Rachel M. Williams, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, ASHA Fellow

Education:

• Doctor of Philosophy, Howard University
• Master of Arts, University of Central Florida
• Bachelor of Arts, University of Florida

Education:

• Doctor of Philosophy, Howard University
• Master of Arts, University of Central Florida
• Bachelor of Arts, University of Florida

Certification/Licensure

• Certificate of Clinical Competence Speech-Language Pathology American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
• Florida Licensure in Speech-Language Pathology -State of Florida Department of Health Division of Medical Quality Assurance

Dr. Rachel M. Williams is the Director of the Doctor of Speech-Language Pathology (SLP.D.) program, a full professor and graduate supervisor.  Dr. Williams is primarily responsible for the administration of the SLP.D. program, teaching classes at the doctoral and graduate levels and providing clinical education and/or supervision to graduate students. Dr. Williams’ research areas of interest include culturally and linguistically diverse populations, fluency disorders, and diversity and leadership training in higher education.

Dr. Williams has experience in both clinical and educational settings. Prior to working in higher education, she worked for many years as a practicing school-based speech-language pathologist. As a clinician and graduate supervisor, she specializes in working with individuals who stutter. Her primary areas of practice are pediatric speech and language disorders, stuttering, and accent modification. She is listed as a specialist (professional referral) by the Stuttering Foundation of America and volunteers for the NSA’s Broward County (South) Stuttering Support Group held at NSU.

Dr. Williams is a fellow and active member of ASHA. Over the years, she has been a member of and held leadership positions on the executive boards or committees for the following organizations: ASHA, ASHA’s MIB, CSAP, FLASHA, and NBASLH. Currently, she serves as the Chair of the DEI committee and is a member of the Honors and Awards Committee for FLASHA. Lastly, Dr. Williams presents annually at multiple professional conferences and/or conventions. She often presents as an invited speaker or panelist for the topic areas of diversity, equity and inclusion, fluency disorders, and leadership. Recent presentations at the annual FLASHA and NBASLH conventions include Invited Speaker - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: A Panel Discussion (FLASHA); Invited Speaker - Somewhere Over the Rainbow Surviving Weathering and the Minority Tax; Invited Speaker - Pathways to Leadership (NBASLH); and Panel Presentation- Ethics Education in the Workplace (NBASLH).

Publications:

Abdelaziz, M., Matthews, J., Campos, I., Fannin, D., Perez, J., Wilhite, M. and Williams, R. (2021). Student Stories: Microaggressions in Communication Sciences and Disorders. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 30(5), 1990-2002. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_AJSLP-21-00030

Guiberson, M., Hamilton, A. and Williams, R. (2020). I stutter and have an accent-can I be your speech- language pathologist. Clinical education approaches to supervision of student clinicians with speech and fluency disorders. In A. Hamilton, W. Gonzalez, C. Ramos-Pizarro, and J. Rivera Perez (Eds.) Exploring Cultural Responsiveness: Guided scenarios for communication sciences and disorders (csd) professionals (pp. 149-156). Rockville, MD: ASHA Press-American Speech-Language-Hearing-Association.