Upcoming Events: HEAR Williams professors speak about issues that really matter to them in the annual Faculty Lecture Series. All lectures take place at 4:15 PM on Thursday and are accessible through zoom.
- Chair of the Environmental Studies Program Nick Howe on the ethics of dam removal on Feb. 17.
- Associate Professor of Latina/o Studies Nelly Rosario on the process of researching and writing a speculative novel-in-progress on Feb. 24.
- Inaugural Chair of Department of Asian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Li Yu on how to teach a child to read, an examination of the history of reading and reading pedagogy in late imperial China on Mar. 3.
- Chair of Neuroscience Program Tim Lebestky shares lessons learned from fruitflies on March 10.
- Associate Professor of Arabic Studies Lama Nassif on noticing and language learning on March 17.
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ICYMI—CLAIMING WILLIAMS PANELS
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we the purple
In the summer of 2021 two intrepid Ephs jumped into an RV and crisscrossed the country interviewing alumni in their hometowns. One of their stops was Overland Park, Kansas, where they connected with Cynthia Sharpe ’94. In this interview she shares thoughts about video games, volunteering for her local high school robotics team, challenging and breaking down barriers, and Williams courses that had an impact on her life. Find the whole series here.
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"The Textbook is Key"
"We want a level playing field for our students. Every single student has a right to have access to these textbooks," says Leyla Rouhi, Mary A. and William Wirt Warren Professor of Romance Languages. For over a decade, alumni have made the book grant possible for all aided students through gifts to the Alumni Fund. Make a gift and buy the book for a student today as the spring semester gets underway!
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a williams life: Harry sheehyIn advance of their 50th reunion, Ephs from the Class of 1975 have created a podcast series created and produced by award-winning journalist Gordon Earle. The initial profile is of classmate Harry Sheehy, who enjoyed tremendous success as a star Williams basketball player, professional athlete, Williams men’s basketball coach, and athletic director, both at Williams and at Dartmouth. Harry retired in 2021 and sat down with Gordon in May of that year. Then last September, Harry suffered a heart attack and stroke, which left him almost completely blind. In a follow-up interview Harry reflects on his health and touches on some of the major themes from their first interview, including the power of faith and the meaning of resilience.
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Alumni in the spotlight- Alice Albright ’83 was recently confirmed by the U.S. Senate as CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a government agency working to reduce global poverty. In accordance with federal conflict of interest law, she will step down from Williams' Board of Trustees, to which she had been appointed in July 2021.
- Monica Fennell ’87 received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to the Republic of Maldives, where she will teach at Maldives National University and help develop pro bono opportunities.
- Jim Levinsohn ’80 was named the inaugural dean of The Jackson Institute of Global Affairs, Yale’s first professional school to be established in 40 years. The economics professor joined Yale’s faculty in 2010.
- The Wall Street Journal reviewed Jeffrey Sutton’s ’83 new book, Who Decides?: States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation saying it “carefully delineates the conflicts, contests and overlapping claims between the federal government, state governments and the people.” (Please note: The article is behind a paywall.)
- An MLB.com story recounts how, in 1983, Gordon Davis ’63, then New York City’s commissioner of parks and recreation, helped sideline a plan crafted by George Steinbrenner ’52, owner of the New York Yankees, to, as Davis describes it, “turn the Yankees into a national team.”
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News from the college
The Return of SpringWith snow still dusting the ground, Williams began in-person classes this week along with community dining, performances, athletic events and other gatherings. President Maud S. Mandel welcomed everyone back in a letter full of news about faculty achievements, building projects and the upcoming commemoration of a half-century of women at Williams, among other initiatives. The campus also celebrated Claiming Williams, welcoming Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohican Indians, and Craig Steven Wilder, author of the Williams Reads book Ebony & Ivy, as keynote speakers. (You can view a recording of Holsey’s address here.) The longer days and extra energy of a busy campus have many looking forward to warmer temperatures ahead. Faculty in FocusFollowing the winter meeting of the Board of Trustees in late January, President Mandel announced the next dean of the college and the next provost, Gretchen Long and Eiko Maruko Siniawer ’97, who each begin three-year terms in July. Long, the Frederick Rudolph ’42 Class of 1965 Professor of American Culture, succeeds Marlene Sandstrom, and Siniawer, the Class of 1955 Memorial Professor of History and chair of Asian studies, succeeds Dukes Love. Sandstrom and Love are both returning to the classroom after six years in their roles. - Matthew Chao (economics)
- José Constantine (geosciences)
- Christophe Koné (German)
- Joel Lee (anthropology)
- Ralph Morrison (mathematics)
- Justin Shaddock (philosophy)
- Daniel Turek (statistics)
- Aaron Williams (computer science)
Also of note:
- “It’s easy to just say that West Africa, or the African continent writ large, is just a place where coups happen, as opposed to asking really complicated questions about both the internal dynamics but also the external dynamics that help contribute to these coups,” says environmental studies professor Brittany Meché in a roundtable discussion about the six coups that have taken place in five African countries in just under a year and a half. (Democracy Now!)
- Explaining the connection between New York City Mayor Eric Adams and President Joe Biden, leadership studies and political science professor Mason Williams says, “Typically, relationships between mayors and presidents flourish when their respective self-interests align.” (New York Public Radio’s Gothamist)
- English professor Shawn Rosenheim explains why Edgar Allan Poe would have quickly mastered the popular word cipher Wordle. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Making NewsThe Williams College Museum of Art got some press recently when the U.S. Postal Service debuted a stamp featuring African American and Native American sculptor Edmonia Lewis, who was born in 1844 in Greenbush, N.Y. The college museum is one of only a few institutions to feature her work in its permanent collection. And Syl Foisy ’24 and friends made local news when they constructed a 15-foot snowman, “Big Fella”—complete with red plastic cups for eyes—on the Berkshire Quad during a big storm last month.
In MemoriamThe Rev. Bob Buckwalter, Williams College chaplain from 1991 to 2000, died on Jan. 15. A human and civil rights advocate, he previously served as pastor for congregations in Alameda, Calif., and in North Adams, Belmont and Williamstown, Mass. Professor of History of Science, Emeritus, Don Beaver—who founded one of the college’s first interdisciplinary departments that ultimately led to today’s Program in Science and Technology Studies—passed away on Feb. 6. CorrectionIn sharing Africana studies professor Neil Roberts’ commentary on the late author Julius S. Scott last month, EphNotes should have provided a link to Scott’s New York Times obituary and included the correct title of his book The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution.
For more stories and news about the Williams community, visit Williams Today. Photos by Bradley Wakoff/Berkshirian Images
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