Amherst Welcomes New Faculty
It’s the largest incoming group in 20 years.
Through the Lives of Consequence campaign, Amherst is committed to the future of the college’s faculty. New fields of expertise are emerging, and Amherst must ensure that its curriculum remains current. This is also a period of rapid change in the faculty, as large numbers of senior instructors are expected to retire. (Almost 25 percent of the current faculty is older than 60.) In addition, it is vital that members of the faculty be able to pursue their own research and professional development, which have real benefits on teaching in the classroom. Amherst is distinctive as a small college dedicated to both cutting-edge research and undergraduate education, and hiring additional faculty members is necessary to maintain this commitment.
This year, the college hired the largest incoming group of faculty in 20 years, including nine new tenure-track professors. The fields represented by these tenure-track hires indicate some of the future directions of the Amherst curriculum. The group includes new faculty in traditional disciplines at Amherst, including classics, medieval poetry and literature, geology and organic chemistry, as well as emerging interdisciplinary fields, such as neurobiology, women’s and gender studies, and the arts in music (jazz) and theater and dance (directing).
Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Mathematics Greg Call has high expectations for this new cohort of teachers. “After long and rigorous international searches, the college is fortunate to have found an exceptional cohort of committed teachers and scholars who are excited to share both the breadth of their fields and their particular intellectual interests with our students. Working with their senior colleagues, these new faculty will offer their creativity and insights in service of the faculty’s never-ending project of shaping Amherst’s curriculum.”
To learn how you can support faculty and curricular development at Amherst, contact Tim Neale, director of leadership giving, at (413) 542-5900 or taneale@amherst.edu.