Vice President for Community Affairs
As vice president for community affairs, Stelfanie Williams guides Duke’s engagement efforts to advance the well-being of communities through education, health, housing, economic mobility, and nonprofit partnerships. She leads coordination with residents, leaders, local government, anchor institutions, nonprofits, campus members, and other stakeholders. Since appointment in 2018, Stelfanie has collaborated with leaders across Duke and communities, guiding Duke’s strategic community impact plan and the community affairs teams’ strategic initiatives including Homegrown, the Duke Partnership Platform, and the Duke Center for Community-Engaged Scholarship.
Previously, Williams was president of Vance-Granville Community College (VGCC) and, in 2018, was named President of the Year by the North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges. She has served in the administration and on faculty at other institutions, with a current adjunct assistant professor appointment in the College of Education at NC State University.
In addition, Williams has held roles in state and national initiatives, including appointments to the Governor’s Commission on a Sound, Basic Education, the American Association of Community Colleges’ Commission on Structured Pathways, and the MyFutureNC Commission focused on educational attainment, and has consulted for organizations including The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, the Thomas Lakin Institute, and the American Council on Education.
Williams also serves as a corporate director for the State Employees’ Credit Union, the second-largest credit union in the country, and is a former board member of NC IDEA, a private foundation focused on advancing entrepreneurship in NC. Among other civic commitments, Williams serves as a Rotarian and on the boards of Durham Next, Made in Durham, NC State Employees’ Credit Union Foundation, the Regional Transportation Alliance, the Triangle Community Foundation, and YMCA of the Greater Triangle. Her research interests in talent and workforce development, organizational cooperatives, and the community engagement field, align with her service.
Williams is a Duke alumna with a baccalaureate degree in public policy and Spanish, and a master’s degree in project management from Western Carolina University. She also holds a doctorate in education from North Carolina State University, where she was recognized with the I.E. Ready Distinguished Leadership Award in 2014 and honored as a Distinguished Alumna in 2019.