Contact information: 413/775-1420
Web link:

Contact: Liz Carroll
Phone: 413/775-1420
E-mail: carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Media contact: Liz Carroll
Marketing & Publications
413/775-1420 | carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Release date: November 22, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GCC "People on the Move"

Beth LaPorte has been promoted to a full-time position in the Financial Aid office, where she helps students receive all the financial aid to which they are entitled. "By filling out paperwork and processing financial aid applications,” says LaPorte, "I help students afford school who otherwise might not be able to come.” LaPorte graduated from Mohawk Trail Regional High School, and earned her Associate's Degree in Accounting at Greenfield Community College.

Jessamyn Smyth joined the GCC English Department this fall as an Adjunct Faculty member. Before coming to GCC, Smyth was the Director of Community Education for EveryWoman's Center at the University of Massachusetts. She recently completed her master's degree in Fine Arts at Goddard College. A 2004 Bread Loaf Writer's Conference grant recipient, Smyth writes in several genres. Her latest play, "The Importance of Being Wild,” was recently produced by The Country Players at the Shea Theater in Turners. "Playwriting really forces you to think in a conscious way about translating language into three-dimensional space,” says Smyth. "What I ask students to do is to think on the level of language about what experience they're creating for their reader.” Smyth was a student at GCC before going on to UMass, and says, "The quality of attention that I got (at GCC) really made the difference for my future success, so teaching here feels like giving something back that I received. I think it's the best community college I've ever seen.”