Williams Senior Named Schwarzman Scholar

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams College senior Kai Cash has been named a Schwarzman Scholar and will join the program's fourth cohort of students since its inception in 2016.

Schwarzman Scholars is a highly selective, one-year master’s program located at Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University in Beijing that aims to prepare the next generation of global leaders for the challenges of the future. Cash was among more than 2,800 applicants from 38 countries and 119 universities around the world to compete for 147 spots in the class.

During his year in the program, which begins August 2019, Cash plans to pursue a degree in public health and explore how China's culture, politics, and economy impact public health issues in that country. With an interest in equity, entrepreneurship, teamwork, and technology, Cash hopes to build on his experience as a Schwarzman Scholar to someday found an organization that improves the living conditions and health for disenfranchised communities.


"The exposure to a new culture and diverse cultures from across the world will make me a more inclusive leader, which will in turn allow my future company to be more successful, as I will have better perspective," Cash said. "The world-class faculty will push my critical thinking ability and learning style to its limit in transitioning from a liberal arts environment at Williams College to a very different teaching style at Tsinghua University."

Hailing from the Bronx, N.Y., Cash is an economics major with a concentration in public health. As an undergraduate at Williams, he discovered an interest in working and sharing ideas with people to craft solutions, and he is motivated by tangible outcomes. Last summer Cash participated in Harvard Business School’s Summer Venture program, where he completed an internship at CapitalG (formerly Google Capital) in San Francisco. He also did an internship in 2016 at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab in New Delhi, India, where he learned about public health issues facing that country.

At Williams, Cash currently serves as class president and is the co-founder and president of the Williams College Business Association. He is also a co-founder of the Williams Professional Association, which empowers students, especially those from historically underrepresented communities, to find meaningful careers after Williams. In addition, Cash is a student trustee for the Williams College Gaudino Program, which advances education by promoting active learning, combating fragmentation of knowledge, and assembling an open community of learning characterized by integrity, mutual respect, and rigorous intellectual endeavor.

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WCMA: 'Cracking the Code on Numerology'

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) opens a new exhibition, "Cracking the Cosmic Code: Numerology in Medieval Art."
 
The exhibit opened on March 22.
 
According to a press release: 
 
The idea that numbers emanate sacred significance, and connect the past with the future, is prehistoric and global. Rooted in the Babylonian science of astrology, medieval Christian numerology taught that God created a well-ordered universe. Deciphering the universe's numerical patterns would reveal the Creator's grand plan for humanity, including individual fates. 
 
This unquestioned concept deeply pervaded European cultures through centuries. Theologians and lay people alike fervently interpreted the Bible literally and figuratively via number theory, because as King Solomon told God, "Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight" (Wisdom 11:22). 
 
"Cracking the Cosmic Code" explores medieval relationships among numbers, events, and works of art. The medieval and Renaissance art on display in this exhibition from the 5th to 17th centuries—including a 15th-century birth platter by Lippo d'Andrea from Florence; a 14th-century panel fragment with courtly scenes from Palace Curiel de los Ajos, Valladolid, Spain; and a 12th-century wall capital from the Monastery at Moutiers-Saint-Jean—reveal numerical patterns as they relate to architecture, literature, gender, and timekeeping. 
 
"There was no realm of thought that was not influenced by the all-consuming belief that all things were celestially ordered, from human life to stones, herbs, and metals," said WCMA Assistant Curator Elizabeth Sandoval, who curated the exhibition. "As Vincent Foster Hopper expounds, numbers were 'fundamental realities, alive with memories and eloquent with meaning.' These artworks tease out numerical patterns and their multiple possible meanings, in relation to gender, literature, and the celestial sphere. 
 
"The exhibition looks back while moving forward: It relies on the collection's strengths in Western medieval Christianity, but points to the future with goals of acquiring works from the global Middle Ages. It also nods to the history of the gallery as a medieval period room at this pivotal time in WCMA's history before the momentous move to a new building," Sandoval said.
 
Cracking the Cosmic Code runs through Dec. 22.
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