Professor Williams joined the College of Law in 2001 after practicing many years in the areas of civil and women’s rights. With Professor Kristin Kalsem, she co-directs the university’s joint-degree program in Law and Women’s Studies, a signature program of the College of Law. Professor Williams teaches in the areas of family law, gender discrimination, and constitutional law. In 2004, she received the Goldman Prize for Teaching Excellence.
Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Williams practiced law in the private and public sectors. She was Vice President and Director of Educational Opportunities at the National Women’s Law Center, where she focused on issues of gender equity in education. During her time at the Center, Professor Williams was lead counsel and successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, which established that educational institutions have a duty to respond to and address complaints of student-to-student sexual harassment. She also practiced at the Department of Justice and at Sidley Austin LLP. Professor Williams began her legal career clerking for the Honorable David S. Nelson, U.S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts.
Professor Williams’ research examines the intersection of race, gender, and class in education law and policy. She has presented papers at numerous conferences, including meetings of the American Association of Law Schools, the Association of Law, Culture and the Humanities, and the Latina/o Critical Race Theory Conference. Professor Williams also has served as a consultant for the Ford Foundation; in that capacity, she chaired the convening of a national conference at UC entitled Women Coming Together: Claiming the Law for Social Change.
Articles, Essays & Book Reviews
Verna's article, Reform or Retrenchment: Single Sex Education and the Construction of Race and Gender, 2004 Wis. L. Rev. 15, was included in the new book by Maurice R. Dyson (Thomas Jefferson) & Daniel B. Weddle (Missouri-Kansas City), Our Promise: Achieving Educational Equality for America's Children (Carolina Academic Press, 2009).
Verna’s article, Reform or Retrenchment?: Single-Sex Education and the Construction of Race and Gender, 2004 Wis. L. Rev. 15, was cited in Christina M. Calce, Tenth Annual Review of Gender and Sexuality Law: Education Law Chapter: Single-sex Education, 10 Geo. J. Gender & L. 573 (2009).
Verna published The First (Black) Lady, 86 Denv. U. L. Rev. 833 (2009).
Verna’s article, Private Choices, Public Consequences: Public Education Reform and Feminist Legal Theory, 12 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 563 (2006), was cited in Mitchell F. Crusto, Unconscious Classism: Entity Equality for Sole Proprietors, 11 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 215 (2009).
Verna was named to a bipartisan committee that will recommend the U.S. attorney and federal marshal for Northern Ohio.
Verna’s article, Reform or Retrenchment?: Single-Sex Education and the Construction of Race and Gender, 2004 Wis. L. Rev. 15, was cited in David S. Cohen, No Boy Left Behind? Single-sex Education and the Essentialist Myth of Masculinity, 84 Ind. L.J. 135 (2009).
Verna was quoted in Brown Recommends to President Obama Appointment of Steve Dettelbach for U.S. Attorney and Reappointment of Peter Elliot for U.S. Marshal, Lexis States News Service, March 2, 2009.
Two of Verna’s articles were cited:
Verna was featured in Memories Will Last a Lifetime, Cincinnati Enquirer, Jan. 21, 2009, at 7A; and Obama Friend Plans to Be Ally Outside Administration, Cincinnati Enquirer, Jan. 4, 2009, at 1B. She was quoted in Ohio to Get New U.S. Attorneys, Marshals Panels to Recommend Names for Obama to Nominate, Cincinnati Enquirer, Jan. 16, 2009.
Verna attended her first meeting of the Ms. Foundation board, of which she is a new member.
Verna posted The Heart of the Game: Putting Race and Educational Equity at the Center of Title IX, 7 Va Sports & Ent. L.J. 21 (2008), on SSRN. She was quoted in Striking a Balance While Becoming a First Family, Nov. 6, 2008, at A1.
The Freedom Center Journal, which is advised by Verna, Kristin Kalsem, and Emily Houh, held a discussion of Pamela Bridgewater's article, Connectedness and Closeted Questions: The Use of History in Developing Feminist Legal Theory, dealing with reproductive rights and the intersection of race, class, and gender
Verna presented Title IX and Social Justice Feminism as part of the 12th Annual UC Faculty Summer Scholarship Series.
Verna represented Barack Obama on a panel discussion of the presidential election at a Town Hall Meeting as part of the 20th Annual Midwest Regional Black Family Reunion Celebration, Look How Far We've Come ... By Faith.
