Dr. Bonita Williams

Professor,
Teacher Education

Office: Jordan Hall 341
Phone: 706-565-7811
E-mail: williams_bonita@columbusstate.edu

Education: Goucher College, Johns Hopkins University, Temple University

Specialty Areas: Middle Grades Education, Reading

Brief Bio: Dr. Bonita Friend Williams is currently Professor of Reading Education at Columbus State University. She received her B.A. in Elementary Education and Psychology from Goucher College, M.Ed. in Reading Education from Johns Hopkins University, and Ed.D. in Psychology of Reading from Temple University. Dr. Williams has taught elementary and middle school students in Maryland and Pennsylvania and has served as district director for a Title 1 federal program. She is certified as a reading specialist as well as an early childhood and middle grades teacher. After 21 years in the public school sector, Dr. Williams joined the Columbus State University faculty in 1996 as Program Coordinator of Middle Grades Education. She presents regularly at local, state, national, and international conferences where she shares literacy and learning strategies she has used and researched during her career as a classroom teacher, district administrator, and college professor. Dr. Williams enthusiastically embraces the philosophy that "every teacher is a reading teacher" and works diligently to help teacher candidates and professional educators discover both the joy and necessity of learning to learn (metacognition) through quality reading, writing, thinking, and problem-solving endeavors.