Special education expert joins CMU faculty

Alice Williams joined the Central Michigan University faculty as an Assistant Professor of Special Education in the Department of Teacher and Special Education in the Fall of 2024. Williams earned her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Special Education from Florida State University. She was also an ISET (Innovations in Special Education Technology) doctoral fellow in 2023-2024. Before pursuing her PhD, Williams was a Special Education teacher for 9 years and worked as a Speech Language Pathologist for 5 years.

The main focus of her research was to assist educators by summarizing the best practices in teaching reading to children who need support with complex communication needs. Williams also recently published an experimental study working with three elementary students with cognitive impairments. Williams focused on teaching her students three essential skills. First, she emphasized sound blending, which involves the ability to combine individual sounds into words by saying them in sequence. Next, she introduced decoding, the process of converting written messages into an intelligible language. Finally, she taught letter-sound correspondence, which is matching letters with their sounds.  

While at CMU, William’s aim is to make a lasting impact in the field of Special Education, particularly by shaping future educators to become more inclusive and effective in teaching students with disabilities. Her primary research goal is to ensure that all K-12 students receive effective instruction in reading, regardless of their abilities. Williams hopes her research will serve as a valuable resource in the classes she teaches for CMU students/future teachers and inspire students to continue making improvements in Special Education practices.