Sara Williams, Indigenization Learning Specialist with the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Windsor, leads the integration of Indigenous knowledge, perspectives, and ways of learning across nursing education (KYLE ARCHIBALD/University of Windsor)
By Sara Meikle
Sara Williams knew she wanted to be a nurse by the time she was in Grade 6.
The pull toward health care came early, shaped by childhood visits to the hospital where her mother worked as a lab technician in Port Huron, Mich.
Annual “bring your child to work” days offered Williams an up-close look at patient care — and sparked an early fascination with the role of the nurse.
She carried that certainty into her first year of nursing school — until reality hit.
“Everyone else on my varsity volleyball team was having a lot of fun in sports and recreation classes, and I was having to do a lot of studying,” she laughs.
After one semester, Williams transferred into a sports and recreation program. That detour took her west to Saskatoon, Sask., where working with the Boys & Girls Club on an urban reserve opened her eyes to Indigenous culture and community-led care.
“It was in Saskatchewan that I really began reconnecting with culture,” she says.
Immersed in Cree teachings, Williams witnessed Indigenous knowledge systems in action.
When she returned home to Aamjiwnaang First Nation, she gained perspective on what had been lost through colonization and what could be reclaimed through care and education.
With encouragement from the community to return to nursing — this time with the goal of becoming a nurse practitioner — Williams completed her nursing degree through the Lambton College–University of Windsor collaborative program, gaining clinical experience in labour and delivery.
While pursuing her Master’s degree, Williams’ ambitions began to shift from bedside care to broader system change.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was approached by the Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre (SOAHAC) with an opportunity they felt had to be led by an Indigenous nurse.
Williams accepted — and went on to lead the first off-reserve COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Canada. The initiative gained federal recognition, but for her, the real measure of success was much closer to home.
“What mattered most was hearing from community members that they felt safe, respected, and cared for,” she says. “That’s when I knew — this is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Around the same time, the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing released a new framework outlining how nursing programs could respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 23.
For Williams, the timing felt anything but coincidental.
“It clicked,” she says. “I could continue my education, stay reciprocal with community and help nursing education do better.”
Now an Indigenization Learning Specialist in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Windsor, Williams brings “two-eyed seeing” to her work — combining nursing expertise with lived Indigenous experience and ways of knowing.
Since joining UWindsor in 2021, Williams has helped reshape nursing curriculum, developed a mandatory third-year Indigenous health course enrolling approximately 350 students each term and led graduate faculty in experiential learning, including participation in a traditional sweat lodge ceremony.
Among the initiatives she’s most proud of is her nursing-adapted version of the Kairos Blanket Exercise.
“It’s powerful, emotional, and yes, sometimes a little heavy,” she says. “But that’s when the change happens.”
Williams’ teaching style reflects her personality: approachable, candid and often funny. She approaches teaching with humility and openness, encouraging dialogue rather than hierarchy.
“I’m probably the least ‘Proffy’ professor you’ll meet,” she laughs. “I keep it real. I have real conversations with my students. We’re all here to learn from each other.”
Returning to UWindsor is a full-circle moment.
“I remember walking these halls as a student and literally sitting in the same desks they sit in,” she says.
Now, as a full-time faculty member, she continues to help the faculty grow, decolonize and Indigenize.
“It’s been super cool to give back to a faculty that gave me so much,” she says. “Now I get to help on this journey to reconciliation.”
At the heart of her work is a simple message she hopes students carry forward into practice: Be kind.
“Everyone comes with a story,” she says. “Come from a place of curiosity, not assumptions. Give your patients — and yourself — a little grace.”
Looking ahead, Williams is most excited about the continued growth she sees within the faculty.
“There’s no finish line,” she says. “This is a journey. And it’s one we’re learning to walk together.”
Get to Know is a series profiling new faculty members who joined the University of Windsor in 2025.