LaTonda Williams has been named the new associate vice chancellor of human resources for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. 

“I am very excited about having the opportunity to serve the campus in this capacity,” Williams said. “We are streamlining a lot of our procedures, and we are doing a lot of cross-training for our staff so we can be more efficient for all the employees on campus.”

In her new role, Williams will oversee the Department of Human Resources, recruitment, employee benefits, and the Office of Title IX. Williams has more than 30 years of experience in the HR field and brings a wealth of experience to her new role.

In 2007, Williams joined UA Little Rock as an employee benefits manager. She’s also worked as the training and development manager, leave administrator, and employee relations manager before her previous role as Title IX director.

As the new leader of human resources, Williams said she plans to revitalize the employee training and development program, create a new professional development program, and expand diversity and inclusion training on campus.

“The creation of a professional development program is something we are looking forward to in the future,” Williams said. “I think it’s very important to develop our employees. We want to offer more courses for employees who want to better themselves, learn new skills, and know how to better handle situations at work. We will be having more training for employees serving on search committees, microaggressions, and implicit bias. We are revamping the Yes Campaign, the service excellence training program, to bring it back to employees in a new and improved way. We also want to be more collaborative on campus regarding diversity and inclusion training and events.”

Williams earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Henderson State University.  When she moved to Little Rock, the first position she was hired in was as a human resources consultant and employee benefits administrator for CHI St. Vincent Health Systems. After that, Williams has never looked back on a career in human resources, often taking professional development courses, earning new certifications, and learning new skills to excel in the field.

“I found that I really liked human resources,” Williams said. “I am still working with people and still using the skill set I learned through my sociology degree. I took the opportunity to learn more and cross train. I believe in lifelong learning. I made sure that I was able to gain experience in all areas of human resources.”

At UA Little Rock, Williams has earned graduate certificates in management and conflict mediation. She will graduate in 2022 with a Master of Public Administration.