Schol-artist. Creative accomplice. Civic imaginer.

Roots & Rhizomes

Hey, y’all! I’m KP Williams, Ph.D. (he/they), a lifelong educator, creative, and curious human who believes we’re at our best when we remember how to play. My work is rooted in the belief that identity is ecological, leadership is relational, and every person holds multitudes waiting to be invited forward.

My story winds through academia, community leadership, creativity, sobriety, queerness, and the liberatory potential of the arts. Creative Recess grew from all these roots and rhizomes: a place to slow down, listen inward, and move with intention.

Sobriety gifted me clarity. Creativity gifted me courage. Community gifted me meaning. Creative Recess brings these together.

From Kentucky roots to a global classroom, this is the journey of a scholar-artist learning to lead with both intellect and intuition. The Schol-Artist Statement traces the evolution of arts-based narrative inquiry into the Creative Recess methodology — a framework that views story as structure and art as motion.

My practice lives where creativity meets critical inquiry. I work as a schol-artist blending scholarship, story, identity, performance, design, and pedagogy.

I’m interested in: curiosity as a civic act • leadership as ecology • identities as systems • creativity as a liberatory force • drag as perspective • decomposing narratives that no longer serve • and cultivating conditions for people to become their most coherent selves.

I’m a schol-artist: I research like a professor, make like an artist, and teach like a neighbor.

What started as a teaching philosophy evolved into a way of being: part reflection, part rigor, wholly human. It’s a living research practice that invites others to treat their own stories as data for liberation.

My work stands at the intersection of the cerebral and the soulful.

I grew up scrawny and stubborn in rural Kentucky, where I learned resilience in hospital hallways and floodwaters, and developed leadership skills in 4-H barns. I became “Professor Squeak” before I ever had a syllabus. I developed an early and enduring love of Wicked and all things Oz. Later, in academia, I earned the title but lost some music – until sobriety and Creative Recess taught me that rigor and joy can share a stage. My theology is technicolor and my praxis is mycelial: curiosity, clarity, creativity, community – braided with Spirit (SQ), the coherence under it all.

Course of Life (Curriculum Vitae)

Highlights from my adventures through school, work, and life are included below. This page updates periodically. KP’s comprehensive CV is linked below.

Disclaimer: I'm not that kind of doctor. My Ph.D. won’t help you with medical advice, clinical diagnoses, or treating mental health conditions. As a certified coach and facilitator, I focus on goal-setting, leadership development, and personal growth, not therapy. That said, I’m a fierce advocate for mental healthcare and am happy to collaborate with your providers or refer you to trusted professionals. Let’s keep the ‘creative’ in Creative Recess — and the ‘recess’ ethically grounded.