The School of Journalism and Communication has welcomed their new dean, Rachel Williams-Smith, PhD, who has a doctorate in educational leadership and management as well as in education. Dr. Williams-Smith has spent the last four years as the chair of the Department of Communication at Andrews University.
Having grown up in Tennessee, she is glad to be back near her family. Williams-Smith was raised from the age of 6 in an extremely religious home, which she explains in her book “Born Yesterday: The True Story of a Girl Born in the 20th Century but Raised in the 19th.” Recently, she also has published articles in the Adventist Review including “Musings on a total eclipse: This little light of mine.”
Williams-Smith believes that Christian communicators are essential.
“We have to make a difference in the world,” she said. “You know last week we had the eclipse. I don’t know if you noticed when that sun came out right after [the eclipse]. Did you notice the difference that 1% of sunshine made? And that’s what we are, the effect we can have on this world. Just by being who we are and communicating what we know that others don’t know. It can make such a difference and a powerful influence for God. That’s one of my passions, being able to help train young people to be and understand themselves as Christian communicators, with the mission and purpose of making a difference in this world for eternal good.”
Despite her current connection to the discipline, it took her years to discover the field of communication. While in college, she originally declared a major in English.
“I didn’t know at the time [what I liked to write], back when I was in college,” Williams-Smith said. “I had started journaling at 13 and had been writing on and off, more journal/personal perspective writing. But, I eventually learned that what I loved was the creative nonfiction, literary journalism, the feature type story, and the personal perspective on things.”
Once she found the field of communication, Williams-Smith realized this was where she could keep blossoming in the direction she wanted to go, without pursuing technical writing or composition and rhetoric.
“I would have gone into communication long ago if I had understood what the field was like.”
Williams-Smith has always had a passion for communicating and she advises communicator to start out writing.
“Communication is like a broad platform on which you could potentially build more than one career,” Williams-Smith said. You don’t have to go back to school and get another degree if you decide to change tracks… It’s the experience that you get and the skills you gain and develop while in college.”
Williams-Smith values making a difference in her field and in the world. She encourages others to also make a difference.
“Never feel like you can’t make a difference. In life, some people might think they are too insignificant, odd, normal, or smart. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you have. If you put yourself in God’s hands, and let Him take control, He can use it. Never ever feel like you can’t make a difference.”