Williams Releases Schedule for Faculty Lecture Series

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — During February and March, Williams College will sponsor its annual Faculty Lecture Series. The aim of this year's series is to present big ideas beyond disciplinary boundaries. The six lectures of the series will occur on Feb. 7, 14, 21, 28 and March 7 and 14. All lectures will be held at 4:15 p.m. in Wege Auditorium, Thompson Chemistry, with a reception to follow in Schow Atrium. The lectures are free and open to the public.

The first lecture in the series is scheduled for Feb. 7. Katarzyna Pieprzak, associate professor of Francophone and French literature and language, will deliver a talk titled "Useful Memory in the Colonial Museum: Culture and Politics in Contemporary Morocco."

Next, associate professor of English Christian Thorne will give a lecture titled "The Sea Is Not A Place: Putting the World Back in World Literature," on Feb. 14.

 William Wootters, Barclay Jermain Professor of Natural Philosophy, will discuss the question "Why Does Nature Like the Square Root of Negative One?" in his talk on Feb. 21.


On Feb. 28, associate professor of Latino/a studies Mérida Rúa will give a lecture titled "A Grounded Identidad: Making New Lives in Chicago's Puerto Rican Neighborhoods."

Associate professor of computer science Brent Heeringa will present a talk on March 7 titled "When Pretty Good is Good Enough: A Tour of Approximation Graphics."

The final talk in the series, titled "Insuring the Uninsured Before and After the Affordable Care Act," is scheduled for March 14. Professor of economics Lara Shore-Sheppard will deliver the lecture.

The Faculty Lecture Series was founded in 1911 by Catherine Mariotti Pratt, the spouse of a faculty member who wanted to "relieve the tedium of long New England winters with an opportunity to hear Williams professors talk about issues that really mattered to them."

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Williams Seeking Town Approval for New Indoor Practice Facility

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board last week gave Williams College the first approval it needs to build a 55,000-square foot indoor athletic facility on the north side of its campus.
 
Over the strenuous objection of a Southworth Street resident, the board found that the college's plan for a "multipurpose recreation center" or MRC off Stetson Road has adequate on-site parking to accommodate its use as an indoor practice facility to replace Towne Field House, which has been out of commission since last spring and was demolished this winter.
 
The college plans a pre-engineered metal that includes a 200-meter track ringing several tennis courts, storage for teams, restrooms, showers and a training room. The athletic surface also would be used as winter practice space for the school's softball and baseball teams, who, like tennis and indoor track, used to use the field house off Latham Street.
 
Since the planned structure is in the watershed of Eph's Pond, the college will be before the Conservation Commission with the project.
 
It also will be before the Zoning Board of Appeals, on Thursday, for a Development Plan Review and relief from the town bylaw limiting buildings to 35 feet in height. The new structure is designed to have a maximum height of 53 1/2 feet and an average roof height of 47 feet.
 
The additional height is needed for two reasons: to meet the NCAA requirement for clearance above center court on a competitive tennis surface (35 feet) and to include, on one side, a climbing wall, an element also lost when Towne Field House was razed.
 
The Planning Board had a few issues to resolve at its March 12 meeting. The most heavily discussed involved the parking determination for a use not listed in the town's zoning bylaws and a decision on whether access from town roads to the building site in the middle of Williams' campus was "functionally equivalent" to the access that would be required under the town's subdivision rules and regulations.
 
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