Williams-Mystic

Summer interns are wrapping up; next up at Williams-Mystic we’re getting the houses and offices ready for the 95th class of WM students! 🌊

We swizzled, we gathered with alumni and friends and their families, we enjoyed the few hours of sunshine in a very wet week, we ate (very well) and we explored the age old question, toasted or burned? We also experienced the ✨very ✨best of WM snack innovation: brownie s'more--patent pending!

Thanks to all the WM folks who joined us for our Mystic Summer Swizzle to top off a fantastic summer of alumni gatherings! Next up, Alumni Day on Saturday, September 21--registration open now at wmalumni.org.

Local alumni and friends, you're invited to a Mystic Alumni Swizzle on Wednesday, August 7 at 5:30 pm. We'll gather rain or shine at Carlton Marine Lab.

Sign up for the potluck meal at bit.ly/MysticSwizzle, and be sure to add your requested songs for the official Swizzle playlist!

"Call me Ishmael...Whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul...I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can."

And so begins Herman Melville's classic American novel, Moby-Dick. Each summer Mystic Seaport hosts a celebration of Melville's birthday with a marathon reading of Moby-Dick on the Morgan.

Some Williams-Mystic semesters have hosted a reading of Moby on the Morgan of their own, we dug deep into the archives to bring you this collection of Moby posters created by WM students.

Alumni, what do you remember most about Moby-Dick?

The Williams-Mystic flag flew high aboard the Stonington scalloper FURIOUS this weekend at the annual Blessing of the Fleet!

The Blessing is an annual event in Stonington, honoring the town’s fishing heritage and commemorating those lost at sea.

Empire Fisheries owners Joe and Nancy Gilbert celebrated local educators this year, inviting both Williams-Mystic and the Stonington Teacher of the Year, along with local dignitaries, for the wreath-laying ceremony in Stonington Harbor aboard their vessel FURIOUS.

Empire Fisheries is dedicated to sustainable fishing practices and community engagement. As a fisherman and environmentalist active in fisheries management and environmental policy, Gilbert often encounters Williams-Mystic alumni who are making big impacts in the maritime world.

"Williams-Mystic has been educating college students about the world's oceans and coasts for nearly 50 years and their alumni are helping to solve some of the most difficult global issues we face today,” said Gilbert, who has been in the fisheries industry since 1980. "Good science makes good policy and good policy makes good regulations."

Photos courtesy of Lyndsey Pyrke-Fairchild & Teagan O’Brien

Cheers to summer swizzles! We got quality time with more than fifty WM alums at our two summer swizzles this year.

Last night's event was a micro-field seminar led by WM Rhode Island faculty and guest speaker Bridget DeLaney-Hall S17, helping us all consider the Providence waterfront past and present from interdisciplinary angles. The talks were followed with a warm and chatty alumni gathering across the street at Narragansett Brewery (Hi neighbor!), which we can highly recommend for your next visit to the Providence waterfront!

Earlier this summer, a group of alumni and friends were treated to an after-hours private tour of Mystic Seaport's Entwined exhibit, hosted by Associate Curator Bridget DeLaney-Hall S17. If you haven't yet been to see this incredible exhibit, you'll want to make sure you do!

We loved seeing old and new friends, and dearly missed those that couldn't make it to an event. Please put Saturday, September 21 on your calendar for an Alumni Day gathering in Mystic in celebration of our 47th year!

Williams-Mystic alumni, come for a visit and get out on the water at Mystic Seaport Museum!

Looking for fun activities to do this summer? Get out on the water on your own aboard a traditional small craft. Borrow a rowboat, sailboat or pedal boat and spend an hour exploring the Mystic River. Choose one of more than a dozen boats that vary in capacity from 2 to 5 people (plus a dog!).

Boathouse staff will provide life jackets, oars, and other gear. You just need to step aboard and enjoy! ⛵ ⛵

Learn more here: http://bit.ly/3zcKKKo

Bring a friend or make new ones as you join a micro WM field seminar in Providence, RI this Wednesday, July 17 at 6:30 pm!

Our swizzle speakers include Bridget DeLaney-Hall S17 (Public Historian and Associate Curator at Mystic Seaport Museum) and our trio of Rhode Island WM faculty members, Katy Robinson Hall S84 (Marine Policy) Tim Pusack (Marine Ecology) and Lloyd Anderson (Oceanographic Processes).

First, dive with Bridget into the history of Providence's Green Jacket Shoal—an Indigenous waterway, industrial center and ship graveyard in the Seekonk River (you've probably driven by it dozens of times). Then, fast forward to 2024 for an overview of local offshore wind development with Katy. Lloyd will share about emerging climate change impacts to the Providence coastline, and Tim will illuminate the effects of wind energy and climate change on the local ecology.

