Bio
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Benn E. Williams is an university administrator, historian, editor, and translator. (Appuyez sur "Accueil" au-dessus pour la version française.)
A native of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, he studied German and modern European intellectual history at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Other experiences during those undergraduate years included writing for the college newspaper and literary magazine, helping to create a coffeehouse, tutoring students in German, and studying for a semester at Karl Ruprechts Universität in Heidelberg, Germany. He then discovered France and choses françaises. French was learned at Université Stendhal - Grenoble 3 and at home with a wonderful French family.
After completing an M.A. in modern European history at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Williams had the pleasure of spending substantial periods of time in France: attending graduate courses at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, being associated with the Institut d'histoire du temps présent (then in Cachan), tutoring, interpreting, translating, and researching denunciation in the Lyon region during and after the Second World War.
Serving as a visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Kendall College, and North Central College, Williams taught courses on Western Civilization (both parts of the survey) and World Food History. He now embodies the "alt-ac." He moved into administration starting with a small interdisciplinary graduate program (neuroscience) and now in UIC's Graduate College where he oversees several internal fellowship and award competitions, dabbles in publications and fundraising, and advises graduate students for a number of prestigious fellowships (including Boren, CLS, DAAD, and Fulbright). He recently created and taught a graduate fellowship writing course, coordinates the "WriteON" writing space and check-ins for graduate students and alumni and serves as PI on the university's NSF GFRP. In a previous Graduate College positions, he helped to develop new graduate programs, founded and ran the Digital Humanities Working Group, and assisted with multi-million dollar grant applications.
In addition to his own research and writing centered on the Second World War and the Holocaust -- e.g., an edited book examining the Holocaust through the lens of literature -- he is interested in the history of science and medicine, food history, and the French presence in North America up until the Louisiana Purchase. In terms of the latter, he has been heavily involved with the Center for French Colonial Studies (CFCS) since 2004, where his activities have included the creation (and decade-long chairmanship) of the Carl Ekberg Research Grant, serving on the board of directors, and editing the William L. Potter Publication Series (formerly the Extended Publications Series). As series editor, he was responsible for publications from concept to finished product: acquisitions, editing, preface, permissions, and layout. He has coaxed out eight books -- one co-published with the University Press of Mississippi. Several are available via online booksellers.