Dr. Merselis Awarded Honorary Business Doctorate From Antioch

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Dr. John Merselis accepts his honorary doctorate at Antioch University New England’s commencement exercises on Saturday.

KEENE, N.H. — Antioch University New England bestowed longtime trustee Dr. John G. Merselis Jr. of Williamstown with an honorary doctorate degree in business at its commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 16, in Keene.

Merselis practiced internal medicine for nearly 30 years with Williamstown Medical Associates. He then enrolled as a graduate student at Antioch University New England and earned his master of science in management degree in 1996. Beginning in 1997, he served on the governance board of Antioch University for a dozen years. In 2009, he was named to AUNE's inaugural board of trustees, on which he continues to serve.

"I am very surprised by this great honor," said Merselis. "I'm very happy and proud that I've been able to help further the mission of Antioch University to educate leaders for a just and sustainable world."

Merselis is a graduate of Williams College, holds a medical degree from John Hopkins University, and completed postgraduate training at John Hopkins Hospital and New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. From 1963 to 1964, he was a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow in preventive medicine at Makere Medical College in Kampala, Uganda. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.



He was a trustee of the former Williamstown Savings Bank for 28 years, and founding chairman of Mountain One. He has served as a founding director of the Fund for Williamstown (an endowment for the town) and Mount Greylock Regional School District's Sustaining Educational Excellence Fund. He served as a selectman in Williamstown for six years, a director of the New Hampshire Lakes Association, and is currently a trustee of the Lakes Region Conservation Trust.

Merselis is the author of several scientific papers, and is a contributing author and editor of Bear Island Reflections, a history of an island community in New Hampshire.

"Jack is an Antioch University treasure," said Stephen Jones, president of Antioch University New England. "There are very few individuals in Antioch's history who have provided such a level of distinguished service as Jack Merselis. He demonstrates exceptional leadership. Throughout his service, he maintained a calm, objective and professional demeanor, and was trusted by all the members of the board who sought his guidance and counsel, and trusted his judgment. His devotion to the University and Antioch University New England is unsurpassed."


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Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
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