Deadric Williams: Enthusiasm on Steroids

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02/22/2019 Added

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In the classroom, Deadric Williams brings energy. His enthusiasm is infectious and lights a fire in his students. The sociology professor’s research also brings clarity to the struggles faced by new parents who struggle with the demands of day-to-day life. This episode of Faculty 101 looks at how this first generation college student from Mississippi found his calling and his passion. Show Notes: https://soc.unl.edu/deadric-williams

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[00:00:00.290]There's trying to understand individual perceptions,
[00:00:02.930]beliefs and norms about society, right?
[00:00:06.980]How do individuals--
[00:00:07.920]Dedrick Williams is energetic,
[00:00:10.210]with shirt sleeves rolled up and tie loosened
[00:00:12.910]the Sociology professor strides back and forth
[00:00:15.980]in front of his class, gesturing and leaning over
[00:00:18.840]to make a point.
[00:00:20.080]The groups help facilitate who we are in a given society.
[00:00:25.410]Today the topic is social groups.
[00:00:27.850]And we're gonna talk about how social institutions
[00:00:31.100]be it your family, be it your social class et cetera,
[00:00:35.680]is shaping those particular beliefs, perceptions and values
[00:00:41.270]that we have of the world.
[00:00:43.090]Dr Williams was shaped by forces in his own life.
[00:00:46.820]He grew up in Mississippi and became the first in his family
[00:00:50.060]to go to college.
[00:00:51.330]I grew up personally in kind of some economic hard times
[00:00:57.188]even along with racism and so those things for me
[00:01:02.880]are not mutually exclusive.
[00:01:04.950]So part of what really motivated me to do the work that I do
[00:01:09.750]is my own biography.
[00:01:11.640]Who influenced Dr Williams along the way
[00:01:14.600]and how does he work to help students.
[00:01:17.420]That's this episode of Faculty 101.
[00:01:20.467](upbeat music)
[00:01:21.302]Okay you should switch partners now.
[00:01:22.970]To be able to inspire young people.
[00:01:24.940](laughing)
[00:01:25.880]Ace your finals.
[00:01:26.850]It's really rewarding.
[00:01:27.990]I love the students.
[00:01:29.970]Welcome to faculty 101, life hacks and success stories
[00:01:34.130]from Nebraska faculty.
[00:01:38.730]First up orientation, who is Dedrick Williams?
[00:01:43.380]Knock knock, hey
[00:01:45.450]How are you?
[00:01:46.976]Good, how are you?
[00:01:47.930]I'm good.
[00:01:48.763]When I arrived at his office
[00:01:49.830]Dr Williams is grabbing a quick bowl of soup at his desk.
[00:01:53.740]You're eating your lunch, well that gives us time to set up.
[00:01:56.900]Oh awesome, awesome. So no problem,
[00:01:58.360]take your time.
[00:01:59.550]A white board on one wall serves as what he calls
[00:02:02.560]a symbolic assembly line.
[00:02:04.910]Written on one side
[00:02:06.610]So I have manuscripts,
[00:02:08.800]what has been accepted for publication, what's under review,
[00:02:12.800]things that are--
[00:02:13.633]And on the other side of the board,
[00:02:15.470]notes from a pilot study.
[00:02:17.520]And trying to understand the relationship between
[00:02:21.630]race based stressors, family relationships
[00:02:24.930]and health outcome, particular physiological outcomes
[00:02:28.230]like cortisol.
[00:02:29.460]Dr Williams juggles research and classes
[00:02:32.140]along with the demands of his young family,
[00:02:34.540]his wife Amber and two children.
[00:02:36.420]Yeah so my daughter Avery is two
[00:02:39.040]and my son Anthony is four.
[00:02:40.810]He's a busy guy and he likes it that way.
[00:02:43.340]Dr Williams pours energy into everything he does.
[00:02:47.440]He says his career is his calling.
[00:02:50.632](guitar music)
[00:02:52.150]Sociology for me now isn't just a job, its a passion.
[00:02:58.130]And I feel like it's my duty to educate students,
[00:03:03.560]to educate the world about the context
[00:03:08.350]that is more broadly the United States
[00:03:10.970]and how do we get here, right.
[00:03:12.780]And what are the mechanism and processes
[00:03:15.390]that leads to a host of outcomes.
[00:03:17.530]And so Sociology is, I live it, breathe it, think it,
[00:03:23.000]again not just as a career but also as a passion.
[00:03:28.180]Time for office hours, how did Dr Williams get here?
[00:03:31.724](upbeat rock music)
[00:03:35.860]As a first generation college student,
