoming a professor, she taught for seven years at Sunnyslope High School in Phoenix (Honors World Literature, American Literature, etc.) and for two years at the middle school level.
Professor Williams has served as Co-Chair and Chair of the university-level Curriculum and Academic Programs Committee (CAPC). She 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 events), Humanities Dialogues (6 events), and Narrative Studies Symposium.
Dr. Williams is currently serving as an elected Co-Chair of NCTE/ELATE’s Commission on Arts and Literacies (120+ members). She has also 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 the Arizona English Teachers Association, and Chair of NCTE's Achievement Awards in Writing Advisory Committee. She reviews manuscripts for journals such as Research in the Teaching of English and presses/series such as Bloomsbury’s BFI Film Classics.
She is a graduate of Scottsdale Culinary Institute’s Le Cordon Bleu program, a certified Maricopa County Master Gardener, and a cellist. 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, 4.0 GPA). Arizona State University
- A.O.S. Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts (Honors, 4.0 GPA). Scottsdale Culinary Institute
