For more than 45 years, Mary Williams used French to engage students in a meaningful learning environment.
Williams recently retired as the world language department chair at TCC. Strong connections with students and faculty marked her time at TCC.
For her Friday night class, Williams went across the street to Walmart to grab snacks. She knew many of the students would be coming straight from work.
“After that first class, the students started bringing food.” Williams said. “We had a big round table in the back of the classroom, and people would just bring things for everyone to snack on, and that was delightful.”
Humberto Rodriguez, who succeeded Williams as department chair, was her student in that Friday night class.
“Friday nights after work, somebody would come up, show up tired from the work week and what not, or just having gotten off, fighting through traffic to make it there,” Rodriguez said. “But you would get to class, and you’d see this pile of snacks that everyone contributed, and you just felt at ease. … It was just a very warm environment, the ideal language learning environment.”
She started teaching French when a professor asked Williams to teach a couple of classes while she was on medical leave. Williams was completing her masters in linguistics at the time and had not thought about teaching. She said she didn’t realize how fun it was going to be.
“The diversity of people, of goals, backgrounds, they all brought something wonderful to the classroom,” she said.
Marsha Hall, who works in the world language department, said Williams is a quiet leader with a lot of wisdom. Williams even walked Hall through a legal issue when Hall was considering quitting teaching.
“She encouraged me to not give up, but to look at the positive and to keep in there,” Hall said. “And years later, I look back, and that was wise advice. In a job, anybody can get discouraged and you feel like quitting. And she was my person to say, ‘No, we’re gonna keep going. We’re gonna continue.’”
Former student Matena Bootz said the learning environment created in Williams’ classroom was supportive, open and allowed room for discussion.
“She taught me what a professor should be like, that a professor should be willing to help you,” Bootz said. “She showed me that with the right professor, you can get through a class, no matter how much you suck at it.”
Williams values friendship and family. She considers herself to be a good listener.
“If I have any really good skills, I think one of them would be that I’m a good sounding board,” she said. “I feel like I can listen to people and not be judgmental.”
Former student Bijoux Furaha said she was very welcoming as a professor.
“She’s patient, and she’s there to help people or a student to improve, no matter your French level and no matter your background,” Furaha said. “She’s a caring person. She’s open and happy all the time.”
In one of her classes, two students from parts of the world that are in political conflict found common ground.
“Somehow that managed to get smoothed out over the course of the first few weeks of class,” Williams said.
She struggles with an autoimmune disease called scleroderma but said it’s not as difficult to navigate due to the support around her.
“My life has not been as hard for me as I think this thing, the same condition, is for many other people,” Williams said. “I think many other people struggle a lot more because they just don’t have the support: emotional, family, friends.”
Throughout her career, Williams has taught many types of students. She found her experiences valuable.
“TCC students are amazing,” Williams said. “I’ve never had a TCC student that was unpleasant. Just great students, great people. I’ve learned a lot from my students.”
