Page 45 - BusinessWest July 7, 2021

Golf Tournament to Benefit Surrendered Farm Animals
July 17: The Whip City Animal Sanctuary will be hosting its inaugural golf tournament on Saturday, July 17 at East Mountain Country Club in Westfield. Whip City Animal Sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides a stable, forever home
for rescued and surrendered farm animals, many of whom have been neglected or abused. The tourna- ment will begin with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Play
is a four-person, best-ball scramble. The entry fee is $100 per person and includes cart, green fees, and dinner following the tournament at 5:30 p.m. There will be prizes for closest to the hole and closest to the line, along with a raffle. Various levels of corporate sponsorship are still available for those who would like to contribute. For more information about player registration and sponsorship opportunities, contact Sonia Henderson at (413) 627-6192 or wht- [email protected].
Amtrak Valley Flyer
Starting July 26: Amtrak and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) will restart the Valley Flyer round-trip train service between Greenfield and New Haven, Conn., which suspended three trains on March 30, 2020 due to fewer travelers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In August 2019, Amtrak and MassDOT launched
a new, state-supported passenger train called the Valley Flyer, which travels between Greenfield and New Haven with intermediate station stops. In New Haven, the train connects with Amtrak’s Northeast
Corridor service and Metro-North’s New Haven Line service. Valley Flyer station stops Greenfield, Northampton, Holyoke, and Springfield, Mass.; and Windsor Locks, Windsor, Hartford, Berlin, Meriden, Wallingford, and New Haven, Conn.
RVCC Golf Tournament
Sept. 10: River Valley Counseling Center (RVCC), a multi-faceted mental-health agency, will hold its sixth annual golf tournament fundraiser at East Mountain Country Club in Westfield. The event is presented by Action Ambulance Service Inc. Funds raised will support the programs RVCC provides to children and teens in the community, in schools, and through local partnerships. The cost per golfer is $100 and includes greens fees, a golf cart, a gift bag, lunch, and dinner. Golfers will also be able to partici- pate in course contests and a raffle. Registration will begin at 9 a.m. with a 10:30 a.m. shotgun start. Spon- sorship opportunities are available. Visit rvccinc.org/ golf for more information and to register or sponsor online.
Free Concerts at the Big E
Sept. 17 to Oct. 3: The lineup for the Big E’s Court
of Honor Stage has been announced. The tented venue, located in front of the iconic Coliseum at the heart of the fairgrounds, hosts more than 85 shows over the 17-day run of the Big E. All events on the Court of Honor Stage are free with admission to the fair. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Concerts include Modern English (Sept. 17-19, 3 p.m.), Jesse McCartney (Sept. 17, 8 p.m.), Tom
fall semester begins to make connections — both on campus and within the community.
She said the calendar was quickly filling up with appointments with area civic, business, and educa- tion leaders, at which she will gauge needs, come to fully understand how the university partners with others to meet those needs, and discuss ways to broaden WSU’s impact and become even more of a difference maker in the community.
The discussions with business leaders will focus on the needs of the workforce and how to make gradu- ates more workforce-ready, she said, adding that the school has been a reliable supplier of qualified work- ers to sectors ranging from education to healthcare to criminal justice.
Meanwhile, the meetings with those in educa- tion focus on widening and strengthening a pipeline of students through K-12 and into higher education, and also on finding paths for those who can’t, for var- ious reasons, take such a direct path.
“For those who are not able to go to college right after high school, how do make it easy for these adults to come back to school?” she asked, add- ing that she will work with others to answer that question.
And some of the answers may have been found during the pandemic, she went on, noting that, out of necessity, educators used technology to find new and different ways to teach and engage students. And this imagination and persistence — not to mention the direct lessons learned about how to do things, espe- cially with regard to remote learning — will carry on into this fall, when the campus returns to ‘normal’ and well beyond.
“For us, moving forward, I’ll think we’ll never go back to the way we educated people before,” she told BusinessWest, “because people have learned to do this work in a different kind of way, and the public has learned that this is an option moving forward to give people an opportunity to return to college.”