Verna's article, Social Justice Feminism, 19 UCLA Women's L.J. ___ (2008) (with Kristin Kalsem), was cited in Megan Ryan, ed., Comments from the Spring 2007 Harvard Journal of Law & Gender Conference, 31 Harv. J. L. & Gender 378 (2008).
Verna's article, Social Justice Feminism (with Kristin Kalsem) was accepted for publication in the UCLA Women's Law Journal and featured on Larry Solum's Legal Theory Blog.
Verna was quoted in Holding Down the Obama Family Fort `Grandma' Makes the Race Possible, Boston Globe, Mar. 30, 2008.
Verna completed a new article, Social Justice Feminism (with Kristin Kalsem). She and Kristin presented Social Justice Feminism: Words, Movements, Theory and Practice at the 11th Annual Meeting Association for the Study of Law, Culture & the Humanities at Boalt Hall.
Verna made two presentations at Harvard Law School:Verna's remarks at the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender Spring Conference: Changing Social Norms? Title IX and Legal Activism (Apr. 13, 2007) were discussed in Lucy M. Stark, Exposing Hostile Environments for Female Graduate Students in Academic Science Laboratories: The McDonnell Douglas Burden-shifting Framework as a Paradigm for Analyzing the “Women in Science” Problem, 31 Harv. J. L. & Gender 101 (2008). Her article, Reform or Retrenchment?: Single-Sex Education and the Construction of Race and Gender, 2004 Wisc. L. Rev. 15 (2004), was cited in Elizabeth S. Kisthardt, Singling Them Out: The Influence of the “Boy Crisis” on the New Title IX Regulations, 22 Wis. Women's L.J. 313 (2007).
Verna was quoted in:Verna attended the AALS Annual Meeting in New York City, where she spoke on the Section on Minority Groups panel on E-racing the Color Line in Sports (to be published in the Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal).
Verna's article, Reform or Retrenchment?: Single-Sex Education and the Construction of Race and Gender, 2004 Wis. L. Rev. 15, was cited in Rebecca A. Kiselewich, In Defense of the 2006 Title IX Regulations for Single-sex Public Education: How Separate Can Be Equal, 49 B.C. L. Rev. 217 (2008).
Verna spoke at a “Coffee Talk” with students sponsored by the Public Interest Law Group.
Verna participated on a panel, On Pedagogy: “Best Practices” for Critical Teaching, with Bob Chang (Loyola-L.A.), Roberto Corrado (Denver), and Bryan Adamson (Seattle) at the Junior Faculty Development Workshop held in connection with the Twelfth Annual LatCrit Conference in Miami, FL.
Verna participated in the Alumni Teach-In Day, as Laura Martin (Class of 2003), Behnke, Martin & Schulte (Dayton, OH), taught Verna's Juvenile Law Class.
Verna presented Social Justice Feminism (with Kristin Kalsem) as part of the 11th Annual UC Faculty Summer Scholarship Series.
Verna was quoted in a front-page New York Times story, Michelle Obama Adds New Role to Balancing Act, N.Y. Times, May 18, 2007, at A1.
Verna presented Title IX and Social Justice as part of a panel discussion on Title IX and Sexual Harassment/Sexual Assault at the Changing Social Norms? Title IX and Legal Activism Conference sponsored by the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender.
Verna presented Title IX and Gender Norms as part of a panel discussion on Sticky Cultural Norms: The Transformative Potential of the Title IX sponsored by the Hofstra Institute for the Study of Gender, Law and Policy.
Verna participated with Mark Godsey, Ann Hubbard, and Suja Thomas in a moot oral argument in preparation for Pierre Bergeron's argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Winkelman v. Parma City School District.
Verna was featured in the latest issue of UC Magazine. She was quoted in The Woman Behind Obama, Chicago Sun-Times, Jan. 21, 2007.
Verna attended the AALS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Her articles, Private Choices, Public Consequences: Public Education Reform and Feminist Legal Theory, 12 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 563 (2006), and Reading, Writing, and Reparations: Systemic Reform of Public Schools as a Matter of Justice, 11 Mich. J. Race & L. 419 (2006), were cited in Law Review Digests, 36 J.L. & Educ. 113 (2007).
Please see Faculty News Archives for earlier issues.