Educational Investments

Make new investments in our educational mission

As part of the 2020 goals, the college authorized two new tenure-track lines for faculty whose research and teaching focuses on key aspects of climate change. In 2017, Laura Martin was hired as an assistant professor in Environmental Studies. Laura studies how to maintain biodiversity in a rapidly changing world, and her work spans multiple fields including conservation biology, environmental history, and science and technology studies. In 2018, Alice Bradley was hired in the Geosciences department. Alice’s research focuses on Arctic sea ice and the impact of strong storms on the environment. The college also has a number of faculty across all three academic divisions whose work intersects with climate change.

In 2016–2017, the college launched a Year of Confronting Climate Change. Throughout the year, the college hosted speakers who addressed various aspects of climate change, including NASA’s James Hansen and Gavin Schmidt, Stephen Gardiner, Van Jones, Maxine Burkett ’98, Mark Tercek ’79 and Bill McKibben. In addition, the Williams College Museum of Art invited the Ghana ThinkTank, an international art collective, to collaborate with the college on identifying and addressing climate challenges.