Media inquiries:

It is our pleasure to assist members of the press.
You can reach us by phone or e-mail:
Jo Procter (413) 597-4279, Jo.Procter@williams.edu
Noelle Lemoine (413) 597-4277, Noelle.Lemoine@williams.edu
Resources for Journalists: www.williams.edu/admin/news/resources

Press Releases

"Leadership in the Black Community": Roundtable Discussion Gathers Congressional Black Caucus Members

posted November 6, 2009.

Five members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) will convene on campus along with other distinguished African American figures for a symposium on "Leadership in the Black American Community: Reflections on the Past, Analysis of the Present, and Visions for the Future."

Williams College Students Help Boost Charter School's Academic Progress

posted November 2, 2009.

Abi Ury was struggling academically when she met Gershwin Penn '11. "I was having a lot of difficulties with math," said Ury, now an 8^th grade student at the Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School (BArT) in Adams. "I really needed extra help." For that extra help, she began attending an intensive after-school academic tutoring program where Penn and other Williams students volunteer regularly, as part of a "Williams/BArT tutoring corps."

Williams College Proves "Local" is Affordable - Dining Services Supports Area Farms While Saving Money

posted October 29, 2009.

On the front door of the Williams College dining services office -- a small grey clapboard house tucked in the middle of the school's campus in bucolic western Massachusetts -- staffers have placed a bumper sticker that reads "No Farms, No Food." It's a message the college takes to heart.

Williams College Welcomes Nine New Assistant Professors

posted October 29, 2009.

Williams College welcomed nine new assistant professors beginning this fall.

Nov. 5 & 6: NASA Astrophysicist Michelle Thaller to Give 2009 Sigma Xi Lectures

posted October 27, 2009.

Michelle Thaller, assistant director for science communication at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, will deliver the 2009 Fall Sigma Xi Research Lectures at Williams College. The two-part series is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, Nov. 5 and 6. The lectures, which are free and open to the public, will be held at 4:15 p.m. both days in Wege Auditorium in The Science Center.

Sustainability and Green Initiatives: Zilkha Center Aims to Change the Culture

posted October 21, 2009.

Keeping Williams College on course to meet its sustainability goals is central to the work of the college's year-old Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives. It takes not only thinking big, but also thinking small.

25 Williams Seniors Elected to Phi Beta Kappa

posted October 19, 2009.

Williams College has announced the 25 members of the class of 2010 elected into the national honor society, Phi Beta Kappa. Membership in Phi Beta Kappa signifies top academic success and achievement at colleges and universities across the countries.

Health Economist Examines Impact of Public Health Coverage - Lara Shore-Sheppard Studies Coverage, Says Reform Essential

posted October 19, 2009.

As the national debate rages over health care reform, Lara Shore-Sheppard, associate professor of economics at Williams College, says one thing is clear: "doing nothing is definitely worse than doing something."

Blue Highways: Anne Skinner Leading Williams College Winter Study to Ethiopia

posted October 14, 2009.

In January, Anne Skinner, senior lecturer in Chemistry at Williams College, along with six Williams students, will visit the headwaters of the Blue Nile to conduct archeological research. The project is part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant.

Summer Internships: Emma Steinkraus '10 Interned at Gardner Museum

posted October 13, 2009.

Late this summer the Steamboat Foundation celebrated its Sixth Annual Final Dinner at New York City's Harvard Club, where Emma Steinkraus '10, a rising senior at Williams College from Fayetteville, Ark., and 12 other Steamboat Scholars officially commemorated the end of the 10-week internship and leadership development fellowship.

Summer Fellowship: Catalina Vielma '10 Studies at Public Policy Institute on PPIA Fellowship

posted October 13, 2009.

Williams College senior Catalina Vielma '10 was awarded a Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellowship and spent eight weeks last summer in intensive study of public policy.

Williams College Planetarium Shows

posted October 2, 2009.

Williams College invites you to experience the wonders of our universe at the Milham Planetarium, located inside the Old Hopkins Observatory at Williams College.

The Fastest Path Around the Bases? World Series Take Notice

posted September 29, 2009.

As the World Series approaches, Major League Baseball teams might want to implement a new base-running strategy developed by members of the Williams College statistics and mathematics department.

