“I am the luckiest unlucky person.” After an accident, Sasha Blair-Goldensohn ’98, a software engineer became a disability rights activist.
“You make a commitment to these kids, you stick with it.” Jénine Shepherd ’20, winner of the Jamaican Prime Minister’s Youth Award for Excellence.
“When you think about it, having your books stolen is a huge compliment.” Professor Emeritus William Taubman, on his acclaimed biography of Gorbachev.
“The best thing Amherst ever taught me was curiosity.” John Michael Higgins ’85 is one of the most accomplished character actors of our time.
“We ask too much of love—but surprisingly love often delivers.” Richard Todd ’62. From his 2008 book The Thing Itself: On the Search for Authenticity. Todd, an acclaimed editor and writer, died on April 21.
“Happiness, like the flu, is contagious.” Catherine Sanderson, the Manwell Family Professor in Life Sciences (Psychology), in her new book The Positive Shift: Mastering Mindset to Improve Happiness, Health, and Longevity.
“More than a novel, Don Quixote is an instruction manual on how to keep dreaming.” Professor Ilan Stavans on his new graphic novel version of Don Quixote.
“This mission is at the limit of what humans are capable of doing—remotely and even, possibly, beyond that limit.” What can a Mars rover teach us about space? What can it teach us about humanity? Emily Lakdawalla ‘96 explores these questions in the new Amherst magazine.
“It allowed me to look at myself completely differently. Classes like this are why I chose to come to Amherst.” Alexis Chavez-Salinas ’22 on his First-Year Seminar “ Finding Your Roots,” taught by Professor Rick A. Lopez ’93.
Assistant Professor Pooja Rangan’s Immediations: The Humanitarian Impulse in Documentary has won the 2019 Harry Levin Prize for outstanding first book.
NOTE: Read a review of the book by her former student.
“Wade Fellows helped show us how to reconcile the blessing and burden of our education, to take it and do something for our communities.” Adrienne White-Faines ’82 speaking about a program that for decades has introduced Amherst students to the successful and rewarding careers of notable black alumni.
Note: Neuroradiologist Nadia Biassou ’88, the newest Wade Fellow, has been appointed for the 2019-21 academic years.
“He became smaller. It became very clear this was not Philip’s war.” Lisa Brooks, professor of English and American Studies, was just awarded the prestigious Bancroft Prize for History for her book Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip's War.
“Why not take music one step further? Why not use it to help others, or to comment on injustices, or to speak up for people?” Arianne Abela, Amherst's choral director, on leveraging the power of music.
“There are a lot of writers who find a groove and spend a career mining that vein. I seem to be exactly the opposite.” Novelist Jennifer Egan in an interview with The Economist. She will keynote Amherst’s 4th annual LitFest this weekend.
“Is it wrong to encourage people to believe things that one knows to be false?” Amherst magazine’s Katherine Duke ’05, who agreed to let a professor try to read her mind.
“If you asked me what are the big loves of my life, as top three I would put my country, my daughter and my mother. So for me, this was very painful.” Andreas Georgiou ’83, who faces life in prison for recalculating the Greek deficit.
NOTE: After you read the article, let us know what you think. Submit a letter to the editor to magazine@amherst.edu.
College Plans to Go Carbon-Neutral by 2030. The College’s Climate Action Plan provides a roadmap for the College to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
“I had a big growing-up moment senior year.” Doug Lowy ’64, a former art-history major, went on to pioneer the HPV vaccine.
Note: After you read the article, let us know what you think. Submit a letter to the editor to magazine@amherst.edu.
“King is eminently quotable—perhaps too quotable—and I wanted to push students to return to both the source and the historical moment.” Visiting lecturer Alec F. Hickmott on the course he developed on the life and times of Martin Luther King Jr.
Note: President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Martin Luther King, Jr. at the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.
“I found that economics was underlying a lot of things that I thought were wrong in the world.” Jakina Debnam, assistant professor of economics, studies the impact of economic policies and events on human thriving in this Amherst magazine Q&A.
