We want to hear from you!
Look out for a community survey coming in October.
At Williams, we recognize the important role that athletics, recreation, physical education and well-being programs play in developing students who can thrive in college and beyond.
Through these activities, we support students attending to their physical, mental, and spiritual health—with benefits that can extend to the entire Williams community. They also help instill values of perseverance, fairness, resilience and teamwork that carry over into academic and leadership pursuits.
We seek to build upon our strengths through new facilities that both sustain our high-caliber athletics program and more intentionally connect it to our health and wellness initiatives.
In recent years, Williams has replaced or improved some existing resources, including the Weston Athletic Complex, and we are developing new ones to meet the needs of evolving programming. Much of this work has happened organically, and, given the college’s organizational structure, under the direction of individual units and divisions.
As outlined in the 2021 strategic plan, the next step is to bring all of these efforts together under a single framework, creating a cohesive, intentional and comprehensive plan for athletics and wellbeing at Williams for the 21st century.
To that end, Williams is undertaking a study of spaces for athletics, recreation, physical education, and wellbeing with our consulting partner, Perkins & Will. Informed by broad and collaborative community engagement, the programming study will suggest potential new facilities and renewal of existing ones and include both formal and informal spaces. The study is scheduled to conclude by April 2025.
The program study will consider recommendations in relation to cross-cutting commitments to sustainability and diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility articulated in the strategic plan. The study scope will also include open spaces and the natural environment and will align closely with the college’s Decarbonization Plan, 2023 Campus Framework Plan (PDF) and 2020 Williams Landscape Study (PDF).
Currently, the athletics and recreation facilities are focused at the north and south ends of campus. The team is exploring opportunities to enhance the connection between potential new and improved athletics, recreation, and well-being facilities for the entire Williams community.