is something we’ re really excited about. Community colleges are the community’ s college.“ Community” is literally in our name, and when there is a need in the community, that’ s where we go. Right now, there’ s tremendous demand for HVAC technicians, so we’ re building that program. The last thing I’ ll mention is that we’ ve renamed our library to recognize Ruth Edmonds Hill, and we’ re going to have a wonderful grand opening celebration around that. There’ s just great energy on campus. Personally, I’ m really looking forward to meeting more students.
Mandel: At Williams, we’ re launching a very substantial investment in our athletics facilities, which I’ m really excited about, because they’ ll serve the broader community, as well. It’ s a multi-year project, but eventually there will be a new fitness center, pool, skating rink, and a number of facilities that the community will be able to enjoy. And of course, if you drove into town today, you saw the new art museum. We’ re about a year away from cutting the ribbon. Last week, I toured the building for the first time in quite a while, and I have to say, it’ s going to be remarkable. It’ s a beautiful building. I often say that this project is really a stake in the ground for the humanities, because it’ s about integrating the arts into the education of every Williams student, no matter what they study. At the same time, it’ s also a tremendous contribution to the community. It creates another connection between Williams, MASS MoCA, the Clark, MCLA, and the incredible arts corridor that exists throughout this region. That’ s something we’ re all very excited about.
Whether it’ s alumni with certain expectations, adult students returning to school, 18-year-olds arriving for the first time, faculty, or board members— you have multiple generations all interacting within the same institution. How do you navigate those generational differences and expectations?
Mandel: All three of us have really come back to“ mission” in different ways throughout this conversation. At Williams, the mission is educating undergraduate students. The way I think about it is simply this: What do young people need today in order to be successful when they graduate and go on to live lives of meaning, purpose, and service? If that’ s what drives us, then the answers begin to emerge. Many of the core liberal arts capacities that we teach have remained remarkably consistent over decades. Writing. Communication. History. Critical thinking. Those things remain. But if you compare the curriculum at Williams today with the curriculum from the middle of the 19th century, there’ s actually very little overlap. The curriculum evolves, even though our commitment to the liberal arts remains. If you begin with the mission, then it’ s much easier to explain why you might teach something differently today than 50 years ago. We’ re really asking what do today’ s students need?
Rogers-Adkinson: I think we think very similarly around curriculum. Where colleges have changed a lot is around supporting students. Sometimes I hear alumni say that we“ coddle” students today— that we do too much. They’ ll point to clothing closets, food pantries, meal programs, even summer meal access for students who remain in town. They ask,“ Why are colleges doing all of that now?” For me, it comes back to understanding that we believe in a full-service mission. If you’ re hungry, you don’ t think. It simply doesn’ t make sense. I remember living on 25-cent boxes of macaroni and cheese myself, but should students today have to do that if we have the ability to help them succeed? I don’ t think so. Our responsibility is to help students stay in school, complete their education, thrive, and ultimately give back to their communities. Sometimes that means helping people understand that higher education today has to do more than simply deliver classes.
Mandel: And the student population itself has changed dramatically. At Williams, 20 percent of our students are the first in their families to attend college. Ten percent are international students. Those realities naturally change how we approach education today compared with 50 years ago.
Rogers-Adkinson: We’ re 40 percent Pell. How do you tell 40 percent of your students,“ Well, you live in poverty, but we don’ t support you”? It doesn’ t make sense.
Charlier: I agree, we’ ve all come back to mission. At BCC, our mission is transforming lives. Certainly that includes helping people achieve stronger economic outcomes, helping them support themselves and their families. But that’ s only part of it. We also transform lives by helping people grow, helping them become better citizens, helping them develop intellectually. When we think about curriculum, those are the things we’ re striving for. I also think there’ s something really special about having multiple generations learning together. Our faculty often talk about how magical that is. As long as you create a classroom where everyone feels seen and respected, people come to issues from very different perspectives, and they learn deeply from one another. It makes the classroom a much richer experience. That’ s always been one of the defining characteristics of community colleges, and it’ s one of the reasons I love being part of one.
You’ ve all discussed mission. Let’ s discuss purpose. There is a longstanding societal expectation that attending college guarantees students job placement post-graduation. Is that true? Or is a college’ s primary role to help students develop the skills that will allow them to find opportunities and build their lives?
Charlier: I really think it’ s both. We’ re about people. People absolutely need strong economic outcomes. They need to be able to support themselves and their families. So yes— that’ s a core part of what we do. But it would be insufficient if that’ s all we did. When students talk about Berkshire Community College, yes, many of them say,“ I got a great job.” We can show you data all day long about those outcomes. But what they also say is,“ Somebody believed in me. I learned how to think. I learned how to solve problems. I found my voice.” This work is really about helping students become the fullest version of themselves. We know that creates better citizens. We know it leads to better health outcomes. I really
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