Letter: Jennifer Macksey for Mayor

To the Editor:

I am writing to encourage you to cast your vote for Jennifer Macksey as the next mayor of North Adams. I have worked very closely with Jennifer in matters of the Northern Berkshire School Union. Jennifer's success rate for improving our schools has been 100 percent.

I am the chairperson for the Northern Berkshire School Union's joint school committees. Jennifer was hired as business manager for NBSU with her main goal to write grants for the five town school districts. Jennifer went way above and beyond finding grant money for all of the schools. To Jennifer's position as business manager, assistant superintendent was added to her job description as she was able to receive building grants and then proceeded to oversee the projects from bids to final completion. Jennifer has done an amazing job working with all five towns in the NBSU. Jennifer is always there with answers and suggestions to improve all of the school communities.

On the business manager side of her job, Jennifer has been able to organize all of the individual budgets for each school and was able to set up an account so each of the shared employees did not have to receive five different checks from five different towns that belong to the NBSU. Jennifer's accounting skills have enabled the towns to file end of year reports for their schools. Jennifer has always met all grant deadlines and has made sure that all NBSU bills are paid in a timely fashion.

Leadership and compassion are two words that I would use to describe Jennifer. Jennifer has the ability to evaluate situations and she has incredible skills with which to make professional decisions. Jennifer has strong, effective, decision making skills. Jennifer has a passion for service.

Jennifer has been personally connected to North Adams her entire life. She has been a resident of North Adams, an employee in the City of North Adams, an employee in MCLA, vice president of Southern Vermont College and is currently the assistant superintendent/business manager of the Northern Berkshire School Union, which serves five towns and four schools. Jennifer has the best interests for the City of North Adams in her decision to be mayor of North Adams.

Judith Oleson
Florida, Mass. 

Judith Oleson is chair of the Abbott Memorial School Committee and the Northern Berkshire School Union Committee. 

Rogers-Adkinson Takes Oath as MCLA's 13th President

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:35PM / Monday, October 05, 2026

MCLA President Diana Rogers-Adkinson wearing the presidential chain and her special MCLA high-top Chuck Taylors after swearing in ceremonies. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The 13th president of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts was formally installed on Saturday and challenged the college community to "love your students to success."

 

Diana Rogers-Adkinson, now nicknamed "President R.A.," was lauded by new and old friends colleagues who filled the Amsler Campus Center before giving her address: "A Shared Voice — A Bright Future."

 

"Thank you all for loving me to success," she said. "A life isn't rich without people like you to hold me tight. So finally, feel friends traveled in here today, and we almost all started as colleagues. We all believed in what education can do for people, and somewhere in all that work, we became something more. We lifted up our students, and we lifted up each other. Thank you for lifting me up today."

 

Rogers-Adkinson started in her post in July, succeeding the retiring James Birge. She was most recently senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs and chief academic officer for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which oversees 10 universities serving approximately 80,000 students.

 

She and other speakers touched on the issues impacting higher education today — the loss of faith in a college education and the challenges faced by students. 

 

"If people have lost confidence in higher education because they believe institutions intentionally keep our students enrolled longer for our financial reasons, then we have failed to tell the real story," she said. "Our students are not statistics; they are people navigating complex lives while pursuing an education and a better future."

 

Rogers-Adkinson pointed to a 78 percent retention rate at MCLA and comparable institutions, and flipped it by looking at the 22 percent who left. It's a figure she said she wasn't comfortable with and declared a goal of 100 percent retention.