[00:03:37.780]Dr Williams was influences by mentors including a professor.
[00:03:42.260]When I was an undergrad, I was an English major.
[00:03:45.880]And I took a social inequality class,
[00:03:48.960]maybe my junior or senior year,
[00:03:50.540]that really revolutionized my mind.
[00:03:52.790]And I was like woaw!
[00:03:53.880]This class is really speaking to my own biography.
[00:03:57.560]And I was fortunate enough that the professor of that class
[00:04:00.740]pulled me aside and was like
[00:04:02.410]you really need to consider graduate school.
[00:04:05.870]Societies shape the very social--
[00:04:08.510]Now that Dr Williams is a college professor,
[00:04:10.760]he reaches out to other freshman
[00:04:12.700]and first generation students.
[00:04:14.680]He teaches a class for Thompson Scholars,
[00:04:17.620]freshman who share a dorm floor
[00:04:19.520]and attend introductory classes together.
[00:04:22.380]Dr Williams knows how they feel because he's been there.
[00:04:25.593]I remember my freshman year being super afraid, timid
[00:04:32.000]not knowing what questions to ask,
[00:04:33.980]not knowing whether I'm thinking about the world
[00:04:36.630]in the right way, maybe I'ma say something stupid.
[00:04:40.130]And so I tried to give students to get an opportunity
[00:04:43.744]to ask me questions, not just about intro to Sociology,
[00:04:49.170]but college, how are you feeling, how are you doing,
[00:04:52.150]are you feeling overwhelmed, are you tired, right.
[00:04:56.010]I know what it feels like to be a first gen student
[00:05:00.030]who trying to figure it all out.
[00:05:02.470]One way we can retain students in my opinion
[00:05:05.490]is to show students that you care,
[00:05:08.020]and that you care more than the grade the make
[00:05:10.590]at the end of the day, but about their overall well being.
[00:05:13.836](bright music)
[00:05:15.520]Next, lab work, a deep dive into research.
[00:05:22.329](baby crying)
[00:05:23.980]Being a new parent is stressful.
[00:05:27.500]But what happens when parents also struggle with depression
[00:05:30.990]and bills they can't pay.
[00:05:33.440]A study of young families conducted by Dr Williams suggests
[00:05:37.260]tough economic issues and mental health problems are linked.
[00:05:43.120]The sample included couples with children
[00:05:46.370]who the kids were one years old, three years old
[00:05:48.890]and five year olds over time, so it's a longitudinal study.
[00:05:51.920]And what we found was early mental health problems
[00:05:56.350]particularly among mothers actually incapacitate families
[00:05:59.590]in a way that increase their economic problems.
[00:06:03.300]But for the other direction,
[00:06:05.990]economic hardship to mental health,
[00:06:08.270]that was more prevalent over time.
[00:06:10.580]So if you had early economic hardship,
[00:06:13.880]it'll affect both mother's and father's mental health
[00:06:17.320]in the case of depression.
[00:06:19.320]And when parents struggle so does the relationship.
[00:06:25.560]Individuals who are married
[00:06:27.020]or are in a cohabiting relationship
[00:06:28.910]when they're experiencing economic hard times
[00:06:32.640]or mental health problems,
[00:06:35.730]there is detrimental to their relationships too.
[00:06:38.420]Information from the study could be used
[00:06:40.640]to help develop policies that promote family strength.
[00:06:44.320]How we think about family leave, right?
[00:06:49.150]How do we approach vacations,
[00:06:52.450]how do we approach when a child is born.
[00:06:54.688](baby crying)
[00:06:56.750]How can we express to families across the United States
[00:07:01.800]that their families matter,
[00:07:03.800]not just by words but through action.
[00:07:08.010]So can businesses and organizations create policies
[00:07:12.360]within their own institutions to promote family time.
[00:07:17.557](upbeat music)
[00:07:20.490]Dr Williams next area of research
[00:07:22.450]involves race based stress and how it affects physiology.
[00:07:26.670]Race based stressors might include
[00:07:29.010]being the only African American at an event
[00:07:31.990]or dealing with subtle racism, like a joke or comment.
[00:07:35.580]An African American person is facing
[00:07:38.160]those types of stressors often.
[00:07:41.440]And os the body is not designed to deal with chronic stress.
[00:07:46.960]In a pilot study with five couples
[00:07:49.300]Dr Williams incorporates surveys and wearable devices
[00:07:52.980]that collect physiological signals like heart rate.
[00:07:55.666](heart beating)
