News | 19 July 2022
Cardiff Metropolitan University has conferred an Honorary Fellowship upon Professor Charlotte Williams.
Professor Charlotte Williams OBE grew up in Wales subjected to personal slurs, casual racism and with no sense that her family’s story was in fact part of the wider history of Wales.
Now those attitudes are changing – and she’s playing a major part in that, having been appointed by the Welsh Government to oversee improvement in the teaching of Welsh BAME history.
Speaking at the Class of 2022 graduation at Wales Millennium Centre, Prof Williams said: "I am delighted to be accepting this honorary fellowship award at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
"I am proud to say that my entire education, from primary school through to my PHD has been within the Welsh education system. Half of my career has been spent at Bangor University and accordingly I have had a long association with Cardiff Met University.
"Most recently I have worked with colleagues from the university on educational policy and practice in Wales."
A graduate of Bangor University and recently retired as Professor of Social Work and Deputy Dean at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, Charlotte is known for her groundbreaking text ‘A Tolerant Nation?’ which explored ethnic diversity in Wales. ‘Sugar and Slate, her memoir of growing up mixed race in Wales, also won the Wales Book of the Year Award in 2003.
She has made numerous appearances on television and radio, commenting on multiculturalism in Wales and, in 2007, was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for services to ethnic minorities and equal opportunities in Wales.
"The challenge is to ensure that black and minority ethnic peoples have a presence across the new Welsh curriculum, so that within all of the areas of learning and experience we can hear the sound of their voices, know of their experience, history and contributions, past and present," says Charlotte. "Our curriculum in Wales will ultimately be reflective of our common experience of a vibrant, inclusive, multicultural society. We have a rich history in Wales, built on difference and diversity."
