Psyche Williams-Forson’s history with the University of Maryland runs deep.
From graduate student to professor to department chair, she’s taken many of the major steps forward in her career while at this university, earning high praise for her work in American studies and for thoughtfully engaging with students and faculty.
And most recently Williams-Forson has taken one more step forward, filling the role of interim director of the Nyumburu Cultural Center. Its former leader, Ronald Zeigler, retired in August after serving as director of the university’s center for Black student life for 25 years.
“I’ve been brought in to help lead [Nyumburu] into the next phase of [its] journey,” Williams-Forson said. “My number one goal is to provide sound leadership.”
Williams-Forson said she has always been drawn to both academics and student affairs.
After graduating from the University of Virginia, where she dabbled in business and commerce before declaring an English major with a concentration in African American and women’s studies, she moved back to her hometown of Farmville, Virginia.
She bounced around from job to job until she settled at Longwood University as a resident director, her first of many roles in student affairs.
Williams-Forson said the position was such a good fit that she later took a similar job at Western Connecticut State University. But she didn’t forget her passion for teaching and learning.
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While in Connecticut, Williams-Forson interned as a multicultural English instructor at the local community college. She added young students at the four-year university would often come to her for help with their English papers, knowing that she had studied the subject during her own time in school.
“But then after a while, I was like, ‘Well, I can’t really help you, because I don’t know any more than you know,’” she said, looking back on the dynamic with a laugh.
She called the experience the catalyst that inspired her to return to school and pursue a master’s degree. In 1991, she began searching for programs.
Williams-Forson was met with many rejections during her application process. But she never gave up, and her determination ultimately led her to the University of Maryland’s graduate school.
Maryland accepted her as a master’s student in the American Studies program. She also held a graduate assistantship in the Resident Life department.
Williams-Forson said she was so enthralled by the work that she decided to continue on as a doctoral student in the program after completing her master’s.
Philipia Hillman, a longtime friend of Williams-Forson’s, described the educator’s work ethic as soulful and deep.
“It’s so complex,” Hillman said. “She is the one who opened my eyes to women’s studies.”
The two met while they were both in graduate school — Hillman at American University and Williams-Forson at this university — and have kept close ever since.
“She’s like a sister to me,” Hillman said.
After finishing her doctorate, Williams-Forson left this university to teach at McDaniel College in Westminster. She returned in to this university 2005 when a position in the American studies department opened up.
And so the former student became the professor.
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Williams-Forson became an associate professor in 2010 and was named the department’s chair in 2015. She briefly served as the department’s director of graduate studies.
She is also the author of several award-winning books on Black history and food culture, including Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs: Black Women and Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America. She also co-edited the 2011 book Taking Food Public: Redefining Foodways in a Changing Food World.
Eating While Black, which investigated society’s diet-shaming of the Black community, earned her the 2023 James Beard Award in Food Issues & Advocacy. Williams-Forson was the first person to receive an award in this category, she said, adding that she was humbled to earn that honor.
But, she added, “I don’t write for awards. I do the work that I do because I’m passionate about it.”
Now, Williams-Forson will channel that passion into her new role as the Nyumburu Cultural Center’s interim director.
She said her background in student affairs inspired her to accept the position, and has allowed her to engage with students in a more personal way.
“You know, a lot of students come to our campus,” she said. “You can easily get lost in the shuffle. Nyumburu provides [a] home away from home for all students.”
Anne Carswell, Nyumburu’s associate director of 44 years, called Williams-Forson an “outstanding person” whose perspective she is looking forward to learning from and applying to the center.
“She brings a lot of experience, and she’s open to observing and assessing before just jumping into making change,” Carswell said. “Even though it’s not permanent yet … we hope that she will be the permanent choice.”
This story has been updated.
