Dr. William Waters (He/Him/His)
Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literature, College of Arts and Sciences
- Gender Identity: male
- Sexual Orientation: Gay
- Race, Ethnicity, and/or Nationality: white
- Languages: German, French
Prof. Will Waters has taught at BU for a quarter-century and has been able to make several modest contributions in BU’s progress towards greater equity and inclusion. In 2003 he drew the attention of the Faculty Assembly and the new BU president to the continuing omission of the words “sexual orientation” in the university’s nondiscrimination policy. The ensuing discussion led to the long-overdue updating of that policy. In 2007 he and his then-husband became fathers, but BU still had only a “maternity leave” policy explicitly limited to female employees. Prof. Waters, petitioning for parental leave as an “exception” to official policy, became the first male BU employee authorized to take parental leave. The exception led eventually to the ground-up reformulation of the university’s policies in this area. More recently, he served on the University Provost’s Task Force drawing up BU’s first-ever report and set of recommendations concerning LGBTQIA+ faculty and staff.
Contact Dr. Waters for academic support, coming out, mentoring, and general networking.