Carolyn A. Martin, Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Named 19th President of Amherst College

Biddy Martin

June 14, 2011

AMHERST, Mass. — Carolyn Arthur “Biddy” Martin, the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin’s renowned flagship university in Madison and a former longtime professor and  provost at Cornell University, has been selected to be Amherst College’s 19th president, the school’s Board of Trustees announced today.

Martin will begin her tenure at the college this August and be introduced to the Amherst community on Thursday.

The Board of Trustees, advised by a search committee that included all segments of the Amherst College community, appointed Martin at the conclusion of an international search that began in October, when Anthony W. Marx announced he would assume the presidency of the New York Public Library after serving as Amherst’s president for eight years.

Jide Zeitlin, the chair of the college’s Board of Trustees as well as of the Presidential Search Committee, said that Martin’s formidable intellect and leadership experience made her the top choice in an extremely rich pool of candidates.

Second Act of Music Professor’s Opera Receives Rave Reviews

June 15, 2011

By Rebecca Ojserkis ’12

“Magic!” one audience member exclaimed after the second act of The Garden of Martyrs. Such a response was a characteristic review of the June 12 performance, a workshop of a new opera composed by Eric Sawyer, associate professor of music. (The same act will also be performed on Friday, June 17, from 7 to 8 p.m. at Robyn Newhouse Hall in the Community Music School of Springfield, 127 State Street, Springfield.)