Schedule of Events

Friday, April 6

4 p.m.

Dedication of Ford Hall
Cake and champagne will be served
Ford Hall Terrace and Event Space, Greenway Residence Halls 

Saturday, April 7

12–1:30 p.m.

Community luncheon
Valentine Dining Hall

2–3 p.m.

Board of Trustees Chair Cullen Murphy ’74 Interviews President Biddy Martin.
Johnson Chapel


3:15 p.m.  Concurrent Sessions:

A Peek Inside the Atomic Refrigerator
David S. Hall ’91, the Paula R. and David J. Avenius 1941 Professor of Physics, and thesis student Lauren Weiss ’18 will discuss their research with ultracold atoms and their recent work with superfluid vortices, monopoles, knots and skyrmions. The session will begin with a discussion of the physics of the atomic refrigerator, followed by a tour of the laboratory that will include an opportunity to observe firsthand the coldest matter in the universe. Kannan Jagannathan, the Bruce B. Benson ’43 and Lucy Wilson Benson Professor of Physics, will introduce the session. 
Merrill Science Center Lecture Hall 4 and Merrill Science Laboratory, Room 113

From Archive to Article in Six Months: Building a Collaborative Research Project in the Humanities 
This session will describe an intensive research experience that sent six students to London for summer archival research, and resulted in their writing an original scholarly article. Ellen Boucher, assistant professor of history, and Dunstan McNutt, research and instruction librarian, together with Alisa Bajramovic ’18, Isabel Miller ’19, Chelsea Pan ’18, Emily Ratte ‘18 and Anton Vicente-Kliot ‘18 will present. Associate Dean of the Faculty John (Jack) T. Cheney, the Samuel A. Hitchcock Professor of Mineralogy and Geology, will introduce and moderate the panel.
Mead Art Museum, Stirn Auditorium

Putting Education to Work
Emily Griffen, director of the Loeb Center for Career Exploration and Planning, will discuss key developments in the evolution of the center and the impact of her team's work, particularly the popular Trek program and other experiential learning opportunities. The presentation will also feature perspectives from Alida Mitau ’18,  Monica Nimmagadda ’18 and Timothy Offei-Addo ’19.  Douglas C. Grissom ’89 will introduce and moderate the panel.
Converse Hall, Cole Assembly Room

4:30 p.m.  Concurrent Sessions:

Translating Wonder: Texts, Traditions, Teaching 
A conversation about the central role of the humanities in a new era of close reading, aesthetic appreciation, critical thinking, rigorous argumentation, and persuasive writing. Catherine Epstein, dean of the faculty and Winkley Professor of History, will introduce and moderate this session with Adam Sitze, associate professor of law, jurisprudence and social thought, and Tariq Jaffer, associate professor and chair of religion. 
Converse Hall, Cole Assembly Room

Listening and Community at the Singing College 
Led by Associate Professor Jeffers Engelhardt and Visiting Lecturer Greg Brown '89, and joined by faculty and students from the music department, this session will include exercises in listening as a form of musical expression and community building and the teaching of a pair of songs from Amherst College's rich tradition of choral singing. 
Arms Music Building, Buckley Recital Hall

Passion and Purpose: Development Outside the Classroom
Amherst students are doers, joiners, leaders. This panel will focus on the extracurricular lives of Amherst students, what they do and why. What excites our students about those activities? How do they enrich the Amherst experience? How important are they likely to be in forging memories and connections to the College? Associate Dean of the Faculty Austin Sarat, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, will moderate a panel with Christopher Lewis ’19, Jacob May ’19, Dorit Song ’19 and Olivia Zheng ’20. 
Mead Art Museum, Stirn Auditorium


 

Exhibits

Eli Marsh Gallery -  Exhibit of recent work by visiting artist Sonya Clark '89 

Mead Art Museum - House: Selections from the Collections of Sue and John Wieland '58

bench on Memorial Hill

Accommodations

Book your hotel room early. A small block of rooms is reserved at the Courtyard by Marriott and the Holiday Inn Express  but these will fill quickly. A list of additional lodgings is available.