Williams Awards Three Faculty Members with Bushnell Prize

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Three faculty members at Williams College have been recognized for excellence in teaching and writing.

Lucy Schmidt (economics), Janneke van de Stadt (Russian) and Heather Williams (biology) are the recipients of the Nelson Bushnell '20 Prize, an award given annually to the faculty since 1995.

Schmidt was noted for her extensive publishing record and her work in making the economics curriculum more inclusive, van de Stadt for her pedagogical creativity in introductory and advanced courses in Russian, and Williams for her highly effective laboratory teaching and stalwart presence in neuroscience.

Lucie Schmidt

Schmidt, professor of economics, specializes in U.S. social safety net programs and the economics of marriage and fertility decisions. She teaches courses on gender and population economics, as well as microeconomics. She is a previous recipient of an NIH grant for the study of infertility insurance, has taught on the economics of public policy for the college’s Summer Humanities and Social Sciences Program, and has been instrumental in the demographic transformation of the economics major to include more women, first generation, and underrepresented undergraduate students.

Janneke van de Stadt

van de Stadt received a Ph.D. in Slavic languages from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, her B.A. at Amherst College, and has been teaching Russian at Williams since 2001. Through her work on biopoetics, Guy de Maupassant, Tolstoy, and Isaac Babel she has enriched the Williams curriculum since her arrival. A dynamic and engaging teacher, she is former co-director of the First3 Program, an initiative to support faculty in their first three years of teaching at Williams.

She is beloved among students for her innovative approaches to Russian writing, language, and culture, evidenced most recently by student responses to her "Through the Looking Glass" tutorial, a comparative examination of children's literature.

Heather Williams

Williams, the Williams Dwight Whitney Professor of Biology, is an expert in animal behavior and neuroscience and is interested in avian phonology and syntax. Her laboratory research has focused on the syllabic repertoire of zebra finches and Savannah sparrows. For her work on the creation and transmission of bird songs and the brains that produce them, she has received grants from the Mary E. Groff Charitable Trust and the MacArthur Foundation and has published in journals including Animal Behaviour, the Journal of Neurobiology, and the Journal of Neuroscience. Her highly regarded tutorial  “Cultural Evolution” examines the transformation of genetically transmitted traits in biological systems.

Williams received her A.B. from Bowdoin College and a Ph.D. from Rockefeller University.

McKay's Family Farm Market Expands in Williamstown

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:25AM / Friday, April 03, 2026

The greenhouse will be opening in the next couple weeks but pansies are available now. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — McKay's Family Farm Market recently expanded to offer more garden and feed options and local goods.

 

In October, the McKays took over the former Chenail's Farmstand on Simonds Road. McKay's Family Farm is located in Stamford, Vt., and raises cattle, sheep, horses and goats and grows a variety of vegetables. They have expanded into the shopping plaza near the greenhouse. 

 

"We took over growing mums and pumpkins and stuff, and then folks just kept coming in, asking for different things, and we just kept expanding our offerings," said Luke McKay. "And before long, we realized that half of the greenhouse was full of retail supplies and that we were growing so quick that we need to figure out what our next step was.

 

"The space became available, and we decided to make this our retail operation so that we could continue to have more space for plants and shrubs and trees and all the good stuff that we're gonna put in."

 

The family had noticed the building, part of the property with the farmstand, became available in December and decided to move in. He said customers were looking for a place to buy feed and to support locally.

 

"It was just a couple of bags of grain back in the fall when we opened up. And more and more folks said that they didn't want to go to box stores that they wanted to support a local business to be able to buy their feed for their animals or their pet foods and such," he said.

 

The store sells Nutrena Feeds and Blue Seal, garden supplies and stoves and pellets. It also offers goods from other local farms, whether it be eggs, meat, or more.