National Hispanic Heritage Month 2021

“I urge students to push past the limits of presumptions and preconceived categories and, instead, to use historical evidence to figure out for themselves the relationships between particular groups, nations, ethnicities and environments.” Professor and Dean of New Students Rick López ’93. Learn more about Professor López's teaching interests and a recent first-year seminar he taught called “Finding Your Roots.” (Posted 10-11-21)

Amherst College Bicentennial: Celebrating 200 Years

“To give [students] that zest, that delight in things intellectual, to give them an appreciation of a kind of life which is well worth living, to make them men of intellectual culture—that certainly is one part of the work of any liberal college.” Alexander Meiklejohn, Amherst’s 8th president from 1912 to 1924. Read about him in“Your Life at Amherst—in 1921,” by Nancy Pick ’83, excerpted from the Bicentennial book Eye Mind Heart: A View of Amherst College at 200.

National Hispanic Heritage Month 2021

“I would say [Spanglish] is the most important linguistic phenomenon in the Hispanic world, in the Spanish-speaking world, and in the English-speaking world.” Professor Ilan Stavans, who has made Amherst one of a growing number of colleges and universities that include Spanglish in their curricula.

National Hispanic Heritage Month 2021

In 2017 the faculty approved a Latinx and Latin American studies major. The preceding decade brought a twofold increase in the number of Latin American, Latinx and Caribbean students at Amherst, and an eightfold increase in the number of courses focusing on those regions and cultures. Learn more Amherst College history in the Bicentennial Timeline. 

“Presencia de América Latina.” Mural by Jorge González Camarena (Mexican), 1964-65.

Amherst Voices: Shayla Lawson

“You are not gifted a perfect earth. There is absolutely no reason for us to expect you to be perfect in it. But you are perfect for it.” Shayla Lawson, assistant professor of English and National Book Critics Circle Finalist, in this year’s DeMott Lecture.

Amherst Voices: Lauren Groff ’01

“It‘s super fraught, this idea of historical fiction. It can feel like tourism in time. Or it can feel like decorative writing, as opposed to necessary writing. There‘s a profound bias against it that prevents people from picking it up and seeing the contemporary resonance.” Lauren Groff ’01 on her new novel Matrix, which explores the lives of nuns in a medieval English convent.

National Hispanic Heritage Month 2021

A 1978 occupation in Fayerweather by La Causa—the cultural, political and service organization for students interested in Latinx issues and culture awareness—led to the establishment of the José; Martí; Cultural Center in Keefe Campus Center. Learn more Amherst College history in the Bicentennial Timeline. 

Breaking News

President Biddy Martin, who has served as the 19th president of Amherst since 2011, announced today that she will conclude her tenure next summer. Her years of leadership will mark one of the longest-serving presidencies of the College—and the longest in 50 years—with remarkable achievements across the institution’s priorities. Read the full press release.

Amherst Voices: President Biddy Martin

“It is an honor to be part of an intellectually curious community that aims high, values critical and independent thought, finds joy in one another’s company, and is committed to current and future generations.” Amherst President Biddy Martin, who today announced that she will conclude her tenure next summer, after 11 years leading the College, and return after a sabbatical to teach

Amherst Voices: Andrew J. Nussbaum ’85

“Over the past decade, Amherst has prospered in astonishing ways—simply not possible without Biddy’s gifted leadership, compassionate vision and unflagging commitment to Amherst’s mission and values.”  Andrew J. Nussbaum ’85, chair of the Amherst College Board of Trustees, in a letter to the community about President Biddy Martin, who announced today that she will conclude her tenure next summer.

Amherst Voices: Paul Rieckhoff ’98

“The anniversary of Sept. 11 is about never forgetting that people came together in a time of crisis in a way we’ve never seen in our lifetime as Americans.” Paul Rieckhoff ’98, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, speaking on CNN in 2020. Now a visiting lecturer at Amherst, he is teaching the fall 2021 course Understanding 9/11. 

Amherst Remembers

Twenty years after Sept. 11, 2001, Amherst College mourns the three alumni lost that day: Frederick C. Rimmele III ’90, Brock Safronoff ’97 and Maurita Tam ’01. Amherst magazine 2011: “Three in 2,996.”

