We had our third Zoom Webinar, “COVID-19 Impact on Education — Now and Future” on Wednesday, July 8. Steve Brown continued his role as moderator for this session, and sent a Zoom invitation to the whole Class of ’71.
We’re pleased that Williams President Maud S. Mandel joined us, along with class presenters Roger Kaufman, Kent Rude, and Peter Clarke.
Roger’s slides are here.
The Class of ’71 is ramping up for its 50th Reunion, June 9-13, 2021. While COVID-19 impairs live events, ’71 is holding a series of virtual events on Zoom, using the expertise of classmates to share information and camaraderie. We’ve already had programs on health effects and the economy; “COVID-19’s Impact on Education — Now and Future” is next up, aiming to address impacts on Williams (Maud will have recent news), other colleges/universities, public and private schools K-12, and psychological factors for students, parents, and teachers. In addition to Maud, our three speakers are:
- Roger Kaufman, a longtime Professor of Economics at Smith College;
- Peter Clarke, a career educator in public and private schools as teacher, principal, and head of school, now consulting with VT public schools towards reopening; and
- Kent Rude, a career child psychologist with experience in special education and counseling of students and parents.
Their impressive bios are below.
Maud Mandel started work as Williams’ 18th President in July, 2018. Her full bio is at https://president.williams.edu/about-the-president/.
Roger Kaufman received his doctorate in economics from MIT in 1978. His research projects include an analysis of gain-sharing on productivity and wages, optimal college and university endowment spending policies, other issues in the economics of higher education, gender wage gaps in the public sector and forensic economics. He has taught courses in macroeconomics, labor economics, mathematical economics, health economics, the economics of higher education and partisan economic issues at Smith, Amherst College, Williams College, the University of California, Berkeley, and in Capetown, South Africa.
Kaufman has received a Fulbright Research Fellowship, a fellowship from the EEC and an Austin Fellowship. Has authored or edited two dozen articles and two books. In 1998, Kaufman was awarded Smith’s all-college Senior Faculty Teaching Award.
Peter Clarke has almost 50 years of experience of educational leadership. After graduating from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education (1984), Peter led award-winning high schools in Montpelier, VT and Bronxville, NY. In 2015, Peter founded Creative School Solutions LLC. Peter has served as a trustee of the Guadino Fund at Williams.
Kent Rude received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Boston University. He has always been interested in kids and behavior starting long before Williams. He parlayed that interest initially into special education and then into a long (continuing) career as a child/family clinical psychologist in the Boston area with a specialty in ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders.)
The first two of these online events attracted more than sixty participants each. Given the cancellation of the Oxford trip and likely cancellation of the mini-reunion in October, we encourage classmates to join in this alternative as a way to learn, and as a way to connect with friends old and new.