Education

  • Ph.D. 2011 – The University of Iowa, Counselor Education and Supervision
  • M.S. 2007 – Minnesota State University, Counseling
  • B.S. 2005 – Minnesota State University, Psychology
  • A.S. 2003 – Colby Community College, Computer Science
  • A.A. 2003 – Colby Community College, General Studies

Areas of Expertise

  • Academic Resilience and Strength-Based Frameworks
  • Multicultural and Social Justice Training Practices
  • Protective Factors and Behavioral Coping Strategies
  • College and Career Readiness

Background

Joseph M. Williams, Ph.D., is a professor in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to joining the UNC faculty, he held tenured positions at George Mason University and the University of Virginia.

Williams has over a decade of practical experience counseling children and adolescents in both school and mental health settings. In addition to his academic and clinical work, he consults with school districts, community organizations, professional associations, and corporations to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. His consulting practice emphasizes meaningful stakeholder engagement and systemic change.

Research

Williams’s research agenda centers on strength-based frameworks for understanding the experiences and resilience of marginalized K-12 students. He focuses on identifying the protective factors and underlying processes that promote academic resilience among students of color and those from low-income backgrounds.

A secondary area of his scholarship explores the development, implementation, and evaluation of multicultural and social justice training practices for helping professionals.

As part of his ongoing research, Williams is currently leading a project examining how students of color cope with racism-related stress in educational settings. This study explores the strategies students use to mitigate its harmful effects and how these behaviors may moderate the impact of racial stress on academic motivation, achievement, aspirations, and psychological well-being.

  • EDUC 705, Internship in School Counseling and Consultation
  • EDUC 766, Practicum in School Counseling
  • EDUC 707, Promoting Cultural Competence and Social Justice in School Counseling
  • EDUC 796B, Independent Study Doctoral Level
  • EDUC 790, Special Topics in Education – Graduate
  • AERA Division E Distinguished Research Award, American Educational Research Association. (August 2023).
  • American Counseling Association.
  • American Education Research Association.
  • American School Counseling Association.
  • Association for Counselor Education and Supervision.
  • Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development.
  • Counselors for Social Justice.
  • Society for Research in Child Development.

Journal Article

Williams, J. M. (2025). What Did You Just Say? Confronting Prejudiced Comments Expressed By Clients/Students in Counseling Sessions. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development. Published.

Williams, J. M., & Cholewa, B. (2025). “Help! My Teacher is Racist”: Strategies for Broaching Race with Teachers During School Counselor-Teacher Consultations. Journal of Counseling and Development. Published.

Williams, J. M., & Cholewa, B. (2024). Helping High-Achieving, Low-Income, Black Students Gain Admission into America’s Elite Colleges: Considerations for School Counselors. Gifted Child Quarterly, 1–12.

Washington, A. R., Williams, J. M., & Byrd, J. (2023). Exposing Blindspots and the Hidden Curriculum within Dominant Counselor Supervision Models. Counselor Education and Supervision. Published. https://doi.org/10.1002/ceas.12260

Letiecq, B., Williams, J. M., & Vesely, C. (2023). Publicly-Housed Black Mothers’ Experiences of Structural Racism in their Everyday Lives. Journal of Marriage and Family, 85, 701–722. https://doi.org/10.1002/ceas.12260

Greenleaf, A. T., Williams, J. M., Leibsohn, J., Park, J., & Walther, B. (2023). “Put on your Walking Shoes”: A Phenomenological Study of Clients’ Experience of Walk and Talk Therapy. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health. Published. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2023.2247318

Washington, A. R., Byrd, J., & Williams, J. M. (2023). Using an Anti-Racist Lens in School Counseling Research. Professional School Counseling, 27. https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X231156559

Williams, J. M., & Chae, N. (2023). Getting In: How High-Achieving, Low-Income Black Students Defy the Odds and Enroll in Highly Selective Colleges. Journal of Negro Education, 92, 198–210.

Book Chapter

Cholewa, B., Laundy, K., & Williams, J. M. (2023). School Counselors Consulting and Collaborating Within MTSS. In The School Counselor’s Guide to Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (p. (2nd ed., pp. 222–(2nd ed., pp245).). Routledge.

Professional

  • Editorial Review Board Member, Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development. (January 2024 – 2028).
  • Reviewer/Referee, U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences’ Social and Behavioral Education Research Grant Peer Review Panel. (July 2021 – 2026).
  • External Reviewer Promotion and Tenure, DePaul University. (2025).
  • Ad Hoc Reviewer, Journal of Negro Education. (September 2023 – 2025).
  • Editorial Review Board Member, Journal of Humanistic Counseling. (July 2022 – July 2025).
  • Associate Editor, Journal of Counseling and Development. (July 2018 – July 2025).
  • National Journal Editor Search Committee Member, Journal of Counselor Education and Supervision. (May 2023 – December 2023).
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