Biography
Dr. Miriam F. Williams is a Professor of English in Texas State University's Department of English. She holds a B.S. in Economics and an M.A. in Public Administration from the University of Houston, an M.A. in Technical Communication from Texas State University, and a Ph.D. in Technical Communication & Rhetoric from Texas Tech University. Before joining Texas State University's Department of English in 2004, she worked 8 years for State of Texas agencies as a caseworker, health and safety investigator, policy analyst, policy writer/editor, and program administrator of rules & regulations. Her books and articles focus on public policy writing, plain language, race and ethnicity, and archival research. Her publications include articles in Technical Communication, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Technical Communication Quarterly, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, and Programmatic Perspectives. Her co-edited book with Dr. Octavio Pimentel, Communicating Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in Technical Communication, received CCCC’s 2016 Best Original Collection of Essays in Scientific and Technical Communication award and her co-authored article with Dr. Natasha Jones won the CCCC’s 2020 Best Article Reporting Historical Research or Textual Studies in Technical award. She was elevated to Fellow of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing in 2017, received the 2022 Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Design of Communication (SIGDOC) Rigo Award, the Society for Technical Communication’s 2023 Ken Rainey Distinguished Research award, and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Society for Technical Communication's journal, Technical Communication, from 2020 to 2025.
Beyond her role as professor, she has engaged in high-stakes projects that directly benefit both Texas State University and the broader community. As a Presidential Fellow, she served on the President’s cabinet and co-authored a successful proposal with retired President Denise Trauth that reclassified Texas State University as an Emerging Research University. This designation makes the university eligible for millions in annual state funding through the National Research University Fund, Texas University Fund, Texas Research Incentive Program, and Research University Development Fund. She also served on a Common Experience committee that brought the first Black women to integrate the university back to campus, and edited other successful proposals supporting institutional growth, including proposals for a new doctoral program in Computer Science and a Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society chapter.
Beyond her role as professor, she has engaged in high-stakes projects that directly benefit both Texas State University and the broader community. As a Presidential Fellow, she served on the President’s cabinet and co-authored a successful proposal with retired President Denise Trauth that reclassified Texas State University as an Emerging Research University. This designation makes the university eligible for millions in annual state funding through the National Research University Fund, Texas University Fund, Texas Research Incentive Program, and Research University Development Fund. She also served on a Common Experience committee that brought the first Black women to integrate the university back to campus, and edited other successful proposals supporting institutional growth, including proposals for a new doctoral program in Computer Science and a Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society chapter.
Research Interests
Technical and Scientific Communication, Plain Language, Professional Editing, Public Policy Writing, Archival Research, Race & Technical Communication