Gift Boosts Williams' Reach for Sustainability

By Tammy DanielsPrint Story | Email Story
The Williams College power plant. The college has committed itself to environmental sustainability. (Photo courtesy of Williams.)
WILLIAMSTOWN - A energy-production innovator Selim Zilkha is giving $5 million to Williams College to help his alma mater become environmentally sustainable. The gift will fund the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiative, which will become essentially the core of the myriad projects and initiatives for energy efficiency and sustainability on campus, said Vice President of Operations Stephen P. Klass on Friday. "It will be the central office for cooperating, collaborating, building and articulating our vision [for environmental sustainability]," said Klass. In a statement announcing the gift on Thursday, President Morton O. Schapiro said the center "will work with students, faculty, and staff to incorporate principles of sustainability into the fabric of campus life." The college's board of trustees in January made environmental sustainability a No. 1 guiding principal and set reducing the Williams greenhouse gas emissions as a priority. By 2020, the college hopes to have its emissions at 10 percent below the emissions of the 1990-91 academic year. The target was set on the recommendations of the Climate Action Committee established by Schapiro in early 2006. Staying Focused The Zilkha Center is a concrete step toward that goal. Klass said the amount of activity on campus - the environmental studies program, the massive construction projects under way, current buildings, college purchasing, student lifestyles, maintenance, curriculum, waste management - make it difficult to keep everyone on target. The center, through its director, will lead the development and management of a strategic plan and coordinate programs. The position will be filled through a nationwide search and will require someone with a background in academics or engineering. The successful candidate will also have to be something of a visionary - there aren't many jobs like this. "We're on the cutting edge," said Klass, noting the college's Center for Environmental Studies was the first in the nation. "We're growing in an area that didn't even exist just a few years ago." To keep that edge sharp, the center will be housed on the first floor of Hopkins Hall as part of Klass' office. Rather than have a large staff, it will use students and coordinate with leaders of existing departments and programs. That's to prevent a bureaucratic mind set: "The more self-sufficient they become the more isolated they become," said Klass. The center will have to be accessible to people, be a conduit of information and do a "tremendous amount of collaboration." Zilkha, son of a prominent Iraqi banker, moved to this country in 1941. He served in the Army in 1945 and graduated from Williams in 1946. The Los Angeles businessman has been a financier, founded maternity and infant retailer Mothercare Inc. and began investing oil and gas production in 1981. He sold off his oil holdings in 1998 and began investing in renewable energy, including wind and biomass. "Selim Zilkha has already proven himself to be an international leader in the environmental movement. He and his son Michael have pioneered the application of new technology to the energy industry, first with oil, then wind, and now biomass," said Schapiro in a statement. Zilkha said, "I went back to Williams for my 60th reunion, the first one I attended. I was really impressed and decided to do something for the college. Because of my experience in energy, most recently renewable energy, making Williams a more energy efficient and environmentally sensitive campus was a natural fit. It's my hope that Williams will become a leader in this field, and that future graduates will benefit." Students, faculty and the community can actually track how the college is doing by going to www.williams.edu/resources/sustainability . The Web site tracks electric usage, has energy analyses of buildings on campus and explains how the campus community can help the college achieve its goal.
Share
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Williamstown Planning Board Narrowing in on Subdivision Bylaw Changes

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board late last month discussed specific features of what it plans to pass as a new subdivision control bylaw this year.
 
The board long has discussed the complex set of regulations as being out of date and cumbersome to both potential developers and the board itself, which has needed to hear requests for waivers of outdated rules for the handful of residential subdivisions that have been proposed in town in recent years.
 
This spring, the town engaged consultants from Northampton's Dodson and Flinker Landscape Architecture and Planning to go through the existing bylaw, compare it to more contemporary regulations in other communities and help craft a revised bylaw.
 
Unlike the zoning bylaw, where amendments require approval of town meeting, the subdivision control bylaw is a creation of the Planning Board, which can make changes on its own after a public hearing process it hopes to complete this year.
 
At a special Planning Board meeting on May 26, Dillon Sussman of Dodson and Flinker and his colleagues walked the board through a dozen different decision points that the board must resolve — either by leaving the bylaw as is or making a change — and offered suggestions based on best practices.
 
All of the issues are technical and ranged from the fundamental, like how the bylaw will define types of subdivisions, to the highly specific, like what turning radii will be required in new streets that are constructed to serve planned developments.
 
One example of a topic that came up in the recent approval of a four-home subdivision off Summer Street is stormwater management.
 
View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories

Community News
image description

New Williamstown Planning Board Narrowing in on Subdivision Bylaw...

Community News
Schools
image description

Williams Grads Told: Be Kind to 'What Is Strange Within You'

Schools
Sports
image description

Lenox Edges Hoosac Valley to Reach State Semi-Final

Sports
Schools
image description

Mount Greylock Regional Class of 2026 'Embraced the Unexpected'

Schools
Sports
image description

Durant Leads Drury Back to Final Four

Sports
Sports
image description

Wahconah's Iovieno Earns Statewide Honor

Sports
Latest Stories
Previous Next

What's Trending?