Trying and Failing Enhances Learning, According to Research by Nate Kornell

posted September 29, 2009.

Sometimes, coming up with the wrong answer to a question can help you come up with the right one later on.

New Book by Michael Glier, "Along a Long Line," Released Sept. 25

posted September 28, 2009.

"Along A Long Line," a work by artist and Williams College Professor Michael Glier, was published by Hard Press Editions in association with Hudson Mills Press on Friday, Sept. 25. The book follows Glier's artistic and ecological journey along the 70th Longitude.

Adam F. Falk Named 17th President of Williams

posted September 28, 2009.

Williams College announced today the appointment as its 17th president of Adam F. Falk, dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. He will succeed on April 1, 2010, William Wagner, who has served as interim president since July 1, following the move, after nine years, of Morton Owen Schapiro to the presidency of Northwestern University.

Summer Recap: 30 Undergraduates Participate in Faculty Research in Humanities and Social Sciences

posted September 17, 2009.

Thirty undergraduates spent their summer engaged with professors at Williams College on individual research projects.

An Overview: Williams Class of 2013

posted September 14, 2009.

The 254 men and 295 women who make up the Williams College Class of 2013 officially began their first day of classes on Sept. 10, when the college opened for the 2009-10 academic year.

New Academic Buildings Attain LEED Gold Certification

posted September 9, 2009.

Schapiro Hall and the North Academic Building have been awarded LEED Gold status -- a tribute to the many people who helped plan, design, and build these sustainable additions to our campus. This is a first for Williams.

Mellon Mays, Williams College Undergraduate Research Fellowships Encourage Careers in Academia

posted September 4, 2009.

This summer, 10 Williams juniors and four students from Cape Town, South Africa spent six weeks at Williams College doing research in the arts and sciences as a part of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF) and the Williams College Undergraduate Research Fellowship (WCURF).

Two Economics Faculty at Williams Awarded Named Chairs

posted September 4, 2009.

Williams College has announced the award of two named chairs, both in the department of economics.

Williams College Welcomes a Distinguished Group of Scholars and Artists as Visiting Faculty for the Academic Year

posted September 4, 2009.

Eleven distinguished academics and artists will join the Williams faculty for the 2009-10 school year.

Oakley Center for Humanities and Social Sciences Announces 2009-10 Fellowships

posted September 4, 2009.

Eleven faculty and two students received fellowships for research during the academic year 2009-10 at Williams College's Oakley Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

National Science Foundation Awards $400,000 Grant in Computer Science to Jeannie Albrecht at Williams College

posted September 3, 2009.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a five-year grant for $400,000 to Williams College for research on managing distributed applications on mobile computing platforms composed of cell phones, vehicles, and embedded sensors. Jeannie Albrecht, assistant professor of computer science, will direct the project, which is funded as a part of the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, one of the most prestigious awards the NSF grants to young scholars that effectively integrate research into their teaching.

New Book Puts the Mirth in Math

posted August 11, 2009.

Peanut butter and jelly, strawberries and cream, math and ... humor? In math professor Colin Adams' newest collection of stories, math and laughs are the world's next big winning combination. "Riot at the Calc Exam and Other Mathematically Bent Stories" (American Mathematical Society, 2009) is chock full of comedic spoofs that aim to eradicate students' anxieties about math.

Williams Promotes Seven to Full Professor

posted August 10, 2009.

Seven Williams professors have been promoted to the rank of full professor: Daniel P. Aalberts, physics; Ronadh Cox, geosciences; William C. Dudley, philosophy; Antonia E. Foias, anthropology; Kathryn R. Kent, English; Robert M. Savage, biology; and Kenneth K. Savitsky, psychology.

Poet and Scholar Named New Bolin Fellows

posted August 10, 2009.

Williams College has appointed two women as Gaius Charles Bolin Fellows.  They will teach at the college while they complete advanced degrees.  The appointment is for two years.

Lawrence Raab's New Book of Poems Maps the Complexities of Memory

posted July 31, 2009.

Lawrence Raab's new collection of poetry, "The History of Forgetting" (Penguin, 2009), is replete with seemingly casual but rigorously complex poetic explorations of the nature of remembering and forgetting.

"Sublime Voices" Traces Blurred Line Between Fiction and Science in Work of Abe Kobo

posted July 30, 2009.