Satiated with your newfound interdisciplinary knowledge, we'll head across the street to Narragansett Brewery for a casual swizzle with fellow WM alumni and friends.

We'll start at 6:30 pm at the Park's public parking, near the shipwrecks and the playground at Providence’s India Point Park. Bridget's talk begins by the submerged shipwrecks in the Seekonk River (just in front of the Park’s public parking).

Narragansett Brewery is family friendly; guests will purchase their own food or beverage at the brewery.

RSVP to [email protected].

WM alumni and friends, we’re hosting two regional Swizzles this summer and hope you’ll join us!

Thursday, June 27
Entwined at Mystic Seaport Museum
5:30 to 7 pm

Join Mystic Seaport Museum Associate Curator Bridget DeLaney-Hall S17 for an after-hours WM tour of Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea, a new major exhibition at Mystic Seaport Museum centering maritime histories in Indigenous, African and African-descended worldviews and experiences.

RSVP to [email protected] for after-hours entry instructions.

And on Wednesday, July 17, join a micro WM field seminar in Providence with Bridget DeLaney-Hall S17, Public Historian and Associate Curator at Mystic Seaport Museum and Rhode Island-based WM faculty Katy Robinson Hall S84, Tim Pusack and Lloyd Anderson — check your latest email from WM for all the details.

Gratitude for the beautiful community that came together on the banks of the Mystic River last week to celebrate the remarkable life of Susan Stucke Funk F77 in story, song and spirit.

Her dear friend Jenny (former WM staff) read the following poem of comfort:

Gone From My Sight
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone."

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.

And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

--Henry Van D**e

Friday, June 14 at Mystic Seaport Museum, we celebrate the life of Susan Stucke Funk F77. Alumni, friends and supporters are warmly invited to join us at 4 pm in the Boat Shed.

Susan was the first student who walked through the door on September 7, 1977, for the first semester of Williams-Mystic, launching what was to be an extraordinary life-long career with Mystic Seaport Museum.

Susan enjoyed many other firsts during her more than 40 years at Mystic Seaport: She was the first Williams-Mystic alum to become a program staff member, serving as an Administrative Assistant in the fall of 1983. She was the first Williams-Mystic alum to work full-time at Mystic Seaport, the first President of the Williams-Mystic Alumni Council, and, naturally, the recipient of the first Susan Stucke Funk Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1997, which only eight additional alums have received in the subsequent 26 years.

Having been appointed in the spring of 2001 as Vice President for Education and Public Programs, Susan then became the first woman to be Executive Vice President of Mystic Seaport in 2008, a position she held until her retirement in June 2020.

Susan was a passionate champion of Williams-Mystic and Mystic Seaport, seeing the best in both the institutions and the people. Her presence, her touch, are everywhere. Upon her retirement, the Children’s Museum at Mystic Seaport was named in her honor.

In Susan’s application, as a Bates College student in January 1977 to attend Williams-Mystic she wrote, "I am ... interested in pursuing museum work as a career." Susan fulfilled her dream beyond imagination.

Susan’s immediate family surviving her are her husband Jim Funk, her daughter Arianna F04 (Erik), son Nathaniel and two grandchildren.

Following the celebration of life, members of the Williams-Mystic community are invited to join us Friday at 7 pm in Carlton Marine Science Center for a presentation on Williams-Mystic by Executive Director Tom Van Winkle, followed by a Q & A.

Time-lapse footage of coastal flooding in one North Carolina town--looks similar to several tidal cycles in downtown Mystic and downtown Watch Hill this past winter. (Would be an interesting capture by WM students!)

Anyone seeing flooding like this in their area?

Anatomy of a flood The Post installed cameras to capture how sea level rise worsens high-tide flooding in this N.C. town.

Spotted, former Williams-Mystic Marine Policy Professor Dennis Nixon!

Summer, at least on the academic calendar, is officially here, so we surveyed Williams-Mystic faculty and staff to see what they suggest to power, rest, entertain and engage your brain over the next 100 days. Share with us what you're reading (or hoping to read) this summer, salty themed or not!

https://mystic.williams.edu/summer-reading-recommendations-from-wm-faculty-staff/

Last week CT Senator Chris Murphy (Williams '96) wrapped up his eighth annual walk across Connecticut with a finish at Mystic Seaport Museum. Williams-Mystic faculty, staff and alumni greeted him to thank him for his continued support and advocacy of Williams-Mystic. (We think that WM hat will look great on his next walk across CT!)

Pride is for everyone, today and every day!

(Do you need a WM pride sticker? Message us with your address and we'll send it your way!)