Franek (Sept. 17-26, 11 a.m, 1 and 6 p.m.), Foghat (Sept. 19, 8 p.m.), Rainere Martin in the Donna Sum- mer Experience (Sept. 20-21, 3 p.m.), the Yardbirds (Sept. 20-21, 8 p.m.), Exile (Sept. 22-23, 3 p.m.), Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (Sept. 22, 8 p.m.), 10,000 Maniacs (Sept. 23, 8 p.m.), the Bar-Kays: Soul 2 Soul Revue (Sept. 24-26, 3 p.m.), Ying Yang Twins (Sept. 25, 8 p.m.), Don McLean (Sept. 26, 8 p.m.), the Outlaws (Sept. 27-28, 8 p.m.), the Everly Set (Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, 11 a.m., 1 and 6 p.m.), Big Brother and the Holding
Agenda
Company (Sept. 29-30, 3 p.m.), Lisa Lisa (Sept. 29, 8 p.m.), Tribute to the King featuring Taylor Rodri- guez (Oct. 1-3, 3 p.m.), Hoobastank (Oct. 2, 8 p.m.), and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-DMC (Oct. 3, 8 p.m.). Look for more concert announcements at thebige.com.
40 Under Forty Gala
Sept. 23: BusinessWest’s 15th annual 40 Under Forty gala will take place at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke. The class of 2021 was introduced to the region in the magazine’s May 12 issue, and the profiles may be read online at busi- nesswest.com. Tickets cost $80 per person. This is expected to be a sellout event, and tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. To reserve a spot, call (413) 781-8600, or e-mail officemanager@ businesswest.com.
When asked about what she brings to her latest challenge, Thompson reiterated that it’s more than her work in higher education, as significant as that is. It’s also her work in public policy, and, more specifi- cally, working in partnership with others to address global issues.
She counts among her mentors David Mathews, former president of the University of Alabama and secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President Ford. She worked with him when he was leading the Kettering Foundation.
“I spent time with him learning about the way he approached leadership and the way he approached democracy,” she noted. “I’ve been a dean, and I’ve had experience as a provost; overall, I believe I have the right set of skills to use the lessons I’ve learned to help develop the next set of community leaders in all fields.
“We need to look at a way that we can create cur- riculum and graduate people who are innovative, who are critical thinkers, who know how to research on their own, who know to look at problems and how to work in teams with other people in order to create solutions,” she went on. “These are things I’ve learned in my life, and those are things I want to impart to the students who come to this campus.”
As for her leadership style, Thompson described it this way: “I look at creating a vision and an idea and working with and through people — people who are above me, people who work alongside me, people who are younger — and learning from people at all levels and ages and stages of their development.
“I tend to see myself as someone who is trans- formational,” she went on. “I see myself as a ser- vant leader, a person who tries to see how I can help another person maximize their opportunity to dig deep inside themselves, and identify their strengths and bring those strengths out.” u
George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]
Thompson
As she does so, she intends to lean heavily on Horace Mann, considered
by many to be the father of public education, for both inspiration and direction. In many respects, they share common viewpoints about the importance of education and inclusion.
“This whole idea of looking at healthy communi- ties and using education to strengthen communi- ties resonated with me,” Thompson explained. “And it resonated with me given some of the things we’re starting to see with our divided country; how do we get people educated so that they’re able to know how to be critical thinkers, how to separate fact from fic- tion, and how to begin looking at the importance of creating communities where everyone is healthy? To me, healthy is more than physical health — it’s emo- tional and social and environmental, this whole way that we look at values that really enable people to thrive and survive in society.”
Looking forward, she said she has many goals and ambitions for the school, with greater diversity and inclusion at the top of the list. She pointed to UMass Boston, which she described as one of the most diverse schools in the country, as both a model and a true reflection of the demographic changes that have taken place in the U.S.
“Those diverse populations are the future of high- er education in this country,” she told BusinessWest. “We are becoming a majority minority population, and there are opportunities to reach out to commu- nities of color and stress the importance of education to be part of a lifestyle where we’re constantly looking at ways to engage with people and give them tools to thrive.”
Course of Action
Thompson arrived at the WSU campus at the start of this month. She will use the two months before the
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JULY 7, 2021 45
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