Virginia Tech® home

Heidi Williams

Heidi Williams, Collegiate Assistant Professor

Heidi Williams
Heidi Williams, Collegiate Assistant Professor

Department of  Sociology
504 McBryde Hall 
225 Stanger Street
Blacksburg, VA 24061
540-231-8839 | hmwill07@vt.edu

Professor Williams is a Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology. Her research investigates the ways in which parental incarceration and extended kin involvement influences childhood wellbeing and young adult outcomes. She teaches a variety of classes that highlight her research, such as Sociology of Intimate Relationships,  Sociology of the Family, Family and Crime, and the special topics course Gender, Family, and Crime in Appalachia.

  • Family and intimate relationships
  • Social Inequalities
  • Criminology
  • Applied Research Methods

Journal Articles

Williams, Heidi M. 2023“We get by with family: Maternal partnership transitions and extended kin coresidence.” Family Relations (20230419). https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12883.

Lyla Byers** and Heidi M. Williams. 2022“Hollywood’s Slim Pickings for Fat Characters: A textual analysis of Gilmore Girls, Sweet Magnolias, This is Us, Shrill, and Dietland.” Fat Studies, 12(2): 273-285. https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2022.2037256.

Scott, Christine L., Heidi M. Williams, and Siri Wilder, eds. 2022. Facing Death: Familial Responses to Illness and Death. Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Vol. 19. Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing Limited.

Högnäs, Robin .S. and Heidi Williams. 2017. “Maternal Kinship Involvement and Father Identity in Fragile Families.” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 38 (2): 249-262.

Williams, Heidi and Robin S. Högnäs. Forthcoming. “Low-Income Single Parents, Postsecondary Education, and Access to Unilateral Support: A Case Study of THEA.” Contemporary Journal of Anthropology and Sociology.