BCC to Offer CDL License Training

10:36AM / Tuesday, May 14, 2024Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — According to an American Trucking Association survey, more than 400,000 new truck drivers are needed every year.

The Workforce Development and Community Education Department at Berkshire Community College (BCC), in partnership with United Tractor Trailer School of Holyoke, Massachusetts, is helping to fill this need by offering two sessions of Commercial Driver's License (CDL) training.

Professional instructors help students gain the skills necessary to enter the rapidly growing industry of trucking, in a highly motivated and positive hands-on atmosphere. Training comprises a total of 60 hours of instruction in the classroom, the field and on the road. A road test will be conducted at the end of the training session.

Session 1: Monday, May 20 through Friday, May 24, 8 am – 5 pm. This session is free for students who qualify for a scholarship. Space is limited, and registration is required. For more information or to register, email

workforce@berkshirecc.edu. This class is expected to fill quickly.

Session 2: Monday, June 3 through Friday, June 7, 8 am –5 pm. The fee for this session is $3,600, plus $150 for the road test. For more information or to register, email workforce@berkshirecc.edu.

Training sessions will be held at the Berkshire Mall parking lot in Lanesborough, with the exception of the first class, which will take place in a classroom at BCC.

Students must be Massachusetts residents who are 18 years or older with a valid driver's license. In addition, students must have both a learner's permit and a Department of Transportation physical prior to class start date.

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Tina Packer, Founder of Shakespeare & Company, Dies at 87

Staff Reports 06:51PM / Saturday, January 10, 2026

LENOX, Mass. — The doyenne of Shakespeare's plays, Tina Packer, died Friday at the age of 87.

Shakespeare & Company, which Packer co-founded in 1978, made the announcement Saturday on its Facebook page.

"It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Packer, Shakespeare & Company's founding artistic director and acclaimed director, actor, writer, and teacher," the company said on its post and in a press release.

Packer, who retired a the theater company's artistic director in 2009, had directed all of Shakespeare's plays, some several times, acted in eight of them, and taught the whole canon at more than 30 colleges, including Harvard. She continued to direct, teach, and advocate for the company until her passing.

At Columbia University, she taught in the master of business administration program for four years, resulting in the publication of "Power Plays: Shakespeare's Lessons in Leadership and Management with Deming Professor John Whitney" for Simon and Schuster. For Scholastic, she wrote "Tales from Shakespeare," a children's book and recipient of the Parent's Gold Medal Award.

Most recently her book "Women of Will" was published by Knopf and she had been performing "Women of Will" with Nigel Gore, in New York, Mexico, England, The Hague, China, and across the United States. She's the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, including the Commonwealth Award.

"Our hearts are heavy with the passing of Tina Packer, a fiery force of nature with an indomitable spirit," said Artistic Director Allyn Burrows. "Tina affected everyone she encountered with her warmth, generosity, wit, and insatiable curiosity. She delighted in people's stories, and reached into their hearts with tender humanity. The world was her stage, and she furthered the Berkshires as a destination for the imagination.

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