Amherst Remembers

On Sept. 11, 2001, the Amherst community gathered in the gymnasium to share thoughts and emotions on that morning’s attacks. One student said: “What we need now is community.” Read a dispatch from the Fall 2001 issue of Amherst magazine.

Amherst Voices: Pawan Dhingra

“We tend to think that once you get tenure you know everything, but that’s not true. You’re never a finished product.” From an interview with Pawan Dhingra, associate provost and associate dean, by Carla Diaz ’13 in Amherst magazine.

A Bicentennial Fact

On Aug. 28, 1828, the Amherst trustees named the new chapel in honor of a local carpenter whose bequest funded its construction. Today, Johnson Chapel is a classroom, office, concert venue, lecture hall and landmark.

Learn more Amherst College history in the Bicentennial Timeline.

An Amherst Welcome

This week, Amherst College welcomes the class of 2025! Learn more: Orientation Schedule.

Amherst Voices: Ilan Stavans

“My interest is not in witnessing how my students accumulate information. What I want for them, what I enjoy seeing, is that they learn how to think, because that they will take with them forever, applying it to life itself.” Professor Ilan Stavans, in an essay for Amherst magazine about his year of pandemic teaching.

Note: Illustration by Giovanni-Alberti

A Bicentennial Fact

On Aug. 18, 1818, at the annual meeting of a local primary school, Col. Rufus Graves presented a plan for a charitable foundation to give free instruction to “indigent young men of promising talents and hopeful piety” This is the origin of Amherst College.

Note: Learn more about Amherst's history in the Bicentennial Timeline.

Steven Chu

“In the scientific world, people are judged by the content of their ideas.” Steven Chu, a Nobel-winning physicist and former U.S. secretary of energy, will speak at Amherst on March 21 in a talk that is free and open to the public.

Doris Kearns Goodwin

“Once a president gets to the White House, the only audience that is left that really matters is history.” Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin will speak at Amherst on March 4 at 10 a.m. in Johnson Chapel as part of the College’s annual literary festival.

Amherst Voices: Thomas Mitchell ’87

“We were trying to address a problem of people who lack political and economic capital.” Thomas Mitchell ’87 was once a student activist at Amherst, now he is a “genius grant” winner for his work to close a loophole that cheats the Black community.”

 

Amherst Voices: Stephen Hoge ’98

“I thought science was about things that were known. Amherst fixed that. It helped me understand that science is actually about how you approach the unknown, how you ask questions and use the answers.” Moderna President Stephen Hoge ’98, in a new interview for Amherst magazine.

A Bicentennial Fact

On July 12, 1871, Amherst marked the 50th anniversary of its founding with speeches and celebrations attended by nearly 700 alumni. Learn more Amherst history in the Bicentennial Timeline.

Amherst Voices: Alexandre White ’10

“The structural agents that have led to both police violence and the disproportionate rates of COVID-19 deaths in Black American populations have the same roots.” Alexandre White ’10 is a sociologist whose research stands at the intersection of global pandemics and systemic racism, in an award-winning profile for Amherst magazine.

Note: Amherst magazine's profile of White won a silver award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, as did the full issue in which the article appeared.

An Amherst College Bicentennial Fact

On July 9, 2007, Amherst announced it would replace loans with scholarship funds for all students who need financial aid, thus allowing students to graduate debt-free. Learn more about Amherst financial aid today.

Note: Learn more Amherst history in the Bicentennial Timeline.

 

A Bicentennial Fact Celebrating Pride Month

In June 1982 a group of Amherst alumni crossed paths at a New York City Pride parade and decided to form the Amherst Gay and Lesbian Alumni group, known as GALA.

Note: Learn more in the Bicentennial Timeline.

Amherst College Celebrates Freedom Day

“With Juneteenth, we’re celebrating the progress America has made away from legal slavery, and we’re thinking about the changes that still need to be made to allow Black people true equality.” Elizabeth Herbin-Triant, associate professor of Black studies and history, on the significance of the U.S. federal government making June 19 an official national holiday—and why such recognition is “an important first step.”

An Amherst College Bicentennial Fact

Ten years ago, on June 14, 2011, Biddy Martin was named the 19th president of Amherst College. Learn more in the Bicentennial Timeline.

