Category Archives: Colleges

New England colleges and universities

Williams College

Colleges

Liberal arts education at its best.

For an alphabetical index of the New England College series of pieces, click here.

Nestled in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, Williams College is renowned for its outstanding academic standards. My niece graduated thence in the mid-1980s, proceeding on to the National Institutes of Health where brains were her specialty. Certainly, there’s no shortage of brain matter at Williams which dates from 1793 and numbers some 2,200 students.

There is no central quad; rather, the 100 or so buildings are dotted around central Williamstown either side of Main Street and anchored by the Memorial Chapel, with its splendid architecture and magnificent stained glass:

Lawrence Hall houses the College’s art collection, which includes a superb Edward Hopper from 1944. The eyeballs outside are by Louise Bourgeois:

My son poses with the Bourgeois piece; no arguing with his expression.

The charming receptionist was a fount of knowledge.

Architecture reflects many periods, from the old ….


Upperclass housing on campus.

…. through the contemporary:

Magnificent use of line and light in the Green building.

Inspirational messages abound:

And, finally, this is graduation day. New graduates celebrate with a fist pump:

Alumni include President James A. Garfield, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Depression era photographer Walker Evans, actor David Strathairn, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim and movie director John Frankenheimer, and, of course, my niece Krystyna Isaacs.

HBS

Colleges, Photographs

The best of the best.

For an alphabetical index of the New England College series of pieces, click here.

Calvin Coolidge reminded Americans that “The business of America is Business” and nowhere is this better shown than in the most famous of business schools, Harvard Business School. While HBS no longer dominates the ranks of CEOs of America’s largest companies – an affinity with dropping out and unkempt looks dominated by ‘hoodies’ being the thing today – a graduate of HBS has a meal ticket every bit as valuable as one from Harvard Law or even Harvard itself. Those who deny that ‘it’s who you know, not what you know’ never got admitted to any of these.

So no surprise, then, that in further capitalizing on my son’s Unfair Advantage, our week long visit to check out New England prep schools for him saw us dropping in on HBS. To say we left overawed hardly does the visit justice.


Winston on the steps of the Baker Library.

From the library’s site: “The Baker Library holds comprehensive special collections that record the evolution of industry from the 1400s to the present. The HBS Archives, manuscripts and rare books document the individuals, organizations and theories that shaped, and continue to influence, the global business world. ”


The main study room inside the Baker Library – a palpable sense of purpose.

You can see a brief video made by my son below:

In the great liberal tradition of American education, all the buildings are open and no one asks for ID or access rights.

Aldrich Hall is special – each level is replete with bay windows which form discrete, compact study areas for a handful of students. The atmosphere is hushed-respectful, as is the whole campus. No ra-ra-ra knuckle-headed sportsmen here.


Winston dressed for the occasion, inside Aldrich Hall, a Rockefeller donation.

From the Hall’s site: “Rockefeller suggested that the building be named for his father-in-law, Nelson W. Aldrich, who represented Rhode Island in the US House of Representatives from 1879 to 1881, then in the US Senate from 1881 to 1911. Aldrich, a notable financier and leader of the Republican Party, was chairman of the National Monetary Commission and the Federal Reserve. A driving force in international trade and monetary policies, he was sometimes called the “authentic voice of J.P. Morgan.” ”


The Dean’s House.

As befits the master of the world’s most storied business school, the Dean’s residence yields nothing in splendor to the rest of the HBS campus. From the site: “The Dean’s House was designed by Coolidge Shepley Bulfinch and Abbott. Construction was completed in 1929, two years after the dedication of the first 12 HBS buildings and just two years before the death of George F. Baker, the prominent banker who funded the construction of Harvard Business School’s original campus. The brick, 10,978-square-foot Georgian Revival-style building includes a gracious entry hall, study, living room, dining room, kitchen, and pantry on the main floor, with a circular staircase leading to a sitting room, bedrooms, and baths on the second and third floors. The surrounding garden was part of Frederick Law Olmsted’s original landscape design. ”

Any visit to Boston should see the tourist at HBS, for there are few more splendid experiences to be had.

All snapped on the iPhone 6.