[00:07:56.800]samples of saliva measure cortisol,
[00:07:59.760]the body's built in alarm that signals stress.
[00:08:03.110]We know that African Americans have a disproportionate,
[00:08:06.103]we have racial health disparities in this country.
[00:08:08.780]And part of those health disparities are in terms of
[00:08:11.920]cardiovascular disease, heart disease, strokes, et cetera.
[00:08:16.890]And so many scholars are wondering what are the kind of
[00:08:20.290]physiological things that are happening
[00:08:22.880]that put African Americans at higher risk
[00:08:25.950]of those particular problems.
[00:08:28.060](slow piano music)
[00:08:31.443](moves into playful music)
[00:08:32.900]Now its time for a pop quiz, random questions, life hacks
[00:08:36.850]and wisdom for all of us.
[00:08:40.360]Do you have a habit that makes you happier
[00:08:42.560]or more productive?
[00:08:45.110]Coffee (laughs)
[00:08:48.080]Mine too.
[00:08:49.730]One of the things is self care.
[00:08:53.060]And I'm learning as over time being a new faculty member
[00:08:55.870]of how to juggle time for myself.
[00:08:59.620]Being in the gym or cycling here recently,
[00:09:04.330]it has been a way to relieve my own stress.
[00:09:08.770]Help me with energy so I can maintain that passion, right?
[00:09:12.800]What's your favorite life hack
[00:09:14.880]or piece of advice for students to be successful?
[00:09:18.300]I joke to students often that you don't get the time
[00:09:21.580]to be away from your parents unsupervised
[00:09:24.540]for four to five years,
[00:09:27.520]when you're trying to figure out life.
[00:09:29.450]So try to balance, kind of work and play.
[00:09:35.050]On the one hand part of being in college
[00:09:37.400]is you to do well, to pass your courses
[00:09:39.630]and get the necessary GPA's that you need to graduate,
[00:09:43.550]but at the same time college is also a place of fun.
[00:09:47.040]You get to meet new people, you get to do
[00:09:51.420]things that you probably didn't even foresee yourself doing.
[00:09:54.950]So striking a healthy balance
[00:09:59.080]is what I encourage students to do,
[00:10:01.080]to be responsible but make the most of it.
[00:10:04.950]Finally graduation day,
[00:10:07.060]final thoughts from Dedrick Williams.
[00:10:09.687](marching band music)
[00:10:11.880]Going to college is about life changing moments,
[00:10:14.830]a class that opens a new world.
[00:10:16.970]What were you thinking about?
[00:10:18.040]Well
[00:10:18.945](students laugh)
[00:10:19.990]A professor who makes you think, wow I didn't know that.
[00:10:22.968](Italian music)
[00:10:26.400]Study abroad experiences that allow you
[00:10:28.640]to try on another culture.
[00:10:30.666](Arabic music)
[00:10:33.070]Friendships that last a lifetime.
[00:10:35.463](girl screams)
[00:10:36.454]All right
[00:10:37.510]Dr Williams says it's a privilege
[00:10:39.880]to be part of that journey.
[00:10:41.453]Help determine our goals, our values.
[00:10:43.710]When you are able to teach your passion,
[00:10:46.820]the emotions come out, the passion comes out.
[00:10:50.890]And students don't become just another set of students
[00:10:54.440]I'm teaching that semester,
[00:10:55.960]but human beings sitting in a chair,
[00:10:58.520]who I am really helping
[00:11:02.000]and shaping their critical understanding of the world.
[00:11:05.660]That means the world to me,
[00:11:07.440]to get this opportunity to do that.
[00:11:10.420]And not many people are able to get up every day
[00:11:14.360]to whether that's doing research, or teaching,
[00:11:17.580]to do something you're passionate about.
[00:11:20.218](upbeat music)
[00:11:22.660]That's it for this episode of Faculty 101.
[00:11:25.560]Next week on the podcast
[00:11:27.370]People are gonna go upstairs and go wow!
[00:11:29.360]Is this Morril Hall?
[00:11:30.680]A new exhibit floor opens at the University of Nebraska
[00:11:33.640]State Museum.
[00:11:34.821](upbeat music)
[00:11:36.620]Faculty 101 is produced by
[00:11:38.570]the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
[00:11:41.006](upbeat music)
[00:11:44.010]One of the things I really really want for my kids
[00:11:48.000]is that one day in a good university
[00:11:52.120]that promotes the arts and sciences
[00:11:55.410]where they can take a course and become blown away
[00:11:58.390]and say this is it, and that's what Sociology did for me.

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Deadric Williams: Enthusiasm on Steroids

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