Devon Nowlin Joins WCMA As Deputy Director

03:03PM / Tuesday, May 12, 2026Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.—Devon Nowlin has joined the team at the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) as Deputy Director for Operations and Art Services.

Nowlin came to Williams College in 2023 as the museum project manager of the new WCMA building, currently under construction and scheduled to open in the fall of 2027. Before that, she was Collection Manager and Museum Renovation Coordinator at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas.

Also an artist, Nowlin holds an MFA in painting from Texas Christian University and worked in the field of public art in Texas for 20 years as a commissioned artist and contract project manager to help realize the public works of other artists.

"It is such an honor to be joining WCMA in this historic moment as we are preparing to move into and operate this incredible new building by Solid Objectives Idenberg Liu," Nowlin said. "The WCMA team in this new building has the opportunity to reimagine a future of more sustainable museum operations and to teach the art leaders of tomorrow throughout the process."

This new role at WCMA brings together in one division, under Nowlin's leadership, the collections and exhibitions management team, operations, security and visitor services, and facilities and events.

"Devon Nowlin brings a unique combination of detailed knowledge of the new WCMA design and deep experience with the complex operations of art museums, and will be essential to realizing the full opportunity of our new state-of-the-art, purpose-built building," said Pamela Franks, the Class of 1956 Director of WCMA. "Every aspect of the museum building project advances WCMA’s teaching mission, and Devon is ideally positioned to translate that potential into practice."a

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Williamstown Select Board Evaluates Town Manager

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:39AM / Wednesday, October 28, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — In 2022, the town still was recovering from the twin blows of a global pandemic and a lawsuit that exposed disturbing allegations against the town's police department.

The latter ultimately led to the resignation of the police chief and the town manager. To replace the manager, the Select Board at the time turned to Robert Menicocci.

Menicocci represented a break in style from his immediate predecessor, who was a more prominent voice in town government. That prominence, in part, was a product of the times: When town boards and committees were not meeting in-person and access to town hall itself was limited at the height of the pandemic, the manager's voice in Zoom meetings was more front and center.

In his four years in the corner office, Menicocci has helped shepherd the police department on its path to certification and helped the town weather the fiscal storm of skyrocketing costs linked to inflation – particularly sharp increases in the cost of health insurance that hit hard for a labor-intensive endeavor like municipal government. All the while, he has been a little more taciturn, while always willing to participate, when appropriate, with responsive answers in discussions of the Select Board and Finance Committee.

On Monday, the current Select Board – completely turned over from the 2022 edition – pushed Menicocci to be more of a cheerleader for the town.

"Do you see your role more as a behind-the-scenes guy and our role is to be out in public?" board member Matthew Neely asked Menicocci during the board's review of the manager's job performance. "Or is there more of a role for you in that? So many people, if I say your name, they're like, ‘Who?'

"I would have assumed your role would be more public facing as well, and more, for lack of a better word, leading the charge as opposed to running day-to-day operations. I feel you're strong running day-to-day. But something we all wish is we had a little more of a proactive [manager] …. Since we need development, need all these things in town so much. … I'd love to see more outward energy, I guess.

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