In a word, Winter Study affords all that students at the College lack: time. Time to enjoy the company of friends, sleep in until noon, and learn something just for fun — perhaps fencing, calligraphy, or bronze casting.

For many professors? Not so much.

“You need that time to write, do research, or just to prepare your courses for the spring,” Kashia Pieprzak, professor of French and comparative literature, said in an interview with the Record. 

For some professors, teaching Winter Study courses distracts from these tasks. “A lot of time goes into designing Winter Study courses,” Pieprzak said. She previously taught a class called “Fictions of Domesticity” with a colleague in the English Department. The workload, she noted, was considerable. “We lined up drivers, we got tour guides in museums, we moved students all over the state.” 

Starting in 2026, professors will no longer be required to teach Winter Study courses — a departure from the current policy, which requires faculty to teach a Winter Study course every other year. In an early joint memo discussing proposed policies, the Winter Study Committee and the Committee on Educational Affairs (CEA) wrote that removing the teaching requirement would “create more opportunities to use Winter Study as a time for career exploration or expanding co-curricular offerings to help students develop life skills as well as academic ones.” 

Katie Malanson, the director of Winter Study, attributed the change to shifting demand from students and pressures on faculty. “My sense is that students were really desiring classes that were being offered by adjuncts, and adjuncts were more comfortable and excited to teach,” she said in an interview with the Record. “At the same time, faculty were feeling additional pressures to be doing more research and mentoring of independent projects, honors and thesis work.” 

Many professors said they appreciate the new policy. “I’ve spoken to many colleagues,” Pieprzak said. “I think the big majority are relieved to have that time.” 

Professor of Economics Ken Kuttner noted that junior faculty members yet to achieve tenure are likely to benefit the most from the extra time in January. “If you’re an assistant professor, you’re under a lot of pressure to do your research, to publish — because publication is a prerequisite for tenure.”

To address faculty discontent, the College has increased its reliance on adjunct instructors to teach Winter Study courses. This year, about 70 percent of Winter Study courses were taught by adjunct professors. Only 40 of more than 130 courses were taught by the College’s full-time faculty. 

Adjunct instructors ­— instructors not currently employed as full-time faculty — have included community members, staff, professors emeritus, and spouses of faculty. 41 percent, according to the College’s Institutional Research Department, are alums, like Ashley Weeks-Cart ’05, who teaches “Knitting for Mindfulness.”

This is Weeks-Cart’s second consecutive year teaching Winter Study. “I genuinely find it quite joyful to be teaching people this skill,” she said in an interview with the Record. “It’s been so much fun.” 

Fortunately for Weeks-Cart, the timeline of Winter Study is particularly convenient for her work schedule. “My full-time job is as a photographer … and work is very quiet in January,” she said. This lull has afforded her the opportunity to teach Winter Study courses, which have quickly gained popularity. “I had to turn away a lot of people,” she added. 

While many Winter Study adjunct instructors have quieter work schedules in January, others must go to greater lengths to juggle course responsibilities with their full-time jobs. Laurence Birdsey, who teaches “Storytelling in Business,” is a managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). 

“It certainly presents its challenges,” Birdsey said of juggling work and teaching.

Adjuncts are given free rein in how to teach their classes, according to Weeks-Cart and Birdsey. “You have a lot of autonomy to teach the class however you see fit,” Birdsey said.

Weeks-Cart, however, highlighted that this autonomy comes with a lack of oversight. “I’m still a classic Williams student in that I really want to do well and want to be prepared for class, but nobody’s checking on me to make sure I do those things,” she said. “I’m curious about the support and infrastructure [created for adjuncts], so that there are equitable experiences across [classes].” 

Kuttner noted that the Rice Center for Teaching is working toward more involvement with adjunct instructors. “The Center for Teaching, the Rice Center, is broadening their support for adjuncts,” he said. 

Malanson said that she would provide that support. “My job is creating the situation for instructors to be able to thrive,” she said. “I can be their point of contact now.”

While many adjuncts are alums, others simply enjoy spending time at the College. “It’s just a pleasure to teach,” said Sara Houghteling, a local novelist who teaches “The Craft of Fiction: A Short Story Intensive,” which has taken a focus on Berkshires authors like Herman Melville. “One thing I love about the class is that I’m still in touch with students that I taught four years ago … And that’s very gratifying.” 

Some professors said that they plan to continue teaching Winter Study long into the future, even without the formal requirement to teach. “I know there are one or two people who I’ve talked to who have loved Winter Study and have said, ‘I’m going to teach this no matter what,’” Pieprzak said. 

Associate Professor of Mathematics Steven Miller has taught “The Mathematics of LEGO and Outreach Activities” every year since 2014, aside from a pause in 2021 due to COVID-19, and intends to continue to do so.

“I think Winter Study is absolutely wonderful,” he said in an interview with the Record. “It really contributes to what makes Williams Williams. It provides a nonstandard opportunity to grow and learn.” 

“I envision still teaching this class as long as students want to take it,” he added. 

Pieprzak, meanwhile, emphasizes the importance of having that choice. “The majority of my peers, I think, are excited to have January for all those other things, like working independently with students, working on our research, and rethinking our semester courses.”