FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS NEWS

Jean F. Martin-Williams one of two UGA faculty named University Professor in 2023

University of Georgia faculty members John Maltese and Jean F. Martin-Williams have been named University Professors in recognition of their significant impact on the university above and beyond their normal academic responsibilities.

Maltese is the associate dean in the School of Public and International Affairs, where he also holds the Albert Berry Saye Professorship of American Government and Constitutional Law and the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorship. MartinWilliams is an associate dean in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music.

“Dr. Maltese and Dr. Martin-Williams are esteemed teachers, leaders and mentors at the University of Georgia,” said S. Jack Hu, the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “They have shown great dedication to our mission, and they have consistently elevated UGA through their committed teaching, service and scholarship.”

JEAN MARTIN-WILLIAMS: In the years that Martin-Williams has served as a faculty member in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, she has been a trailblazer. She was the first female tenure-track hire in the School of Music in the area of winds, brass and percussion. And for 15 years she worked with UGA’s Lilly Teaching Fellows program, helping to mentor more than 150 junior faculty across campus.

“From the time she shattered her first glass ceiling, earning the distinction of being the first brass player (and first female brass player) to receive the DMA from Manhattan School of Music in 1985, Dr. Martin-Williams has continued her pioneering efforts in a wide variety of areas,” Heidi Lucas, assistant professor of music at the University of Delaware, wrote in a nomination letter. “I believe that Dr. Jean Martin-Williams is the best of what UGA represents. Her commitment to people, service, education, and the promotion of equity and inclusivity are at the heart of who she is.”

As a professor, Martin-Williams is known for her mentorship of female students and commitment to making the School of Music more welcoming and inclusive. For many students, she was their first female horn professor. In recognition of her work as a professor and mentor, Martin-Williams was named a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor in 2012.

Her service at UGA extends beyond the classroom and performance hall to administration. Martin-Williams has been an associate dean in the Franklin College since 2016, in addition to serving as the college’s director of the Office of Diversity Leadership. She is a UGA Arts Council representative, helped to establish the UGA Arts Lab and played a leading role in creating the MFA program in film production, a partnership between the department of theatre and film studies and the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. She has served on more than 50 school- and university-level committees and boards including the President’s Advisory Council, the UGA Athletic Association Board and several search and program review committees.

Martin-Williams has earned considerable recognition for her performances and scholarship including a Grammy Award for her performances in the horn section of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and quarter finalist for Grammy Music Educator of the Year in 2017. Her expertise in the horn has resulted in conference invitations and performances across the U.S. and internationally, including France, China, Finland, Japan, Russia, Brazil and Korea.

Martin-Williams joins fellow University Professors Timothy K. Adams, Jr. and Milton Masciadri as University Professors in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music.