WILLIAMSTOWN — Williams College has awarded tenure to eight assistant professors: Monique Deveaux, political science; William Dudley, philosophy; Roger Kittleson, history; Marc Lynch, political science; Karen Merrill, history; Peter Pedroni, economics; Lara Shore-Sheppard, economics and Thomas Smith, chemistry.Deveaux is author of the recent book, “Cultural Pluralism and Dilemmas of Justice.†Her research deals with the challenges and difficulties that cultural-group rights may pose for individual rights and liberal norms in democratic states. She received her B.A. in political theory in 1989 and her master’s in political theory in 1991 from McGill University. She earned a master’s in philosophy in 1993 and her Ph.D. in 1997 at Cambridge University.
Dudley specializes in 19th- and 20th-century continental philosophy and Kant. His book, “Hegel, Nietzsche, and Philosophy: Thinking Freedom,†is a comparison of the theme of freedom in the writings of the two philosophers, demonstrating a significant convergence in their thought. Dudley received his B.A. from Williams in 1989 and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1998.
Kittleson’s research focuses on the politics of culture in modern Brazil. He is completing his first book, “A New Regime of Ideas: Transformations of Political Culture in Porto Alegre, Brazil, 1845-1895,†and starting a second project on race, region and masculinity in Brazilian soccer. Kittleson received his B.A. from Northwestern University in 1985 and his Ph.D. in 1997 from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.Lynch studies the role of deliberation and public spheres in international relations, focusing on the Middle East. His most recent article, “Taking Arabs Seriously†was published in Foreign Affairs, one of the most influential foreign policy journals in the world. Lynch is the author of “State Interests and Public Spheres: The International Politics of Jordan’s Identity.†Another book, “Iraq and the New Arab Public Sphere,†is forthcoming. Lynch received his B.A. in political science from Duke University in 1990 and his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1997.
Merrill researches 20th-century American politics and political economy, the American West and environmental history. She is the author of “Public Lands and Political Meaning: Ranchers, the Government and the Property Between Them†and edited “The Modern Worlds of Business and Industry: Cultures, Technology, Labor.†Another book, “The Oil Crisis†will be published by Bedford/St. Martin's Press. She received her B.A. from Oberlin College in 1986, her master’s in creative writing and English from the University of Denver in 1988, and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1994. She taught at Princeton University and the University of California at Irvine.Pedroni specializes in macroeconomics, international finance, time-series econometrics and empirical explanations of the divergent growth processes experienced among countries. He has written a number of articles for economic journals, including Advances in Econometrics, the Journal of Business Economics and Statistics and the Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics. He received his B.A. from Miami University in Ohio in 1986 and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He taught at Indiana University.
Shore-Sheppard is interested in health economics, labor economics, poverty and welfare policy and wage distribution. Her recent work, “Medicaid and Crowding Out of Private Insurance: A Re-examination Using Firm-Level Data,†delves into the relationship between expanded Medicaid eligibility and falling private health insurance coverage, combining individual and firm-level data to investigate possible responses to the Medicaid expansions by both firms and workers. Shore-Sheppard received her B.A. from Amherst College in 1991 and her Ph.D. in 1996 from Princeton University. She taught at the University of Pittsburgh from 1996 to 2000.Smith works within the broad category of organic synthesis. His current focus is the development of new methods of increased efficiency in organic synthesis and their application to molecules of biological importance. His work is supported by the National Science Foundation. He has published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the Journal of Organic Chemistry, Organic Letters and Heterocycles. Smith received his B.A. in chemistry from Williams in 1988 and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Stanford University in 1996. He was an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University from 1996 to 1998.
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Pittsfield Schools Won't Release PHS Report
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the threat of legal action from staff members, the School Committee has voted not to release the redacted PHS investigative reports and instead re-release the executive summary.
On Wednesday, elected school officials rescinded a January vote to release the reports with required redactions by Feb. 18, a deadline that was never met, and voted to re-release the executive summary.
When it came time to vote on releasing the redacted May 2025 Pittsfield High School investigative report, only Ciara Batory and Carolyn Barry were in favor.
"This is a year of PR that we've been getting on the Pittsfield High report. This has been going on for over a year, nonstop, every other month, something about the PHS report. It has not gone away for a reason, and the reason it did not go away is because people want to know what happened," Batory said.
"These are people's children. I was reluctant to send my kids to school after reading this. Had I not trusted the schools that my kids go to and have relationships with the front office, I would have pulled all three of my children out of these schools after reading the comments that I read online, and again, as a parent, the only reason I wanted to read this is again because I didn't want to find out information from Facebook."
Three administrators and two teachers, past and present, were investigated by Bulkley Richardson and Gelinas LLP for a range of allegations that surfaced or re-surfaced at the end of 2024 after Pittsfield High's former dean of students was arrested and charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office for allegedly conspiring to traffic large quantities of cocaine in Western Massachusetts.
Some committee members said the January vote to "release the report in a redacted form by Feb. 18 and have it reviewed by the School Committee before its release to ensure there is enough to present" was confusing.
Batory and Barry thought the motion would release the report, which found allegations of misconduct "unsubstantiated." Batory said unsubstantiated does not mean wrongdoing, and it doesn't mean right doing.
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Brooke Harrington scored four goals, and Abigail Rodhouse had a hat trick as Wahconah won its second straight Western Mass title and the rubber match against the Mounties in the third one-goal game between the teams this spring. click for more
