It was Muhlenberg softball that set Laura Williams ’89, who was a psychology major on the education track, on her current path: “I had to take the test to be certified to teach in New Jersey, but it fell on a date that we had a game, so I delayed it,” says Williams, who was co-captain of the first softball team to win a MAC championship in 1989. “I couldn’t get a job teaching that first fall out of school, so I took a job working for an agency, providing supports to people with disabilities. I kind of never left.”
That agency was The Arc, and Williams started at the Morris County, New Jersey, chapter. She then spent 10 years at a similar organization called Community Access before joining The Arc, Ocean County Chapter as its executive director in 2004. Her chapter supports more than 1,000 people with disabilities, including 180 residents living in apartments and group homes in the community. She oversees 500 employees and a $38 million budget. In addition to housing, The Arc provides services like employment support, recreation opportunities, connections with clinicians and more.
It’s not what Williams envisioned herself doing as a Muhlenberg student, but she sees distinct similarities between her career and teaching — both involve having an impact on other people’s lives. She credits athletics (she was also a field hockey player) with helping her make the most of her undergraduate education.
“Those skills of being part of a team, working toward common goals, having high expectations for yourself and others and trying to set the bar high for what you expect in terms of performance have helped me professionally.”
—Laura Williams ’89
“I was surrounded by good students,” she says, noting that her championship team, which will be inducted into the Muhlenberg Athletic Hall of Fame next spring, also had the highest GPA of all teams that year. “You had people who wanted to compete academically as well as athletically, and that helped me for sure.”
She also credits the broad liberal arts education that Muhlenberg provided for helping her feel prepared to move up relatively quickly and to take opportunities as they came: “I didn’t take any finance classes at Muhlenberg, but I ended up going back and getting my MBA in finance from Rutgers to try to marry the social service part and the business side of my opportunities,” she says. “That’s a liberal arts education for you — it gave me a better, more well-rounded opportunity to see what I was interested in, and that helped as I furthered my education.”