image description — The stone bench contains images of the chemical structure of 715 different molecules.

Williams College Art Display Honors Longtime Professor

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
03:01PM / Sunday, May 15, 2011Print Story | Email Story

College President Adam Falk said the display reflects the college's values.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The late Williams College chemistry professor J. Hodge Markgraf loved art and science. On Friday the college opened a public art exhibit that meshes the two in his honor.

The college revealed 16-foot-long stone tables and benches sandblasted with images of 715 different molecules.

"Hodge was an extraordinary person," said Chip Lovett, a professor and friend of Markgraf, at the opening ceremony. "I know Hodge would be pleased."

Markgraf started an effort to commision artist Jenny Holzer to do a large-scale public art piece but was unable to see it through when he died in 2007. College staff, students and various community members then picked up the reins.

The bench, permanently located in the science quadrangle, is designed to encourage interaction and discussion. Outgoing Williams College Museum of Art Director Lisa Corrin said she will be teaching her first class in public art next semester right there with a guest teacher from the chemistry department.

"There is nothing better than a chemist teaching art history," Corrin said. "It is a participartory sculpture. It invited you to engage."

College President Adam Falk did not know Markgraf but said everything he has heard about the former teacher examplifies the college's values.

"This beautiful work of art will inspire not just the students but the faculty too. It will make us think of our own work and be better," Falk said. "I think it says a lot about our values and who we are."

Markgraf is most known for the witty metaphors he usted while teaching his classes — metaphors that were eventually memorialized on a website.

In more than 50 years on campus, Markgraf was a student — graduating in 1952 — a professor, the secretary to the committee that recommended the college phase out fraternities, and vice president for alumni relations. He retired in 1988 but continued to teach winter study courses and continued researching.

"He loved Williams College. His dedication was boundless," Lovett said.

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Williamstown Studying Major Overhaul for Main Street

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:14AM / Wednesday, July 29, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town is working with a Worcester civil engineering firm to redesign Main Street with an eye toward a major project sometime in the next decade.

Community Development Director Andrew Groff was before the Select Board on Monday night to talk about Town Hall's use of a $500,000 state grant to do preliminary design on major improvements to that portion of Route 2 that runs from Water Street west to the Field Park rotary, through the middle of Williams College's campus.

Groff introduced the elected officials to Amanda Bazinet of Worcester's Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, who is helping the town to develop a plan for Main Street that would align with the commonwealth's Complete Streets Program.

"Our project goals, in addition to the increased pedestrian and bicycle accommodations, is just, in general, improving the sightlines and improving the intersection geometry," Bazinet said.

"Complete Streets … has a lot of different facets to it. As Andrew had mentioned, the goal is to improve the safety for all of the roadway users — not just the motorists. We're looking at improving it for pedestrians, bicyclists, anyone using a mobility device. We want to create streets that are safe for all ages and abilities to use. So, while bicyclists will still be allowed, legally, to use the roadway, we want to look at providing a separate bicycle accommodation along the corridor, whether it's a shared use path along both sides of the streets that is a little more accessible to young children or older people with disabilities to look at all transportation options."

One goal is to encourage "active transportation." The Massachusetts Department of Transportation, who the town hopes one day might fund the construction, has a "healthy transportation policy," Bazinet said.

That MassDOT funding would come through the Transportation Improvement Program, which is managed locally by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. The design work underway now is being done with an eye toward going after TIP funding years down the road.

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