 That year she also co-founded the University's acclaimed Environmental Humanities master's degree program, where she taught for thirteen years and was the Annie Clark Tanner Teaching Fellow.In February 2016, the University approached Williams about contract revisions days after she and her husband successfully bid on a 1,120 acre oil and gas lease to protest federal energy policies in environmentally sensitive areas of Utah.According to "The Salt Lake Tribune", the Williams' "gesture ... angered Utah's political brokers".