Michael Ann Williams (born 1953) is an American Folklorist, recognised for her research into vernacular architecture, particularly in Appalachia.
[2] Williams undertook doctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania, achieving a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife.
[2] Her dissertation formed the basis of her book Homeplace: the social use and meaning of the folk dwelling in southwestern North Carolina (1991).
In 2004 she became Head of the newly created Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology: a role she continued to serve in until 2017.
[4] Williams also worked on various applied projects with her graduate students, including "an oral history project documenting the former logging town of Ravensford, North Carolina, part of a larger cultural resource documentation effort accompanying a transfer of land from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians".