University of North Alabama’s Director of Diversity and Institutional Equity Receives Diversity Award
Nov. 9, 2018
By Bryan Rachal
University Communications
FLORENCE, Ala. – Joan Williams, director of the Office of Diversity and Institutional Equity at the University of North Alabama has been recognized by the Alabama Association of Higher Education Diversity Officers (ALAHEDO) as the 2018 recipient of the ALAHEDO Louis Dale Diversity Leadership Award for outstanding contributions to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Higher Education.
Williams was honored Nov. 1 during the sixth annual Comprehensive Diversity Conference at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. Dr. Charles Nash, chairman of the ALAHEDO Board of Directors and University of Alabama System senior vice chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs was on hand to deliver the award.
“To be honored by my colleagues for my diversity leadership is very humbling and gratifying,” said Williams.
The award is named in honor of Dr. Louis Dale, former vice president of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the University of Alabama Birmingham, for his trailblazing inclusive excellence leadership.
Williams has served in many leadership roles within ALAHEDO, including past president and conference chair. She currently serves on the ALAHEDO Board of Directors.
Williams has been the director of the Office of Diversity and Institutional Equity at the University of North Alabama since 2013, where she re-branded the office to include campus-wide diversity initiatives.
“It is very rewarding to understand that the work that I am engaged in has the opportunity to impact communities in positive ways now and in the future, and that is what keeps me committed to this work,” said Williams.
For more information on UNA’s Office of Diversity and Institutional Equity: https://www.una.edu/diversity/
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH ALABAMA
The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs through the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Human Sciences, and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Tuscumbia, Sheffield and Muscle Shoals. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of the NCAA Division I’s ASUN and Big South Conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age or national origin.