Williams College Professor Receives Regional Teaching Award

10:01AM / Saturday, April 03, 2010Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Susan R. Loepp, professor of mathematics at Williams College, has been awarded a regional teaching award from the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). The Northeastern Section Teaching Award is given out every year to an "extraordinarily successful" professor who gets students excited about math.

At Williams since 1996, Loepp teaches Applied Abstract Algebra, Algebraic Error-Correcting Codes, and Galois Theory and Modules. She is an authority on commutative algebra. Her research has appeared in the Journal of Algebra and the Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra, among others.

In 2000, she and physics professor Bill Wootters received a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a course on using abstract algebra and quantum physics to protect information. They are the authors of the subsequent textbook "Protecting Information: From Classical Error Correction to Quantum Cryptography."

Teaching awards are not new to Loepp. At Williams, she received the 2001 Faculty of the Year Award, which is presented by the student body. When she was in graduate school, she was recognized four times for excellence in teaching. She is a contender for the MAA’s national Haimo Award.

Loepp received her B.A. and B.S. from Bethel College in Kansas, and her Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin. She received the 2007 Young Alumnus Award from Bethel. Before coming to Williams, she taught at the University of Nebraska.

Three other Williams professors— Frank Morgan, Colin Adams, and Ed Burger— have won previous Northeastern Section Teaching Awards.

The MAA is the largest professional society that focuses on undergraduate mathematics education. Its mission is to advance the mathematical sciences, especially at the collegiate level. The MAA's Northeastern Section includes the six New England states and four Canadian provinces.

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Williamstown Studying Major Overhaul for Main Street

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:14AM / Wednesday, July 29, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town is working with a Worcester civil engineering firm to redesign Main Street with an eye toward a major project sometime in the next decade.

Community Development Director Andrew Groff was before the Select Board on Monday night to talk about Town Hall's use of a $500,000 state grant to do preliminary design on major improvements to that portion of Route 2 that runs from Water Street west to the Field Park rotary, through the middle of Williams College's campus.

Groff introduced the elected officials to Amanda Bazinet of Worcester's Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, who is helping the town to develop a plan for Main Street that would align with the commonwealth's Complete Streets Program.

"Our project goals, in addition to the increased pedestrian and bicycle accommodations, is just, in general, improving the sightlines and improving the intersection geometry," Bazinet said.

"Complete Streets … has a lot of different facets to it. As Andrew had mentioned, the goal is to improve the safety for all of the roadway users — not just the motorists. We're looking at improving it for pedestrians, bicyclists, anyone using a mobility device. We want to create streets that are safe for all ages and abilities to use. So, while bicyclists will still be allowed, legally, to use the roadway, we want to look at providing a separate bicycle accommodation along the corridor, whether it's a shared use path along both sides of the streets that is a little more accessible to young children or older people with disabilities to look at all transportation options."

One goal is to encourage "active transportation." The Massachusetts Department of Transportation, who the town hopes one day might fund the construction, has a "healthy transportation policy," Bazinet said.

That MassDOT funding would come through the Transportation Improvement Program, which is managed locally by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. The design work underway now is being done with an eye toward going after TIP funding years down the road.

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