The American Association of University Women (AAUW) Nevada County Branch has named Rhea Williamson as the 2025 Edi Silverman Community Service Award recipient. Since 2003, the annual Edi Silverman Community Service Award has recognized a branch member who has made outstanding contributions to the community as well as the branch.
Williamson’s contributions are far and wide. She has served on the Sierra Gold Parks Foundation Board and the San Juan Ridge Taxpayers Association Board. She also has been a member of the North San Juan Fire Protection District Board, including as Treasurer. Due to her efforts, water tanks were installed in remote areas of the Ridge to protect occupants when fire strikes.
Her boundless energy and commitment to her community led her to join the San Juan Ridge Action Community Team, which successfully convinced the Nevada County Board to reinstate the bus line to the San Juan Ridge. Williamson was the lead for the West Sages Firewise Community. She provided pro bono support to entrepreneurs starting new businesses, and she hosted storytellers and musicians performing at the North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center.
On the AAUW Nevada County Branch front, Williamson served as the Local Scholarship Committee Chair for the past three years. During that time, the Branch increased its annual scholarship awards from $20,000 to $79,000. Her enthusiasm and commitment to the AAUW mission of diversity, equity, and inclusion was apparent at the Branch’s March 2024 monthly program focused on LGBTQ+ where she shared her life story as a gay woman working in academia in the engineering field. She worked as a professor and a college administrator, mentoring LGBTQ+ students and fighting both overt and hidden discrimination along the way.
“What stands out for me about Rhea is her utter fearlessness about standing up for what is right,” notes current AAUW Local Scholarships Committee Co-Chair Lisa Turlo. “Despite the personal and professional challenges, she manages to move through the world with grace and kindness.”
For more than 85 years, the AAUW Nevada County Branch has been striving to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. AAUW membership is open to individuals with an associate, baccalaureate, or higher degree from a qualified educational institution. For individuals interested in participating in branch interest groups and other activities, but who have not had the opportunity to complete a degree, the Nevada County Branch offers “Friends of AAUW” membership. For more information about AAUW Nevada County Branch, go to nevadacounty-ca.aauw.net .