Cynthia Schoolar Williams is Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. As a scholar of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature, she has focused on national identity formation, especially in the Atlantic world. Her book Hospitality and the Transatlantic Imagination, 1815-1835 appeared in 2014 from Palgrave Macmillan. In more recent scholarly projects, her focus has shifted toward the eco-historical.
Since joining the faculty at Wentworth, Williams has emphasized interdisciplinary teaching, especially relating to climate change, and her course on the global climate crisis of 1816 recently won the pedagogy prize awarded by the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism.
A native of Houston, Williams earned her undergraduate degree in history from Princeton University, a Master’s in English and American literature from the University of Louisville, and her doctorate in English literature from Tufts University.
As the new Director for the COF Center for Sustainability and the Environment, Cynthia will lead a group of colleagues to support collaborative sustainability efforts across the five campuses. In the upcoming academic year, initiatives include a Fall and Spring Teach-In, the student mini-grant program, Earth Day, and the Muddy River Symposium. In addition, the Director teaches the Environmental Forum class and works with Center faculty to support and advise students pursuing the COF Minor in Sustainability. The focus of this year’s Forum course will be “Cultures of Sustainability.”