Janice Williams is excited to return 'home' to serve as the associate director of the First-Generation Office. A proud graduate of New York City public schools, Janice graduated from Dartmouth in 1992 where she majored in History as a first-generation, low-income student. A few years after Dartmouth, while raising her family, she earned a Masters degree in Higher Education Leadership and a second Masters in Human Dimensions of Organizations both from The University of Texas at Austin.
Supporting students as they navigate college, and specifically, supporting those who come from historically underrepresented communities has been a passion of Janice's throughout her over twenty years in higher education. As a Tucker Foundation Fellow, the summer after her first year at Dartmouth, Janice volunteered as a tutor at the Learning Center at Diné College, the first tribally controlled and accredited collegiate institution in the country. She credits this experience for revealing the deep joy she feels from mentoring and walking alongside college students. After graduating from Dartmouth College, Janice taught adult learners English as a Second Language (ESL) for a year in the Czech Republic and eventually landed at UT Austin where she built her career in both academic advising and program management.
After seventeen years at UT Austin, Janice pivoted and worked as a contractor for Google in downtown Austin, Texas. For two years she worked in their recruiting space, finding software engineering talent for multiple teams in their Mountain View offices, and was later promoted to work closely with hiring managers to find the world's most talented and distinguished senior-level engineers. While Janice enjoyed her time working briefly for one of the best companies in the world, she missed having a positive impact on the lives of college students. Just prior to joining the Dartmouth FGO team, Janice worked at Williams College as both the Assistant Dean for Senior Students and the Williams Firsts community. It was there that she worked closely with campus partners to ensure that every graduating senior successfully completed all degree requirements and crossed the finish line while also providing programming support and mentoring to Williams' first-generation community.