Be Aware of Runners Near BCC During Thursday Morning Fund-Raiser

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Residents are asked to be aware of traffic delays on outer West Street along the Berkshire Community College campus down to Meadow Ridge on Thanksgiving morning between 9 and 10 a.m. for the 10th annual MountainOne Thankful 5K.
 
The annual event is a fundraiser for the local Berkshire County food pantries.
 
As of Tuesday afternoon, there are close to 700 runners registered for the race. The event will have walkers and runners and more than 100 students participating for free.
 
Attendees are asked to remain on the left side of the road throughout the event to ensure traffic can flow through the event. The organizers ask the community to have patience and be aware of road conditions if they are traveling on outer West Street this Thanksgiving morning. The Pittsfield Police will be on duty to monitor and facilitate safe flow of traffic.
 
The annual event has raised more than $50,000 in the past 10 years for the community with the event and participation fundraising. Participants were charged with creating their own fundraising, which by Tuesday had raised more than $11,000.  
 
Registration for the event is open in person at Berkshire Running Center through Wednesday at 6 p.m. and the morning of the event at Berkshire Community College from 7:30 to 8:30. The race begins at 9 a.m., promptly.
 
The Berkshire Running Foundation is a nonprofit organization with the mission to improve and advance the positive effect the running community has on the neighborhoods in which we live. For more information on the foundation please visit berkshirerun.org or contact the executive director, Shiobbean Lemme at director@berkshirerun.org.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

BCC Trustees Vote to Hire Hara Charlier as Next President

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Catheryn Chacon Ortega, the alumni appointment, liked how Hara Charlier easily connected with students faculty; Melissa Myers, alumni representative, also noted how comfortable Charlier was with various groups. Charlier, right, was called after the vote and accepted pending negotiations and state approval. 
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It wasn't hard for BCC's Board of Trustees to elect a new president from Minnesota on Monday.

One by one, during a special meeting at Berkshire Community College, board members expressed their conviction that Hara Charlier was the best candidate to lead after Ellen Kennedy retires. They unanimously recommended Charlier as the next president of BCC to the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education.

"We're not trying to hire a replacement for Dr. Kennedy; We are trying to hire our next leader," Chair Julia Bowen said.

Charlier, currently the president of Central Lakes College in Brainerd, Minn., was one of four finalists identified by the Presidential Search Committee who visited the campus. She was not on site, but was called after the vote.

Catheryn Chacon Ortega was impressed by how Charlier connected with students and faculty, as well as her passion and breadth of experience.  

"As the appointed alumni, I put myself in the students' shoes when I was thinking about this, and I think I feel very represented by her, like if I come back as a student here, I think she will be a person that will be open doors to me, to my community, to the immigrant community, to everybody," she said.

Danielle Gonzalez feels Charlier has a "very" clear commitment to the community part of community college, and a deep experience of serving underserved populations, "really just with great enthusiasm."

"I think that in addition to having really deep community college leadership experience, she was able to articulate a very thorough understanding of the issues of the college of Berkshire County, of what those opportunities might look like, and how she would connect what her experience has been with how she could drive the school forward," said Julie Hughes, a newer member of the board.
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