Spring 2019

Illustration of a rocket ship launching and in the foreground is a stack of books with people climbing them.

Mission Possible

Humankind is poised to make tremendous advances in space exploration and travel within the next 15 years. A number of Ephs are leading the way. Imagine a high-resolution telescope that uses X-rays to “see” inside a black hole. Or a fleet of tiny satellites that inspect the surface of a planet before a larger craft…

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The author, Francis Oakley, in the Oakley Center for Humanities and Social Sciences in Williamstown. During his four decades at Williams, including eight-and-a-half years as president, the college experienced several periods of monumental change. Photograph by Dana Smith

In Pursuit of Liberal Learning

A memoir by historian Francis Oakley offers reflections on teaching, research and the transformation of Williams—and American higher education. In August 1961, Francis Oakley came to Williams to teach early European history. At the time, his concerns were “parochially personal,” as he writes in his memoir, From the Cast-Iron Shore: In Lifelong Pursuit of Liberal…

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Photo of Christopher Sewell ’05, Associate Dean

How We Thrive

A look at Williams’ comprehensive, collective approach to providing students the tools they need to navigate college—and life. Christopher Sewell ’05 visited the dean’s office only twice as a Williams student. Once was during his first year, when he spoke to the dean of the college about a bad grade. The other time was to…

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Portrait of a student in her dorm

#williamsunfiltered

What is life really like at Williams? The question comes up often, in a variety of settings, from campus tours with prospective students to gatherings with far-flung alumni. One answer—many answers, really—can be seen in a new photography project initiated by the college. The photographs, which appear in print and online and are described in…

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A photo from a performance Professor Carol Ockman participated in.

Body of Work

Art history professor Carol Ockman defies easy categorization. With specialties in late 18th- and 19th-century French art as well as contemporary art and culture, she has performed on stage with actors who have won Tony and Academy awards. She wrote a memoir that she then turned into a one-woman show. And she is the curator-at-large…

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Chemical Reaction

Virtual and augmented reality allow students to experience the 3D nature of molecules. In a compact lab in sawyer library one morning last fall, Amy Garcia ’22 donned some black goggles and, holding a wand in one hand, waited to spot a molecule in the darkness around her. “Oh, hello,” she said as she glanced…

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Photograph of Geosciences professor Alice Bradley and computer science and geosciences major Will Downs, Class of 2019.

Ice Watch

Alice Bradley, a geosciences professor studying Arctic climate, and Will Downs ’19, a geosciences and computer science major, have teamed up to analyze 40 years’ worth of weather data to better understand how storms might ultimately impact the Arctic environment. Bradley studied engineering as an undergraduate at Dartmouth and earned a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering,…

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A photograph of a makeshift memorial commemorates those killed in a shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa., in October 2018.

Anti-Semitism in Context

A timely exploration of anti-semitism in a new course taught by religion professor Jeffrey Israel took on even more significance after a fatal shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa., in October 2018. The course, Anti-Semitism, investigates the “intellectual traditions, political movements and cultural objects that portray Jews, Jewishness or Judaism as…

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Painting With Light

In the Winter Study course Stained Glass Tiling: Quasicrystals and Geometric Solids, Building an Invisibility Cloak, students learned the geometric drawing, design and craft skills needed to build a stained glass window. The course was taught by Debora Coombs, a fellow of the British Society of Master Glass Painters, who has 35 years of experience…

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Newly Tenured

In January, six faculty members were promoted to the position of associate professor with tenure, effective July 1. Williams Magazine asked them what stands out most about their time at Williams—so far. You can learn more about their teaching and research at bit.ly/wms2019tenure.

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Scholarship, Shared

Six professors presented their research to the college community during the weekly Faculty Lecture Series in February and early March. This year’s speakers were Chad M. Topaz, professor of mathematics, on “Patterns, Swarms and the Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics”; Phoebe Cohen, associate professor of geosciences, on “The Evolution of Life before Animals: Building Shields, Dodging…

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For Such a Time as This

Fifty years ago this April, Williams’ Afro-American student Association occupied Hopkins Hall and presented the college with 15 demands reflecting the needs and experiences of black students. The occupation ended with the association’s leader, Preston Washington ’70, and Williams’ provost, Steve Lewis ’60, presenting an action plan to address students’ concerns. The seeds of today’s…

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Recently Published

In The Children You Teach: Using a Developmental Framework in the Classroom (Heinemann, 2018), Susan Engel, senior lecturer in psychology and Class of 1959 Director of the Program in Teaching, weaves together psychological research and real stories of students and teachers to show how looking at children through a developmental lens can transform the craft…

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Enormous Acquisition

The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is deepening its engagement with a living artist—and with issues of social and racial justice—with the recent acquisition of Titus Kaphar’s large-scale work, Jerome. A 96-inch x 72-inch oil on canvas, Jerome is the first in a series titled The Jerome Project, inspired by Kaphar’s search for his…

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Beijing Bound

Kai Cash ’19 will take part in a highly selective, one-year master’s program at Tsinghua University in Beijing next year as a Schwarzman Scholar. An economics major from the Bronx, N.Y., Cash plans to pursue a degree in global studies with a focus on public health. He’ll also explore how China’s culture, politics and economy…

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Closing the Gap

Keshav Goel ’19 will study in Ireland next year as a Mitchell Scholar. He’s the first Williams student to receive the highly competitive scholarship since its 2001 inception. An economics and biology major from Monte Sereno, Calif., Goel is an aspiring physician interested in addressing effects of socioeconomic inequity in the U.S. health care system,…

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New Rhodes

Linda Worden ’19, a political economy major from Penticton, B.C., is headed to the University of Oxford next fall as a Rhodes Scholar. Worden plans to pursue an M.Phil. in comparative social policy with an emphasis on social policy reform and its effects—and to pursue her favorite sport, roller derby. Williams Magazine checked in with…

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In Memoriam

The college community said goodbye to Renzie Lamb, retired coach and assistant professor of athletics, who died on Nov. 17, 2018, at the age of 81, and to Charles “Charlie” Fuqua, the Garfield Professor of Ancient Languages, emeritus, who died on Jan. 19 at the age of 83. Lamb coached Williams men’s lacrosse and football…

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A Position of Strength

After hundreds of conversations with Williams students, staff, alumni and faculty over the last six months, and having immersed myself in the history of this stellar institution, I am starting to get a sense of its traditions, heritage and impact. Given the college’s strong foundation and the vitality of its programs, Williams is poised to…

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Comment

Histories in the Making After reading about Williams’ influence on the social and political history of Hawai‘i (“Histories in the Making,” fall 2018), I couldn’t help remembering my Junior Advisor Duane Yee ’57, a graduate of the Iolani School, who taught and administered at the Punahou School for 41 years. As president of the local…

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A Museum for Everyone

A few months into my role as director of the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), I am absorbing as much as I can as fast as I can about this storied institution. I also find myself reflecting on my own very first impressions of art museums, which became important to me as an undergraduate….

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