DUKE STARS — Sheila Meadows Williams
 Name: Sheila Meadows Williams
Years of service: 30
Title: Director, Student Financial Aid
Department: Duke Divinity School
When Sheila Williams arrived at Duke University in 1977 to apply for a job, she literally got stuck here.
"Somewhere between my bus ride to Duke and filling out the application, I lost all my money," she said. "My friends all got back on the bus and left me at Duke!"
A 16-year-old Williams had come with a group of friends to apply for a part-time job in dietary services. Left behind, she waited in the building until 9 p.m. for a Duke employee and family friend to get off work and take her home. Even though the extra hours weren't planned, her trip to Duke was time was well spent; among her friends, she was the only one to land the job as a "hot food checker" in Tray Unit 2, which prepared patient menu requests.
"And they paid me $3.11 an hour," she said. "I will never forget it, because I thought I was rich."
Still here after 30 years, Williams now serves as director of student financial aid in the Duke Divinity School. She worked her way up from food checker to fill different roles at Duke that included clerk typist, student loan processor, and secretary to the assistant dean of Duke Chapel.
"So much has happened," she said. "I've grown up at Duke."
Williams recalled getting her real break while working at Duke Chapel. Maya Angelou came to speak at the Chapel one fall to a group of incoming freshmen. Part of Williams' job was to answer the phones prior to the talk and tell the public it was a closed event.
"What I had to admit to myself was that I had no idea who Maya Angelou was. And I thought,
'Obviously I need to know who this woman is,'" she said. "So I decided, since I had the key to the Chapel, I would go.
"Oh, she was so eloquent. Somewhere in the middle of her talk, I forgot she was talking to the students and I thought she was talking to me!"
Inspired by Angelou proclaiming to Duke freshmen that "they had a right to learn," Williams re-enrolled at North Carolina Central University, where she originally started college. Beginning with one class during her lunch hour, she moved up to night classes and then transferred to Shaw University. Eight years later, after getting married, birthing a child and adopting two more, Williams received her bachelor's degree, magna cum laude.
In 1990, she landed a financial aid assistant position at the Duke Divinity School. As director of financial aid today, Williams finds her work extremely rewarding. More than 40 percent of graduates of the Divinity School leave without any debt, thanks to the work done by Williams and her colleagues.
Rounding out her 17th year at the Divinity School, Williams genuinely appreciates every job she's had at Duke.
"It's impossible to be in the midst of this magnificent place and not be affected by its ethos," she said.
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