BCC Calls for Submissions For Daniel Dillon '62 Heart of Service Alumni Award

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PITTSFIELD, Mass — Berkshire Community College (BCC) is now accepting submissions for its annual Daniel Dillon '62 Heart of Service Alumni Award, created in 2021 in remembrance of Daniel Dillon.
 
A 1962 BCC graduate, Dillon was known for caring deeply about his community. He succumbed to COVID-19 in January 2021.  
 
BCC and the BCC Alumni Association Board, together with Dillon's family, created the award to honor a BCC alumnus, former student or current student who has shown dedication to and made an impact on the community through service to others. The recipient will have demonstrated volunteer and professional engagement as a means of making Berkshire County a more equitable and inclusive place for all. 
 
Nominations for the award are open through May 1, 2023. To submit a nomination, visit www.berkshirecc.edu/dan-dillon.
 
All nominees are welcome, regardless of affiliation with BCC. 
 
In 1977, Dillon was elected to the Pittsfield City Council and served three terms. He went on to serve as president of Berkshire United Way for 12 years and received the Francis X Doyle Award in 2005 for community service. For thirteen years, he coproduced and was master of ceremonies for the local United Cerebral Palsy telethon, and for many years he was vice president of both the Irish American Committee and the Irish Sister City Committee. Dillon also served on the Pittsfield Human Services Commission and the Success By 6 steering committee. 
 
Following his retirement from Berkshire United Way, Dillon joined Greylock Federal Credit Union as relationship director and became instrumental in reviving the BCC Alumni Association. At the time of his death, Dillon served on the board of the BCC Foundation and on the development committee.  

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Worldwide PowerSchool Breach Reaches Pittsfield Schools

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — District students and teachers had their personal information accessed as part of a worldwide PowerSchool breach.

"This is not unique to the City of Pittsfield," Superintendent Joseph Curtis told the School Committee on Wednesday.

"Every one of the 18,000 PowerSchool customers has experienced a data breach. We were informed yesterday with a very brief notice from PowerSchool and our technology department began to dig into the impact near immediately."

The breach reportedly took place between Dec. 19 and 28, when it was detected by PowerSchool and all accounts were locked down. It is being investigated by the FBI and a third-party cybersecurity firm.

On Jan. 8, PowerSchool hosted a webinar with the investigative team to provide school districts with further details about the situation.

The Pittsfield Public School's technology department investigation found that personal information from the fields "Student" and "Teacher" were accessed. This includes home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses.

Other school districts have reported access to student grades, health information and Social Security numbers. 

As a cybersecurity computer science student, School Committee member William Garrity found the breach "deeply concerning."

"I am concerned by the security practice PowerSchool had implemented before this," he said.

"I think there was a lot of this oversight, I'm not going to get into it in this meeting. Hopefully not just us but other districts around Massachusetts, the county, and the world hold PowerSchool accountable for their security practices."

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