Paulia D. Williams knows that most students need some help transitioning to college, especially first-generation college students. She sees it every day in her role with TRIO Programs — and she lived it herself.
Williams says her education and experiences have all built toward her current role with TRIO, and winning the 2024 Dennis A. Pruitt Outstanding Advocate for First-Year Students Award serves as affirmation that she is where she needs to be.
“Often, we think about callings and purpose,” Williams explains. “And I feel like advocating for students is what I’m here to do. Now that I reflect on my career, this role that I’m currently in, I’ve been preparing for this role my entire life.”
A first-generation college student from Union, South Carolina, Williams was encouraged to pursue higher education by her parents. She earned an associate degree from Spartanburg Methodist College and decided to attend USC Columbia to get her bachelor’s after touring campus.
“My tour guide was from Gaffney, and at that point I felt like, ‘OK, if Zach can be from a small town and go to school here, I can be here,’” Williams says.
She’s been in Columbia ever since. Williams completed a very active undergraduate experience in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication. After graduation, she got a job with the Visitor Center. It was a good fit because she’d served as a University Ambassador as a student. And though she loved the position, after four years she decided to look for a new challenge.
“I love the Visitor Center, but I just wanted to keep helping students and feel more fulfilled,” Williams says.
So she earned a master’s degree in higher education administration from Columbia College and got her first position with TRIO Programs — working with middle school students and guidance counselors to help prepare the next generation of college students.
Williams also taught a UNIV 101 class for TRIO students, “and I felt very connected with the students. And I thought, ‘Man, I wish I could do this full time,’” Williams says. So when the opportunity presented itself, she applied to be the Gamecock Guarantee coordinator. The Gamecock Guarantee is a need-based financial and academic support program that helps make a USC degree more attainable for academically talented first-generation students from S.C. families. But, as her letter of nomination attests, she does much more than coordinate that program for her students.
“Mrs. Paulia has made a real difference in my college experience. Without her guidance and support, I wouldn’t have been able to handle the challenges of my first year,” said the student who nominated Williams. “She always ensures we have everything we need to succeed academically and personally.”
The letter continued: “I’m so grateful to have her as a mentor and advocate in my collegiate journey, and I know she’s always there for me whenever I need her. … She is a guiding light to students.”
For Williams, the nomination and award “gave me confirmation that I’m in the right place,” she says.
Althea Counts, TRIO director, also won the award, in 2006. Counts fully agrees that Williams is in the right place. “She embodies what it means to advocate for first-year students,” Counts says. “She has significantly contributed to our students' academic, professional and personal lives and genuinely cares about their holistic development.”
That genuine care is a hallmark of TRIO Programs at USC, and certainly one reason why Williams is the fourth TRIO staff member to win the award. What makes those awards more impressive, as Counts points out, is that each of the TRIO winners was nominated by a student.
“This is an honor,” Counts says. “It speaks volumes about TRIO’s staff support, and it is gratifying to know that students recognize and appreciate our efforts. These nominations and wins occur regularly, a testament to the ongoing support and dedication of the staff as perceived by the students they serve.”
Nominations for the 2025 award are open now, and the deadline is Feb. 28.
But winning an award isn’t the goal for anyone in TRIO — it’s just a positive side effect of loving your job and doing it well. The goal for Williams, and other TRIO staff members, is always to help students achieve their goals and set them up to be successful after graduation.
“When you work with students in higher ed, you’re always the success advocate for the student,” Williams says. “And I keep up with a lot of the students I help, too, even after graduation. Now we get phone calls here with just life updates from former students. And that’s always great.”
The students Williams helps seem to agree. And now she has the hardware to prove it.