Trustee Andrea Taylor

Andrea L. Taylor, director of North America community affairs for Microsoft Corporation, a former United Nations delegate and longtime summer resident of Oak Bluffs, has been named a trustee of Boston University.

The elementary strings program and education programs of Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary and the Yard dance colony have all been spared the budget axe.

Money for the programs was voted back into the superintendent’s shared services budget for fiscal year 2011 by the All-Island School Committee last Thursday night before a meeting room packed with parents and other supporters of the enrichment programs.

Oak Bluffs selectmen on Tuesday unanimously voted to take legal action against the Alliance Community Church on Ryan’s Way in response to mounting evidence that the church is violating town zoning laws and several conditions of approval from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

Two years ago the commission approved plans from the Assembleia De Deus (Assembly of God) Nova Vida congregation to build a 150-seat church on the site with a day care center for 26 children. The church has since changed its name to the Alliance Community Church.

Calling him a trailblazer and “a man who’s spent his life breaking barriers and bridging divides across this country,” President Obama this week awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to former Massachusetts Sen. Edward W. Brooke.

Mr. Brooke served as a Republican in the U.S. Senate from 1967 to 1979. He was the first black person to be elected to the Senate by popular vote, and was also the first black person to be elected state attorney general. He is a former longtime summer resident of Oak Bluffs.

Grants Awarded

Falmouth Academy

Jonathan and Jill Bernstein and their daughter, Jenna, will host a reception for Islanders interested in Falmouth Academy at their home on Capawock Road in West Tisbury on Sunday, Nov. 8 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Falmouth Academy is a small, academically rigorous, college-preparatory day school for students in grades 7 to 12. The school offers transportation to and from the Woods Hole ferry terminal. Currently, 18 Vineyard students attend.