Thinking about a semester at Williams-Mystic next spring?
Our priority deadline for spring 2025 is June 1.
Questions? Find us at [email protected]!

Our S24 class headed out on Friday after a tremendous closing celebration full of joy, reflection, hugs and tears. It is FAR too quiet here in Mystic this Monday morning, and we miss you all greatly.

We look forward to sharing some of our favorite highlights of the past semester later this week, but in the meantime we'll leave you with this beautifully handcrafted Williams-Mystic wave, created in the blacksmith's forge at Mystic Seaport Museum by Vanya Funez S24, Williams '26.

We interrupt this week for a gratitude post:

We ❤️ and appreciate WM alumni (and soon-to-be alumni S24) more than you can imagine. (And Elena, you are correct--everyone needs a cookie!) Thank you.

WM alumni, the Wooden Boat Show returns to Mystic Seaport Museum next month!

Mark your calendars! The WoodenBoat Show returns June 28-30! ⛵

From kayaks to schooners, discover over a hundred classic wooden boats on display. Don't miss this chance to explore the beauty of wooden craftsmanship!

Learn more here: https://secure.mysticseaport.org/woodenboat-show/22838

Iron, wood, sail cloth, boat parts and lines...students showcased a semester of learning marine skills and trades at dinner this week with skills instructors, faculty and staff as invited guests.

The first student-made Dyer Dhow sail emerged this spring, and according to sailing instructor Mike, it's the fastest sail in the fleet.

⛵️Who will get to use that sail in the S24 Broken Centerboard Regatta next week?

While our S24 students worked on their final projects today, WM faculty and staff got a private tour of the Collections & Research Center at Mystic Seaport Museum. The goal was to meet staff, make connections about research and scholarship for WM students and…see lots of cool stuff! Check out our amazing insiders tour in the stories. (https://www.instagram.com/williamsmystic/)

Thank you CRC staff!

Williams-Mystic is on the road today! Today’s field seminar is to New Bedford, MA, the “City that Lit the World.”

New Bedford was the heart of the nineteenth-century whaling and whale oil industry and has enduring connections to its maritime history.

New Bedford is still the nation’s top fishing port by value, but as the port innovates to become a leader in the offshore wind industry, it is taking a central role in lighting New England once again. 💡

Follow along in the IG stories for a visit with WM to the city of New Bedford!

The rest of the internet on May 1:
Spring flowers or Justin Timberlake

Williams-Mystic on May 1:
What's the scariest, creepiest ship photo we can find for this post asking for maritime ghost stories?

Here's the request, Williams-Mystic alumni and friends!
History professor Sofia Zepeda gives a "student's choice" lecture at the end of the semester--past lectures have included Myths & Legends of the Deep (Kracken!), Mermaids, and S*x Workers & Ports.

This spring? It's about maritime ghost stories, and here's where you come in.

Do you have any ghost stories or ghost encounters from your time at Williams-Mystic--did you see a ghoul on the Morgan? Hear the tale of a lonely ghost on the grounds? Hear a mysterious thump in the attic? Let us know! 👻

Cheers to science teacher Emily Bryk F02 (Williams 2004) who is educating the next generation of leaders on the value of literacy about the world's oceans, climate and environment!

Emily (far left in photo) brought her Oceanography class from Miss Porter's School in Farmington, CT to Williams-Mystic for hands-on field work in a marine environment. WM Marine Ecology professor Tim Pusack led the group on an exploration of the Mystic River Estuary and Barn Island Wildlife Management Area.

The students collected and identified zooplankton samples and took temperature and salinity measurements at the varied locations, answering questions about what aspects of the environment are marine.

Emily teaches biology, chemistry, environmental lab science, oceanography and freshwater ecology. Her climate and paleoclimate research has taken her to Baja California, the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Wonderful to host you and your class, Emily!

After decades of losing coastline, a coastal Lousiana Native American band looks to their young chief to help them find a place in the future. Devon Parfait F18 and Williams College '22, is chief of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw.

Williams-Mystic has a relationship with the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band through the work of the program's Louisiana Field Seminar, and Devon Parfait first was introduced to Williams through Professor Rónadh Cox, Williams geosciences professor teaching on the Williams-Mystic seminar.

A feature article about Parfait and his work to save his ancestral lands in the face of climate change was chosen by Harvard Public Health editors and readers as one of 2023's best.
https://harvardpublichealth.org/equity/a-louisiana-tribe-fights-health-costs-of-coastal-land-loss/

We’re excited to welcome back The Jonathan, which regularly delivers shipments of raw sugar to our Baltimore Refinery. The vessel was able to return to the Inner Harbor this morning using the new deeper 20-foot navigation channel. Thank you to the Coast Guard and the entire Unified Command who made this possible!