11:30am - 12:30pm |
Framing Our Next Chapters with Career & Life Coach Deb Levy ’86 Our college reunion (coming on the heels of a year-long pandemic) provides each of us with a unique opportunity for self-reflection—on where we are, where we’ve been and where we hope to go. Join career/ life transition coach Deb Levy ’86 in an interactive workshop designed to help us think about our strengths, goals, priorities and choices and visualize the next chapters of our personal and professional lives. Presented by the Class of 1986. |
11:30am - 12:30pm |
Industry Futures Post-COVID Every industry leader’s most pressing challenge right now is to chart a course through the COVID pandemic and to an uncertain post-pandemic future. Join ’91 leaders from such diverse industries as publishing, investing, professional sports (both in-person and electronic), medicine and space research and exploration to hear their insights into how the pandemic has impacted them and shaped their strategies for the future. Panelists include Karen Fox ’91, science communications lead, NASA; Karen Hendershott ’91, breast surgical oncologist, Arizona Oncology; Matt Hulsizer ’91, P’23, co-founder and managing partner, PEAK6 Investments and Kent Johnson ’91, CEO, Highlights for Children. Moderated by Dan Burke ’91, chief strategy officer, Pacific Dental Services. Presented by the Class of 1991. |
11:30am - 12:30pm |
“Called Back”: A Virtual Emily Dickinson Poetry Walk Note: This public program is part of Mass Poetry's 2021 Massachusetts Poetry Festival and is presented by Mass Poetry and the Emily Dickinson Museum. Days before her death in 1886, Emily Dickinson wrote her final letter, “Little Cousins, / Called Back. / Emily.” On May 15, the 135th anniversary of the poet’s death, join the Emily Dickinson Museum for an engaging virtual poetry reading and “walk” through Amherst, the town she called “paradise.” At each stop we will see historical and contemporary images of sites of meaning for Dickinson, including her garden and conservatory at the Homestead, The Evergreens—home to the poet’s brother and sister-in-law, the town common, Amherst College and more. Not a lecture, this program infuses place with poetry. At each stop contemporary poets share their Dickinson-inspired poems and volunteers read Dickinson’s own words aloud. The final stop is Dickinson’s grave in West Cemetery where we will share reflections and a light-hearted virtual toast! |
11:30am - 12:30pm |
The January 6 Insurrection: Predicting It, Experiencing It and Moving Forward as a Country Amherst Professor Lawrence Douglas, James J. Grosfeld Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought (LJST) and chair of LJST, predicted last year’s less-than-peaceful transfer of power in his May 2020 book, Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown of 2020. Erik Wasson ’96, Capitol Hill reporter for Bloomberg, was in the House of Representatives during the violent insurrection on January 6. Soo Youn ’96, freelance journalist and contributor to The Guardian, The Washington Post and The Lily, will moderate a discussion between Professor Douglas and Wasson about the events leading up to that fateful day, what happened inside the U.S. Capitol and how we might move forward as a country. Presented by the Class of 1996. |
1:00 - 2:00pm |
What Is the Future of Liberal Arts Colleges? The COVID-19 pandemic and remote learning challenged both the teaching methods and the finances of liberal arts colleges. Even before COVID, families and prospective students increasingly saw higher education narrowly as a form of career preparation—something public universities provide at a fraction of the cost of an Amherst or a Washington College. Can a wide-ranging liberal arts curriculum be sustained as costs rise and expectations change? What happens to elite, well-endowed independent institutions like Amherst if their less fortunate peers close their doors? Panelists include President Biddy Martin and Bert Rein ’61, P’93,’96, Trustee of Washington College, Chestertown, MD and partner at Wiley Rein, LLP, Washington, DC and Chestertown, Maryland. Moderated by Peter Berek ’61, P’92, Professor Emeritus of English, Mount Holyoke; Visiting Scholar, Amherst. Presented by the Class of 1961. |
1:00 - 2:00pm |
Artificial Intelligence: Why Now and What's Next? Artificial intelligence (AI) has been around since the 1950s, but it's only recently become disruptive across many domains and disciplines. Why are self-driving cars hard to get right? Why do Facebook and Amazon show creepily relevant ads/recommendations to users? This talk will put recent breakthroughs into a historical computing context with the goals of highlighting the many ways AI has succeeded, discussing some of the current failures of AI and speculating on societal impacts and research breakthroughs over the next five years. Matt Taylor ’01 is an associate professor of computing science at the University of Alberta and a fellow-in-residence at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute. Presented by the Class of 2001. |
1:00 - 2:00pm |
