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She worked there for 2½ years before heading to Hazel
Crest, where she has been ever since.
To this day, Harrison-Williams said, she feels truly blessed;
she gets to live her dream of leading a school district and
touching the lives of so many children that could possibly be
our next generation of leaders.
“I love every aspect of this job,” she said.
Representsall superintendents
Throughout her career as a superintendent, Harrison-
Williams has been active with IASA.
In addition to serving this past year as president-elect of the
association, she also has been treasurer of IASA and served
on various committees.
As a very young child, she said, her grandparents
emphasized the importance of education. She didn’t need
much convincing.
“I loved school,” Harrison-Williams said. “I decided I wanted
to be a teacher while in the first grade. My first-grade
teacher was Ms. Strong, she was beautiful, smart and very
nice. So, I wanted to be just like her.”
While her love of education never waned, Harrison-Williams’
path into the profession turned out to be unconventional.
She dropped out of college after getting pregnant. Shortly
afterwards, she got married and gave birth to her second
child, before returning to school to earn her Bachelor of
Arts degree from Northeastern Illinois University. She would
later earn her Master of Arts degree from Northeastern in
Educational Administration and Doctor of Education degree
from Northern Illinois University. She and her husband,
Ulysses, have been married for 35 years and have two adult
children and four grandchildren.
When she landed her first teaching job in the Chicago Public
Schools, Harrison-Williams was ready and hit the ground
running. Before long, she had put her stamp on the building.
“After two or three years as a teacher, I had a reputation as
the third-floor principal,” she said. “I believed it was not just
the kids in my classroom that were going to behave, but all
the children in the building would behave.”
Fittingly, Harrison-Williams pursued a career in
administration. She was hired as head teacher at a child/
parent center for the city of Chicago, a position she held for
one year before she moved outside the city to Joliet, where
she was hired as a building principal.
She then worked in Joliet for three years before being
hired as a building principal in Valley View Community Unit
School District 365 in Romeoville and Bolingbrook.
Meanwhile, she had her sights on becoming superintendent.
However, it wasn’t an easy decision, she said, since
being a principal, and attending after school events
kept her, at times, from being home with her family. The
superintendency could mean spending more time away
from family.
When she told her daughter her plans to pursue her
doctorate and possibly the superintendency, her daughter
wasn’t thrilled with the idea initially because work and
school meant more time away.
“I assured her it would be the last degree that I would
pursue,” Harrison-Williams said.
The decision paid off. Harrison-Williams was hired as
superintendent at Fairmont School District 89 in Lockport.
Above: Dr. Harrison-Williams checks in on a student practicing
coding during summer school. Below, Harrison-Williams with
husband, Ulysses, the IASA at Superintendents of Distinction
Luncheon in Springfield.