Robert G. Scott ’68 Professor of Political Science, Emerita
You have a gift for seeing patterns and solving problems.
In your research, you have puzzled out how changes in population and territory were signs of shifts in national sovereignty. In your courses, you have used brain-teasing questions to help students make sense of topics like the law of the sea. In your service to Williams, you have demonstrated your talent for spotting and tackling unfairness, whether as the first woman to chair political science or as an advocate for students from low-income or minority backgrounds. You were early to notice emerging interest in public health studies and equally astute in judging when to wind down our justice and law program.
You apply these same analytical skills in community life: After observing disparities in housing, you volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and joined Williamstown’s affordable housing commission. After seeing our county’s children go unrepresented in the social services system, you volunteered to speak for them in the courts. Your fascination with knotty problems even extends to your love for knitting.
One pattern we have observed is that you are always trying to strengthen the social fabric—through your teaching and research and through your service to the college and your community.
I hereby declare you the Robert G. Scott ’68 Professor of Political Science, Emerita, entitled to all the rights, honors and privileges appertaining thereto.
June 8, 2025