To the Williams Community,
I am thrilled to announce that the Board of Trustees on Friday approved the hire of Gina Puc (pronounced “Puck”) as Williams’ new Special Assistant to the President, Director of Community Relations and Secretary of the College, effective July 15, 2024.
As Special Assistant, Gina will advise me on a variety of high-level projects, priorities, and initiatives and serve as a key partner in conceptualizing, framing, and problem-solving issues. In this capacity she will be part of my senior leadership team and an officer of the college.
With respect to her duties as Secretary of the Board of Trustees, Gina will facilitate all aspects of board governance and priorities, including working with me and Board leaders to organize board and committee meetings and agendas. She will take up these two aspects of her role from Keli Gail, who is retiring this summer after 19 years of remarkable work.
In a new addition to the position, Gina will also serve as the college’s director of community relations engaging with external stakeholders in Williamstown and the Berkshires, especially with regards to community partnerships. Her work in this area will complement, and be in partnership with, ongoing efforts by Paula Consolini and the team at the Center for Learning in Action; Leticia Haynes and the staff in the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Chief Human Resources Officer Danielle Gonzalez, and others. I want to thank Paula, Leticia, Danielle, Keli and all the members of the Community and Government Affairs Task Force who have been stewarding our community relationships in recent years, and who may continue to serve as an advisory resource to Gina once she arrives.
Gina will join us from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), where she currently serves as chief of staff to the president. She was previously MCLA’s vice president of strategic initiatives and, prior to that, director of admission. In those roles she has guided implementation of cross-divisional initiatives, including the rollout of MCLA’s new nursing program; co-chaired the school’s most recent NECHE accreditation committee; helped lead MCLA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic; co-chaired its strategic planning process and—of course—served as a key support for President Jaimie Birge with the school’s Board of Trustees. She is a member, along with faculty and staff, of the school’s All College Committee, a key part of MCLA’s shared governance structure, has worked with students through various onboarding and orientation committees and as the President’s Office liaison to MCLA’s Student Government Association, as well through informal channels, like accompanying students on a recent college-sponsored spring break trip.
Gina will be a sensational addition to Williams and my senior team. I would also like to express my gratitude to the search committee, whose names are listed below, and who helped us identify and interview an extremely strong pool of candidates, leading to a good outcome. Once Gina arrives this summer, I hope you will join me in congratulating her and giving her a wonderful, warm Williams welcome!
Maud
Search committee
Jamie Art ’93, General Counsel
Daryle Bost, Associate Vice President for Presidential Advancement
Danielle Gonzalez, Chief Human Resources Officer
Liz Robinson ’90, Chair, Board of Trustees
Leticia Smith-Evans Haynes ’99, Vice President for Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Eiko Maruko Siniawer ’97, Provost and Class of 1955 Memorial Professor of History