On behalf of all of us at Williams, congratulations!

I’ve had the pleasure of teaching in the English Department at Williams since 2005, but my own educational journey, which began at Santa Rosa Junior College before stops at U.C. Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania for my bachelor’s and then Ph.D., has allowed me to experience a range of colleges and universities. They are each wonderful in their own distinctive ways and I’m indebted to all of them, but I’m delighted to share a bit about what I think is so special about Williams.

In a word, it’s the relationships. The intense, deep, often lifelong intellectual and personal relationships that form between students and professors are, for me, the hallmark of a Williams education. And nowhere is the transformative power of those relationships more clearly on display than in our Tutorial Program, which I’ve both taught in and had the good fortune to direct. As you may know by now, tutorials are courses with just two students and a professor. They take the ideals that are central to the intellectual endeavor here—give and take between students and faculty, in-depth analysis, discussion-based classes—even further. Tutorials are rare in American higher education; the scale on which they’re offered at Williams—for first-years through seniors, in one’s intended major and beyond—is unheard of. They’re as unique an opportunity for professors as they are for students, and I hope you’ll consider taking one.

Beyond my work with the Tutorial Program, I’ve also had the chance to mentor students’ independent research through the Mellon Mays and Alison Davis Undergraduate Fellowships Program and the English department honors program. And I’ve seen countless others pursue collaborative work with faculty through The Class of 1957 Summer Research Program. Many of these students go on to pursue graduate work in disciplines across the humanities and social sciences, but others put the experience to use in careers as exciting and diverse as they are, from producing NPR’s “All Things Considered” to working at Google. Every college and university talks about the opportunity for undergraduates to do research; at Williams, it’ll be a central part of your intellectual journey.

I want to share one final note about our community. Many years ago, I pursued intensive training at a Zen Buddhist temple in California. In recent years, I’ve felt myself called back to my Zen roots and accordingly, have started teaching a course called “Meditation and Modern American Life,” which is held at the Berkshire County House of Corrections (the class is made up of nine Williams undergrads and nine inmates), and begun leading the Williamstown Zen Group. You can check out my meditation podcast here. While these experiences are quite personal for me, they’re also indicative of the ways in which college and community blur at Williams. Our students are deeply committed to life on campus, but their experiences go well beyond campus, too. Their lives, and mine, are richer because of it.

I'm so grateful to have the privilege of teaching at Williams and to do my small part to educate and inspire the minds of the remarkable students I'm lucky enough to work with here. 

Sincerely,

Bernie Rhie
Associate Professor of English