"Sublime Voices: The Fictional Science and Scientific Fiction of Abe  Kobo," by Christopher Bolton, associate professor of comparative and Japanese literature at Williams College, mines the scientific influence on the fictional works of famed postwar Japanese writer Abe Kobo (1924-1993).

Ben Davidson '10 Named Gilder Lehrman History Scholar (corrected 7/23/09)

posted July 22, 2009.

Williams College senior Ben Davidson of Larchmont, N.Y., has been named a 2009 Gilder Lehrman One-Week History Scholar.

Scientists Capitalize on Extended Solar Eclipse

posted July 22, 2009.

TIANHUANGPING, China July 22, 2009 -- Scientists at this observatory outside Hangzhou joined residents and tourists across China and India in observing the longest total solar eclipse in a century and probably the most-viewed ever.

Henry Kernan '09 Awarded Davis Projects for Peace Prize

posted July 21, 2009.

Henry Kernan of Quito, Ecuador, who graduated from Williams College in June, has been awarded a Davis Projects for Peace grant of $10,000 for his work to promote small-scale mining in Papua, New Guinea while reducing the environmental harms caused by current mining practices, particularly in regard to mercury pollution.

James McAllister Named "Dream Mentor"

posted July 21, 2009.

The University of Virginia Miller Center has named James McAllister a "Dream Mentor" in their Governing America in a Global Era Program (GAGE).

New Book on Supreme Court by Historian James MacGregor Burns

posted July 6, 2009.

James MacGregor Burns, the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams College, is the author of a new book titled "Packing the Court: The Rise of Judicial Power and the Coming Crisis of the Supreme Court" (Penguin).

Astronomer Sheds Light on Earth-Based Solar Eclipse Research

posted June 10, 2009.

The July 22 total solar eclipse, visible from China and India (but not the United States), will be the longest in the 21st century. Teams of scientists from around the world will gather in China to study the corona, the sun's outermost atmosphere, for almost six minutes, unusually long for totality.

International Problem-Solving Courts, by James L. Nolan

posted May 29, 2009.

James L. Nolan Jr., professor of sociology at Williams College, is the author of "Legal Accents, Legal Borrowing: The International Problem-Solving Court Movement," published by Princeton University Press.

Summer Program in Mathematics Wins New NSF Support

posted May 29, 2009.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Williams College a five-year $630,216 grant in support of "SMALL," a summer undergraduate research program in math. The SMALL program also received NSF funding in July 2004.

Sandstrom Awarded NSF Grant in Support of Research on School Bullying

posted April 21, 2009.

The National Science Foundation has announced the award of a grant of $77,092 to Williams College to support the work of Marlene Sandstrom, associate professor of psychology.  The title of her research project is "Pluralistic Ignorance and School Bullying: Do Misperceptions of Classroom Norms Contribute to Peer Harassment?" Sandstrom will explore bystander passivity in school bullying.

Williams Professor Scrutinizes the Everyday in Postsocialist Moscow

posted April 21, 2009.

Olga Shevchenko, assistant professor of sociology at Williams College, is the author of "Crisis and the Everyday in Postsocialist Moscow," published by the Indiana University Press.

"Ruffians, Yakuza, Nationalists" Reevaluates Modern Japanese Democracy

posted March 10, 2009.

"Ruffians, Yakuza, Nationalists: The Violent Politics of Modern Japan, 1860-1960," written by Eiko Maruko Siniawer of Williams College, was recently published by Cornell University Press.

"Creating Games," by Morgan McGuire

posted March 10, 2009.

"Creating Games: Mechanics, Content, and Technology," by Morgan McGuire of Williams College and Odest Chadwicke Jenkins of Brown University, was recently published by A K Peters, Ltd.

Leslie Brown's "Upbuilding Black Durham" Wins Best First Book Award

posted February 23, 2009.

The Frederick Jackson Turner Award, given by the Organization of American Historians http://www.oah.org/) for an author's first book on some significant phase of American History will be awarded to Leslie Brown www.williams.edu/history/bios/LBrown.php), assistant professor of history at Williams College.  The award for "Upbuilding Black Durham: Gender, Class, and Black Community Development in the Urban South" (UNC, Chapel Hill, 2008) will be presented to Brown at the organization's annual meeting in March.