Art and Social Justice

Emily Williams (she/her/hers) joined the Kalamazoo College community as Executive Director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership in the fall of 2022. During this ARTbreak, we explore the ways that Williams and the Arcus Center have used art to catalyze action, foster empathy, and inspire activism.

Williams has worked with organizations and community stakeholders to further social justice, equity, and inclusion in more than 20 countries, including on a global treaty adopted by the United Nations. For more than a decade, she has worked professionally on local and global levels to create an equitable world by centering those who are most marginalized. As Senior Program Officer at the Solidarity Center, she collaborated with global labor organizations to promote inclusive development, and to advocate for human rights and gender equality. In 2014, she co-founded the Social Justice Initiative at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she built the center from the ground up. The Center’s programming highlighted the interconnections of race, gender, class, and other systems as a critical foundation for work and action to advance social justice. Williams holds an MA in Women’s and Gender Studies from DePaul University and a BA in Psychology from Beloit College.