Berkshire Community College Welcomes New Staff Members

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Community College has announced the addition of five new staff members: Meghan Callaghan, Jennifer Filippi, Erin Lynn, Matthew Palardy and Seth T. Tuper. 

Callaghan joins BCC as Dean of Teaching and Learning. She will lead the Division of Teaching and Learning Innovation. She arrives from Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC), where she worked in several roles over the past 13 years. Her responsibilities included coordinating the Office of Community Engagement, expanding outcome and assessment work into the co-curricular, serving as BHCC’s Massachusetts Community College Council union president, being a founding member of the Center of Equity and Cultural Wealth and, most recently, serving as the Associate Director of Academic Innovation and Distance Education.

She received a master of arts degree in Critical and Creative Thinking from UMASS Boston and a bachelor of arts degree in English Literature from Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. She will be relocating to the Berkshires with her partner and two aging cats after living in the Boston area for the past 15 years.  

Filippi joins BCC as an Accountant in the Business Office. Filippi was most recently an assistant accountant for the Town of Dalton and has more than ten years of accounting-related experience, including payroll, billing, accounts payable, bank reconciliations, collections, purchase orders and various reconciliations.

Filippi is also familiar with the Massachusetts Management Accounting and Reporting System (MMARS) through her experience working at the Dalton and Pittsfield town halls. Currently a student at BCC, she anticipates graduating in December 2022 with a major in business management and continue on to MCLA to obtain her accounting degree. 

Lynn joins BCC as Director of Academic Operations. With nearly 18 years of experience in student affairs, she most recently served as an academic learning specialist at the New York College of Podiatric Medicine (NYCPM).

Lynn began her career at Arkansas State University, working first as an administrative assistant, then as an academic advisor and finally as student outreach coordinator. She then moved to New York to be the Director of Retention and Student Success at LIM College prior to her position at NYCPM.

Lynn earned a bachelor of arts degree and a master of arts degree in sociology, an education specialist degree in community college administration and, in 2021, was awarded a doctor of education in educational leadership. She is moving to the area with her fiancé Alan and her dog Lea, and she has an adult son in graduate school in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Palardy joins BCC as Tutorial Assistant after 11 years as a community tutor at BCC specializing in humanities and social sciences. During that time, he developed innovative ways to impart academic, organizational and research skills to BCC students and was named BCC’s Tutor of the Year in 2014.

Parlady has also worked as a private tutor for students in high schools and in other colleges, homeschooled students and taught English-language learners. Palardy is currently completing a master of arts degree in philosophy through St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry while regularizing a bachelor’s degree by testing equivalency through Excelsior College. He serves as a liturgist for Traditional Latin Mass communities in the Diocese of Albany and a coordinator of international discussion groups concerning philosophy, politics, religion and culture. 

Tuper, a lifelong resident of Berkshire County, joins BCC as Institutional Security Officer. Tuper graduated from St. Joseph Central High School in Pittsfield in 2003 and attended Castleton State College from 2003–2007; he continues to work on completing his bachelor of arts degree in psychology.

tuper is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, with 14 years in the Massachusetts Army National Guard and four state activations for emergencies. Tuper has more than 20 years of experience in emergency services, with the last 10 years specifically dedicated to the security field.


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Force Goes 3-1, Stays Alive at Eastern National Championship Tourney

iBerkshires.com Sports
SALISBURY, Md. -- Ava McMahon scattered four hits in a six-inning, complete-game shutout Wednesday as the Berkshire Force 16-and-under travel softball team stayed alive in bracket play at the United States Specialty Sports Association's Eastern National Championship.
 
Berkshire's day started with a 9-6 win over the Maryland's Havenwood Revolution. But then the Force fell to the Saratoga Thunder, 12-1, to drop into the tournament's losers bracket.
 
Against Havenwood, Lexi Spratling went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and scored three runs to spur the offense. McMahon had a 2-for-3 game at the plate with three runs batted in, and Mackenzie Biros doubled in a 13-hit Berkshire attack.
 
Amelia Polidoro and McMahon split time in the circle on Wednesday morning, combining to strike out seven.
 
The Saratoga Thunder out of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., scored seven runs in the third inning to pull away in a four-inning win. Polidoro had a single and an RBI, and Spratling went 2-for-2 in the loss.
 
The Force then bounced back with two wins in the losers bracket.
 
First, Julia McComish went 3-for-3 with a home run and five runs batted in in a 14-5 win over the Bayside Blues of Maryland.
 
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