Eli Williams

Cohort

2019

Subfields

Gender and Family, Political Sociology, Social Movements, Stratification and Inequality

Profile

Dr. Eli Williams is a Postdoctoral Teaching Scholar in the department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. Her scholarship focuses primarily on gender, sexuality, and social movements. Eli's current research explores chosen families among LGBTQ+ people. The project answers research questions about motivations, challenges and rewards, and political implications of chosen families. Eli is preparing a book manuscript about the lesbian history of South Bend, Indiana. With a passion for teaching, she has served as a teaching apprentice in Notre Dame’s Gender Studies Program and a graduate associate for the Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence. Before coming to the University Notre Dame for graduate school and her postdoctoral appointment, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College as a Study of Women and Gender major. She earned a Masters in Leadership Studies from Meadville Lombard Theological School, a Unitarian Universalist seminary in Chicago. Eli also served as Executive Director of The LGBTQ Center in South Bend, leading the organization through a pivotal moment of transformation.