Tonya M. Williams

Tonya M. Williams joined the faculty in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Johnson C. Smith University as an Assistant Professor of Political Science in Fall 2011. She is a graduate of the University of California, Davis and Clark Atlanta University in political science. Tonya’s research is anchored in the study of gender, race, public policy and reproductive politics, and women of color in politics at the elite and grassroots levels. In addition to teaching courses in American government, Tonya serves as the Pre-Law advisor and founding Coordinator of the 3+3 Pre-Law Scholars Program, an accelerated dual degree (BA/JD) partnership between JCSU and Charlotte School of Law. Prior to joining Johnson C. Smith University, Tonya was the recipient of the Academy for Educational Development (AED) New Voices Gulf Coast Transformation Fellowship (2007-2010). In addition to her teaching and research portfolio, Tonya has nearly ten years of non-profit experience in program development, grant writing, and policy advocacy and has held leadership positions in reproductive justice and human rights organizations in San Francisco, CA and Atlanta, GA. During her tenure working in social justice organizations, she authored two popular education social justice publications and has authored articles for progressive publications.