Dear faculty and staff colleagues,
What a year!
I am writing to thank you for all the effort and care you put into making 2020-21 a tremendous success! Last summer, the task before us seemed Herculean: we had to re-think every process, course and program. We had to build a testing site and establish mechanisms for containing a pandemic when it inevitably made its way to Williamstown. We had to figure out how to house and feed our tightly knit community while keeping everyone healthy. We had to redesign courses from the ground up and rethink ways of presenting material, evaluating work and engaging with students. We had to expand our technological capacities and platforms. We had to reimagine ways of helping students stay active and provide performers with ways to rehearse and share their work without being together. We had to solve intricate administrative problems without meeting in person and do the work that we always do in new ways in our homes and makeshift workspaces. In a year when we were entirely separated from each other, we had to unite to solve complex problems and reinvent every aspect of our work.
Williams College could not have functioned this year without your contributions, your patience and your care. I thank you for whatever part you played in making it happen. You were essential.
I am forever grateful,
Maud