Rate My Professor Jody Williams

Jody Williams serves as the Sam and Cele Keeper Endowed Professor in Peace and Social Justice at the University of Houston's Graduate College of Social Work, a position she has held since 2007. Prior to this endowed chair, she was appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor of Global Justice in the same college in 2003. Williams earned her BA from the University of Vermont in 1972, a Master's in Teaching Spanish and ESL from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1976, and a Master's in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., in 1984. Her distinguished career in human rights activism includes serving as the founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) until February 1998. Under her leadership, the ICBL expanded from two non-governmental organizations with one staff member to over 1,300 organizations in 95 countries. She acted as chief strategist and spokesperson during the pivotal diplomatic conference in Oslo in September 1997, which resulted in the treaty banning antipersonnel landmines.

Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her landmine elimination efforts, marking her as one of only twelve women and the third U.S. woman to win the Peace Prize in its over century-long history. Since 1998, she has served as Campaign Ambassador for the ICBL, speaking worldwide on its behalf. In 2006, she co-founded the Nobel Women’s Initiative with fellow Nobel laureates Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams, and Mairead Corrigan Maguire to promote women's rights activists working for peace, justice, and gender equality. Additionally, she led a High Level Mission on Darfur for the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2007, presenting the mission's report and remaining engaged in efforts to end the conflict. Forbes magazine named her one of the 100 most powerful women in the world in 2004, and she has been awarded fifteen honorary degrees. Her scholarly contributions include co-authoring a book on the landmine crisis, editing a book with Steve Goose and Mary Wareham on the Mine Ban Treaty and its broader impacts (released in 2008), writing articles for international magazines and newspapers, and contributing chapters to numerous books. The Nobel Women’s Initiative maintains an office at the UH Graduate College of Social Work.