To the Williams Community,
I am delighted to announce that Professor Gretchen Long has accepted our invitation to become director of the Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford University (WEPO). Her term of service will be two years, starting July 1, 2016.
Gretchen has been a member of the History Department at Williams since 2003, and she is very well prepared for the Oxford job at this point in her career. She has lived and worked in the UK as a scholar, and she has served in several faculty and student affairs leadership positions here in Williamstown. She has been chair of the Africana Studies program, director of the Summer Humanities and Social Science Program, a member of the Faculty Steering Committee, and she currently serves as chair of the Honor and Discipline Committee. Gretchen’s teaching and research interests include African American history, American women’s history, American medical history, African American literature, and emancipation.
As WEPO director, Gretchen will be the primary academic and personal advisor for the 26 juniors who enroll in the program each year. She will hold the title of tutor for visiting students at Exeter College and will work with Exeter fellows and other Oxford instructors to arrange our students’ tutorials. Gretchen and her family will live in the director’s residence, which is adjacent to Ephraim Williams House, where the students live.
Gretchen will follow in the footsteps of Marlene and Noah Sandstrom, both professors of psychology, who have shared the WEPO directorship since July 2014. Thanks from all of us go to Gretchen, Marlene, and Noah for their willingness to serve our students in this capacity.
Regards,
Adam Falk
President