Spring 2018

A portrait of Cortney Tunis from the Class of 2004

Election Results

For four members of the Class of 2004, the 2016 presidential election was a turning point that led to profound changes in their work. Cortney Tunis ’04 left an executive search firm to become executive director of the nonprofit Pantsuit Nation. Michael Needham ’04, CEO of Heritage Action, is shepherding the lobbying arm of the…

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Illustration for the story the Language of Family.

The Language of Family

A new book by historian Kendra Taira Field ’99 explores family, race and nation after the U.S. Civil War. Between 1865 and 1915, tens of thousands of formerly enslaved people journeyed out of the South and into the West and beyond. Among them were the ancestors of Kendra Taira Field ’99, who made their way…

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A photo of a typewriter.

(Re)learning How to Write

Cassandra Cleghorn had a hunch: “learning to write on a computer is profoundly different from learning to write on a typewriter. When a student sits down to write at the computer, she enters a very noisy room: a swirl of information, messages from word-processing programs, notifications from this or that social media app. The typewriter…

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Photo from 1984 of a student in a glassblowing workshop.

50 Years of Lessons

Notes from half a century of Winter Study A singular Williams experience, Winter Study is a time for students and professors alike to stretch their intellectual and creative muscles, free from the distraction of other courses or the pressure of being graded. They can use the time to focus on an interest cultivated during the…

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A photo showing three pieces from the Seeds of Divinity exhibit at the Williams College Museum of Art.

Through Ancient Eyes

Stepping into the dimly lit Faison Gallery at the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) feels like taking a step back in time. Masks, sculptures depicting animals and gods, and human-like figurines line the walls and populate the exhibition cases. As visitors follow the carefully illuminated pathway of ancient objects, a deeper understanding of Pre-Columbian…

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A portrait of Zaid Adhami. Dark hair, beard, glasses, wearing an orange button down shirt and black pants and sitting on an orange couch. A white wall is behind him and he looks straight at the camera, hands clasped in front of him.

What Does it Mean to Believe?

Can faith and doubt coexist? If not, where does that leave American Muslims, for instance, who question many religious doctrines despite their commitment to religious tradition? To answer these questions and others, religion professor Zaid Adhami is combining ethnographic research on the Muslim community in Boston with the study of religious texts and contemporary theory…

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Bacteria virus and germs microorganism cells green inversion seamless pattern vector illustration

On the Gut-Brain Axis

Sarah Becker ’18 has had an interest in the microbiome—the bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microscopic organisms that live in our guts—since she was in eighth grade. That’s when she came back from a family trip to Cambodia with a bad case of intestinal parasites. The doctor put her on round after round of antibiotics,…

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Teaching Right-Wing Populism

A New Political Science Course Examines the Roots of Brexit, Trump and Le Pen. Political science professor Darel Paul’s research focuses on how class-based ideologies manifest in public policies. He applies this lens to the rise of right-wing populism in a new 300-level seminar, Right-Wing Populism. The course compares the U.S. to other countries in…

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Williams-Mystic Names First Faculty Fellow

A new program allows Williams faculty to spend a semester at the Williams-Mystic Program in Mystic, Conn. Shawn Rosenheim, professor of English, is serving as the first resident faculty fellow. At Mystic this semester, Rosenheim is participating in field seminars and contributing guest lectures and seminars. He is particularly interested in exploring the links between…

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In Memoriam

Thomas McGill, Hales Professor of Psychology, emeritus, died on Nov. 26, 2017, at the age of 87. McGill began his career at Williams immediately after receiving his Ph.D. in psychology at Princeton in 1958. At Williams, he was noted for his ability to secure federal grants that typically went to larger research universities. He received…

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Four Professor Receive Tenure

Four Williams faculty members have been promoted to associate professor with tenure, effective July 1. They are: Phoebe Cohen, geosciences; Laura Ephraim, political science; Eric Knibbs, history; and Gregory Mitchell, women’s, gender and sexuality studies. A paleontologist, Cohen researches the co-evolution of life and environments throughout earth’s history, with a focus on life before the…

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A Closer Look: Claiming Williams

On Feb. 1 the Williams community took part in Claiming Williams, a day of conversations and questions around the theme Stand With Us Now. Julissa Arce, a writer, CNBC contributor and advocate for immigration rights and education, gave the morning address. She shared her experiences growing up as an undocumented immigrant and the challenges DREAMers…

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At a Glance

Current Research Williams psychology professor Nate Kornell and fellow researchers have shown that monkeys can make fairly accurate judgments about their own memories. “We thought monkeys might be less sophisticated than [humans] are, and, ironically, this would make them less prone to certain mistakes,” he says of the study, published in Proceedings of the Royal…

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Davis Named Schwarzman Scholar

Newton Davis ’12 has been selected to pursue a master’s degree at Tsinghua University in Beijing as part of the highly selective Schwarzman Scholar program. Now in its third year, the program funds a year of study and is designed to prepare the next generation of global leaders for the challenges of the future. Davis…

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In The News

What’s the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation? LeRhonda Manigault-Bryant, associate professor of Africana studies, considered the question in a Feb. 7 HuffPost article published when Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad drew criticism for using Native-American imagery at Couture Fashion Week in Paris. “Imitation is the best form of flattery,” Manigault-Bryant stated. “Most people believe that…

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Positive Pathways

A new partnership between Williams’ Center for Learning in Action (CLiA) and the Berkshire County House of Corrections offers tutoring in writing, reading and math to inmates planning to take the HiSET high school equivalency exam in preparation for their upcoming release. The Positive Pathways Partnership (P3) is coordinated by Sharif Rosen, a CLiA assistant…

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Dining and Dance

For three days in February, more than 50 members of Williams’ dining services staff were in the spotlight, performing live at the Paresky Center in Served, a show based on their everyday movements. The production was developed and choreographed by Forklift Danceworks, which seeks to give voice to people whose work sustains daily lives and…

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A New Role

I’m pleased to be penning my first column as interim president. I was honored when the Board of Trustees asked me to assume this role after 23 years as a professor of physics at Williams. I deeply love this place and have benefited greatly from the college’s support for my teaching and experimental physics research…

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Comment

Solving Problems Creatively I read with great interest Professor Tiku Majumder’s essay, “Solving Problems Creatively,” about creativity and science (part of “Moving Forward, Together,” fall 2017). He mentions the role that Williams is playing as an undergraduate college that “blends the best of both worlds”—research and teaching. Being at Vanderbilt, an R-1 university, I certainly…

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Notes From the Seabird Capital of the World

Sketchbook in hand, I brace myself in the stern of a rocking boat. The rugged profile of Little Barrier Island looms on the horizon. In front of me, a small, dark-backed seabird dashes back and forth, chasing crustaceans along the surface of New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf. It’s odd to be sketching an animal that had been…

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