Hilary Dana Williams is Chair of the Department of Fine + Performing Arts and an Associate Professor of Graphic Design + Digital Media at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire. She is the 2016 recipient of the Jack Jensen Award for Excellence in Teaching, the college’s highest teaching award, which is presented annually to a faculty member who has made a distinct, positive difference in the college’s academic climate.
Through both teaching and design, Hilary aims to move people. She is committed to both independent and client-based design projects that support things she cares about deeply: arts, community, education, environment, farms, food, health, and place. She grew up on the coast of Maine with an art table in her house and a compost bin in her yard, and she attributes her sustained interest in the intersection between visual communication and environmental consciousness to these early roots. She has had her work in environmental graphics, identity design, and editorial design recognized and awarded in regional, national, and international design competitions.
Recently, she collaborated on a small faculty/staff team to develop the Sustainable Learning Initiative at Franklin Falls, a model for a new experiential learning partnership (between the college and a nearby community in the midst of sustainable revitalization) that received two rounds of funding from the Davis Educational Foundation Innovation.
Prior to returning to her home region of New England and joining the Colby-Sawyer community in 2012, Hilary was an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
She received her MFA in Studio Art: Graphic Design from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she developed A Fork in the Road as her Project in Lieu of Thesis. Her ongoing commitment to this graduate work has led to the research and design of a series of seasonal calendars of local foods for various locales: East Tennessee Eats, Iowa Ingredients, and New Hampshire Nosh to date. Hilary received her BA in Studio Art and Environmental Studies from Williams College, where she received the Robert F. Rosenburg Award for Excellence in Environmental Studies, awarded to a member of the graduating class in recognition of outstanding scholarship, the potential for solving local, national, or international environmental problems, and strong prospects for leadership in the environmental community.