Thanking Director Maggie Williams

Since 2014, the Institute of Politics has been fortunate to have Maggie Williams serving as our Director. Maggie will leave the IOP after this semester to return to her consulting business.

Maggie has provided steadfast leadership at the IOP during her time here, making a significant impact on the lives of countless undergraduate students. Maggie says:

“It has been a privilege to serve as Director of the Institute of Politics. Above all, I loved working with our undergraduates, their student leaders, and the incomparable IOP staff.”
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Under Maggie’s leadership, the IOP has tailored its programming to serve students as they prepare to enter the current political climate. Maggie says:

“I think that there are a lot of things that I wanted to do here that, to a large degree, I have accomplished in many ways. I think I really focused on thinking about what skill sets are needed for politics today—some are the same ones, some are new ones.”
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 During her time at the Institute, the IOP has instituted two new programs: STEAM and PRE. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) is a program that Maggie introduced and passionately advocated for. The initiative is designed to provide students with opportunities to brainstorm interdisciplinary solutions to 21st century political and governing challenges using the creativity of art and design and the ingenuity of the traditional STEM disciplines.

Maggie also supported and advocated for the creation of the student-conceived and student-run PRE (Politics of Race & Ethnicity) program, which provide undergraduates with safe spaces to engage in honest, insightful discussion on the intersectionality of race, ethnicity and politics. There is no doubt that the IOP has been enriched by these programs and Maggie’s overall transformative leadership. 

On behalf of all IOP staff, students, alumni, and friends, we will miss Maggie and thank her for helping to shape the future of politics!