Miss Hall's Slates 114th Commencement Exercises

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Tiffany Dufu
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Miss Hall's School will welcome Tiffany Dufu, president of The White House Project, as keynote speaker of the school's 114th commencement on Sunday, June 3.

Ceremonies begin at 11 a.m. at the Holmes Road school.

A leading advocate for the advancement of women's leadership, Dufu joined The White House Project in 2006 as vice president of development and administration and became president in January 2011, working to ignite the leadership of women in business and politics. Founded in 1998, The White House Project is a national nonprofit organization that coaches, connects, and educates a growing alumnae network of 14,000 nationwide. With a focus on women early in their careers, The White House Project encourages the ambition, creativity, and skills necessary for innovative and effective leadership.

Dufu was previously major gifts officer at Simmons College in Boston, where she managed a portfolio of more than 150 donors and worked in recruitment to create a more diverse student body. From 2002 to 2004, she was associate director of development at the Seattle Girls' School, a fifth- through eighth-grade middle school in Seattle. Dufu has raised nearly $20 million in support of women and girls and has been featured in The Seattle Times and The New York Times and on National Public Radio.

A frequent speaker on nonprofit fundraising and women's leadership, Dufu currently serves on the board of Harlem4Kids and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English and a Certificate in Fundraising Management, all from the University of Washington.

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Dalton Board of Health Approves Green Burial Verbiage

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — The Board of Health approved wording for the green burial guidelines during its meeting on Wednesday. 
 
The guideline stipulates that "Ebola or any other diseases that the CDC or Massachusetts Department of Public Health deem unsuitable for green burials can not be approved by the town Board of Health." 
 
The board has been navigating how to include communicable diseases in its guidelines to prevent them from spreading.  
 
Town Health Agent Agnes Witkowski has been working to clarify the state's guidelines regarding infectious diseases and green burials. 
 
She attended a presentation on green burials and consulted with people from various organizations, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where it was determined that the state is behind in developing guidelines for green burials.
 
Currently, the only disease that would prevent someone from being able to have a green burial is ebola, board member Amanda Staples-Opperman said. Bugs would take care of anything else. 
 
The town running into situations surrounding an unknown disease would be a very rare occurrence, board members said. 
 
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