Entrepreneurship After Amherst An Amherst degree can take you down many paths in life. Meet several members of the Class of 2011 who opted to take the entrepreneurial path and found their own companies in this panel discussion. They'll discuss their successes, challenges and learnings with launching their own endeavors. Panelists include Parker Holcomb '11, Carly Leahy '11 (Modern Fertility), Saumitra Thakur '11 and Ty Wilson '11 (CustomMade Jewelry). Presented by the Class of 2011. |
2:30 - 3:30pm |
[] The Backstory of Eye Mind Heart: An Amherst College Bicentennial Program
How do you squeeze two centuries into one book? Nancy Pick ’83 and three research assistants spent years collecting stories for Eye Mind Heart: A View of Amherst College at 200. What choices did they make? What obstacles did they face? Join the author and Michael Harmon ’16, Constance Holden ’15 and Matthew Randolph ’16 for tales from the making of the book. |
2:30 - 3:30pm |
Fake News Poetry Workshop with Alexandra Juhasz ’86—Limited to 20 Registrants Join Alexandra Juhasz ’86, distinguished professor of film at Brooklyn College, for an interactive poetry workshop designed to deepen our connections and enhance radical digital media literacy. Through poetry, we'll engage with others in the hard truths of fake news, technology, ourselves and the world: fakenews-poetry.org. This program is limited to 20 attendees. Please register within the Cadence platform to hold your space. |
2:30 - 3:30pm |
Legal Status and Rights of LGBTQIA+ Americans In recent years, the U.S. has experienced a series of dramatic swings in the legal status and rights of LGBTQIA+ Americans. Where are we? Where are we headed? How secure are the gains? What remains to be done? Join four attorneys—three openly lesbian or gay and one straight ally—from the Class of ’96 as we discuss our personal and professional encounters with inequality and the struggle to end it. Panelists include Cassie Abodeely ’96, Charlton Copeland ’96, Ashley Lunkenheimer ’96 and Clifford Rosky ’96. Presented by the Class of 1996. |
4:00 - 5:00pm |
’91s on Creative Life during the Pandemic Whether as professionals or just to sustain their creative drives, our classmates shine across many different arts. We invite you to take in a selection of performances from ’91s, to be made available prior to the Reunion, followed by a panel at which the creators will discuss their work in various contexts: how is it being a creative person / worker during the pandemic, how being creative shapes their lives and how their creative work connects with their Amherst experience. Panelists include Erin Ash Sullivan ’91, musician; John Cariani ’91, playwright and actor; Elaine Chiew ’91, author; Don Hoffman ’91, opera performer; Liz Kinder ’91, potter; Launa Schweizer ’91, musician; Wendy Rich Stetson ’91, actor and Jon Tyson ’91, musician. Moderated by Libbie Rifkin ’91. Presented by the Class of 1991. |
4:00 - 5:00pm |
Arctic Futures: Climate, Culture, Economy, National Security When it comes to climate change, the polar regions are the proverbial canary in the coal mine. Nowhere else are the myriad consequences of our warming world happening more rapidly or with broader impact on the environment, on the economy, on the lives and culture of indigenous peoples in the region and on international relations and national security. In this session, three nationally recognized experts—Peter Davies ’76, former director of geoscience, climate and consequence effects at Sandia National Laboratories and global fellow at the Polar Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington; Sherri Wasserman Goodman ’81, H’18, former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Environmental Security), secretary general of the International Military Council on Climate & Security, senior strategist and advisory board member of the Center for Climate & Security, and senior fellow at the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute and Kirk Johnson ’82, H’16, a paleontologist and Sant Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History—explore the interconnected challenges facing the Arctic in the decades to come. Moderated by Becky Hewitt, assistant professor of environmental studies, and featuring art by polar artist Lisa Goren ’81. Presented by the Classes of 1976 and 1981. |
4:00 - 5:00pm |
Merrill Lynch: Its Impact on the World of Finance and Its Fall From Its Lofty Perch—Lessons in Leadership Brand and Culture Win Smith ’71, P’99,’02,’08, former executive vice president of Merrill Lynch, member of Merrill Lynch's Executive Manangement Committee and chairman of Merrill Lynch International, and author of Catching Lightning in a Bottle: How Merrill Lynch Revolutionized the Financial World, will talk about the rise and fall of his former firm. He will discuss its importance in bringing Wall Street to Main Street, and also the inside story of what led to its near death in 2008. He will be questioned by Charles Merrill ’71, P’06,’10. Presented by the Class of 1971. |
5:30 - 10:00pm |
Social Gatherings for Classes in Reunion Years Reunion classes will be gathering at various times on Saturday evening. Detailed information for each class gathering will be provided within the Cadence platform. |