Jo Watts Williams ‘55 has dedicated much of her distinguished career to Elon University, and on Saturday, the sisters of a sorority Williams joined in the 1940s honored her with the inaugural Tau Zeta Phi-Sigma Sigma Sigma “Heart of Gold” Award for her inspiration and life of selfless service.
Williams, vice president emerita at the university, was recognized in an Oct. 23 morning banquet in McKinnon Hall. More than 200 alumni members of the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and its predecessor, Tau Zeta Phi, attended, along with members of the Williams family.
“The award is to be given to a Tau Zeta Phi or Sigma Sigma Sigma alumna that has motivated and inspired others to know the power of one heart touching another heart and who has led a life that has exemplified selfless service as a noble virtue,” said Cynthia Tew ’77, president of the sororities’ alumni association. “Jo was a unanimous choice, and her life has modeled the meaning of this award.”
A native of Anson County, Williams earned her bachelor’s degree from Elon College in 1955 and served as a public school teacher in Burlington, Concord and Alamance County for 14 years. She held leadership positions in several education organizations, including the North Carolina Association of Educators, before returning to her alma mater in 1969 as an instructor in the department of education and psychology.
As Williams rose through the faculty ranks at Elon, she also continued her own education, earning her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 1977, she was named Elon’s associate dean of academic affairs and director of the learning resource center, which included a language laboratory, computer-assisted instruction program, tutoring and audio-visual services.
Williams became vice president of development in 1979, leading Elon through highly successful capital campaigns. During her 16-year tenure in development, alumni giving increased from 9 percent to 46 percent, and annual giving increased 92 percent. She retired from that position in 1995 and was immediately named special assistant to the president.
“Leadership has always been the hallmark of Tau Zeta Phi and Sigma Sigma Sigma sisters,” Williams said. “I realized that through the award, they would continue to encourage and recognize that leadership. Then they said I’d been selected as the first recipient! I was awestruck!
“It’s a tremendous honor and very humbling to receive the award, period, much less to be the inaugural recipient.”
In addition to her work with the university, Williams has been devoted to the larger community, serving on the boards of several organizations, including Alamance Regional Medical Center; Alamance Extended Care, the Village at Brookwood; Alamance County Chamber of Commerce; Wachovia Bank & Trust Co.; United Way; The Alamance Foundation; Alamance County Habitat for Humanity; Hospice of Alamance County; the Alamance County chapter of the North Carolina Symphony; Salvation Army; and Burlington Boys and Girls Club. She is also a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church and was named Woman of the Year by the Burlington Civitan Club in 1982.
She was named Elon’s Distinguished Alumna of the Year in 1995 and received the Elon Medallion for outstanding service to Elon in 1998.
“Choosing a recipient for this award did not take long,” said Bonnie Irby Williams ’79, the vice president of the Heart of Gold Annual Campaign and the mother of two current Elon University students. “Jo has inspired and motivated generations of students at Elon and has given herself selflessly for decades to Elon and to Alamance County, and she has represented herself as a woman of leadership.”
Click the link to the right to view a video in Williams’ honor made for the banquet by Marc DeRoberts, video producer at Elon University.