In Praise of Memory
My beloved colleague Clara Claiborne Park lived in Williamstown since 1951 with her husband David. They raised four children, and Clara began teaching at the fledgling Berkshire Community College. In 1967 she published The Siege: A Family’s Journey into the World of an Autistic Child. One of the most poignant, compelling memoirs in English, The…
Making Waves
“These young ladies are willing to get after it in practice. They are fierce competitors, caring teammates and love to swim for this team. As a coach, you can’t ask for more than what these two bring to the pool.” — Steven Kuster, head swim coach In their short time at Williams, swimmers Logan Todhunter…
Fun, Seriously
Why so many Williams students major in mathematics. Back in the late 1980s, a few young mathematicians in Bronfman Science Center indulged in a little magical thinking. The mission of the math department had long been to identify and educate the most talented students, which meant the College graduated about a dozen math majors each…
Teach. Write. Learn.
Williams students help Mount Greylock high schoolers become better writers while getting invaluable experience in the classroom. Naomi LaChance was feeling overwhelmed. For weeks the 10th grader had been gathering information for a term paper she was writing about the Nigerian film industry. Now she was having trouble translating the facts into something cohesive. Help…
Stories We Tell About Who We Are
We love the Williams that we know and have known, but we will love even more the Williams that we create. Let us join together, now and in the years to come, to bring that Williams forth. —Adam F. Falk, 17th president of Williams College, in his induction remarks In addition to honoring the accomplishments…
Fertile Ground
“If I had studied Ag in college, they would have convinced me that what I do every day is impossible,” says vegetable farmer, educator, researcher and author Eliot Coleman ’61. Best known for growing vegetables year-round in unheated greenhouses in northern Maine, Coleman has been called America’s most innovative small farmer. Not only is he…
Making Creative Connections
Mellon Curatorial Fellow Dalila Scruggs explores both her own identity and that of the College museum. Out-of-the-box thinking was instilled in me as a kid growing up in Miami, Fla. I was in a “gifted” elementary school class that allowed the students to play with Legos, write stories and engage in brainstorming exercises. I never…
They Said:
Opinions and ideas expressed by members of the Williams community. “We will now be able to provide for the arts, humanities and social sciences the kinds of wonderfully effective teaching and learning spaces that Schow Library affords sciences and math.” — Adam Falk, Williams president, in an Oct. 18 announcement that work will begin anew…
Whither the “G-option”
I loved the story about the “G-option” in the September 2010 issue. I entered Williams in ’62 having been in three high schools in four years. I never took a course in biology. I wanted to fill that gap, but Bio 101 was for the guys going on to be doctors (not me) and was…
Lessons of History
Coming freshly, as I have, to Williams, I’ve sought to learn what I can about the College from its history, an exercise as enjoyable as it is illuminating. Among the many great stories from the College’s past, I’ve been struck by what I see as four lessons, which I expanded on in my Induction Address…
Football Celebrates Fall Firsts
In November, the football team’s newly hired Aaron Kelton became the first Williams coach in any sport to finish a debut season with a perfect record, in his case, 8-0. The Ephs’ seventh undefeated season in 22 years culminated with a victory at Amherst (31-16) on Nov. 13. Kelton was named NESCAC Coach of the…
Young Men’s B-Ball Team Off to a Solid Start
Men’s basketball coach Mike Maker says his team is “looking to form its own identity” this year, having graduated seven seniors last June. Under the leadership of captains Troy Whittington ’11, Harlan Dodson ’11 and James Wang ’12, three of the team’s four upperclassmen, the Ephs sported an 8-0 record and a second-place ranking in…
Women’s Hoops Capitalize on Experience
An early USA Today poll ranked women’s basketball 13th in the country in December. The Ephs were off to a 7-0 start, propelled by what coach Pat Manning characterizes as “tremendous focus and drive” as well as the experience and depth that come with 12 players fresh from last year’s success on the court. (The…
Ice Hockey Vets Lead Scoring Fest
With 18 of 19 starters returning from last year, “Any given night, anybody can contribute,” says men’s ice hockey coach Bill Kangas, who’s in his 22nd year at Williams. His statement rang true when the Ephs, in a rare no-penalty game (their first contest on the road), won 6-1 against Babson in November with six…
Did You Know?
Of the 35,158 alumni Williams has produced since its founding in 1793, 74 percent are still living, according to the College Archives. Based on data collected from the General Catalogue (till 1930) and the Course Catalog, the number of Ephs receiving diplomas each year has grown from four in the Class of 1795 to 525…
The Museum as a Subject
The Williams College Museum of Art reopens on Feb. 3 after nearly two months of work on 10 redesigned galleries (including “Art Re: Art,” at left). The new exhibitions—featuring prominent works from WCMA’s collection as well as objects on loan from Yale, including sculpture by Brancusi and Giacometti and paintings by Thomas Eakins, Paul Klee…
Donovan-Moody and Herschel Smith Fellows Named
Yue-Yi Hwa ’11, a political economy and Arabic studies major from Malaysia, will spend two years at Oxford studying politics as a Donovan-Moody Fellowship recipient. She is writing a thesis on education policy in Malaysia, for which she received multiple summer research grants. She also served as editor-in-chief of the Record. Five other seniors will…
Undergrad Research Wins Physics Prize
Chris Chudzicki ’10 has won the LeRoy Apker Award from the American Physical Society for outstanding achievement in physics by an undergraduate. Working with his thesis adviser, physics professor Frederick Strauch, Chudzicki spent a year researching how to “efficiently and faithfully send quantum information in parallel between different parts of a quantum computer,” he says….
Williams Gets Taste of Morning Joe
Mika Brzezinski ’89 and Joe Scarborough, co-hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, spent election night 2010 at Williams, fielding questions from students, faculty and community members who packed the MainStage of the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance. Clips of the event, “Beyond the Midterms: A New Way Forward,” were subsequently broadcast on the duo’s morning…
Rouhi Top Teacher in Massachusetts
Leyla Rouhi was named 2010 Massachusetts Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). She is the College’s John B. McCoy and John T. McCoy Professor of Romance Languages. In addition to Spanish language classes, Rouhi has taught “Spain’s…
Balderston Named Alumni Trustee
Williams welcomed Thomas M. Balderston ’78 to its Board of Trustees in the fall, filling a vacancy left by Frederick M. Lawrence ’77, who was named president of Brandeis University. Balderston is founder of Balderston Capital and has spent 25 years building and managing venture capital portfolios as a general partner, limited partner and angel…
CDE Alumni Gather for 50th
Williams’ Center for Development Economics drew some 60 alumni from more than 30 countries for a 50th anniversary celebration in October (see http://bit.ly/CDE50th for highlights). More than 1,000 economists have graduated from the one-year master’s program and gone on to prominent posts in their home countries.