Celebrating Pride Month 2021

“It’s been such a personal case for me, but the most important thing in this type of work is to not be the cis-person who’s telling the narrative.” Lawyer Josh Block ‘01 on representing the trans icon Gavin Grimm, who sued his town’s school board for barring him from the boys’ bathroom.                      

Amherst Voices: Nawoo Kim ’22

“When she told me about citizen science, I was really surprised.” Nawoo Kim ’22 was one of the students who help collect, share and analyze data for the Pioneer Valley Mammal Citizen Science project, which tracks area bears, bobcats and more.  

Photo credit: Henry Godek

Celebrating Pride Month 2021: Isabel Meyers ’20

“When I was 18 years old, I found out that both my grandparents were gay on the same night that I came out to my mother.” Isabel Meyers ’20, in her thesis “Something Else You Should Know.” She and Theo Peierls ’20E were the winners of the 2020 David Kirp ’65 Stonewall Prize.

Learn more about the prize and its namesake. (Background flag image credit: Chickenonline from Pixabay.)

An Amherst College Bicentennial Fact

In June of 1915, Charles Hamilton Houston ’15 graduated with majors in English, music and French. He went on to develop the strategy that culminated in the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Learn more in the Bicentennial Timeline. 

NOTE: Charles Hamilton Houston is in the back row, fifth from the right. (Photo credit: Courtesy of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.)

Celebrating Pride Month 2021

“Lawrence v. Texas is almost certainly the very first thing that is going to get mentioned in the newspaper when I leave this world. And it is a pretty good story, as well.” Paul Smith ’76, Amherst trustee Paul Smith ’76, who argued the landmark 2003 gay rights case in the U.S. Supreme Court, speaking in 2015, when he received an Amherst honorary degree. 

NOTE: Photo by Ted Eytan. This photo appears in it's original form on the homepage; here a cropped version is displaying. Creative Commons licence. 

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Janet Lin ’97

“It's important to find a mentor.... Often people want to champion people like themselves. So early on, it was hard to find that person. ... Now I reach out to Asian women all the time; and I say, ‘Please let me help you.’” Janet Lin ’97, screenwriter and showrunner for Bridgerton, Cursed and other TV shows.

Bicentennial Commencement

Amherst held its first Commencement ceremony in 1822. This Sunday, May 30th, the Bicentennial Class of 2021 will graduate in an in-person ceremony on Pratt Field. Congratulations to all the seniors! Commencement 2021

Amherst Voices: Dan Cluchey ’08

“I was learning to read and by extension, learning to write with real intention, with a sort of sonic appreciation and attention to the machinery of sentences, the emotional content, the syntax.” Presidential speechwriter Dan Cluchey ’08 on his Amherst experience. Cluchey was the elected class speaker at his Commencement. 

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month:

“You belong now. You are loved now. You are making your history now. Thank you for letting me sit at your table.” Min Jin Lee, Amherst writer-in-residence, in a 2019 lecture to first-year students. Lee is the author, most recently, of Pachinko.

Makena Onjerika ’10

“For now, fiction has redeemed me.” Makena Onjerika ’10, who won the 2018 Caine Prize for African Writing, launched the Nairobi Fiction Writing Project.

An Amherst College Bicentennial Quiz

In what field has an Amherst alum not won a Nobel Prize? Test your Amherst College knowledge in our alumni magazine's special Bicentennial contest.  One randomly selected winner will receive an official Bicentennial book. Learn more about the Bicentennial and the Bicentennial books.

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Kirun Kapur

“From the window she could see / women from every corner of the city / walk into the river, disappear / then rise clean, saris soaking.” Poet Kirun Kipur ’97, writer-in-residence at Amherst, from “Waiting for Sleep, I Imagine Sita in Her Youth,” a poem in Kapur's latest poetry collection Women in the Waiting Room.

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Pawan Dhingra

“The arrival of Asian immigrants to what would eventually be called America dates back to the 1500s, and the phrase “Asian American,”which was coined in the 1960s, encompasses more than 20 million people with dozens of distinct ethnic identities.” Pawan Dhingra, professor of American studies, president-elect of the Association for Asian American Studies, from his CNN opinion piece, The Most Effective Way To Fight Back Against Anti-Asian Hate.

An Amherst College Bicentennial Fact

Visiting in 1823, Ralph Waldo Emerson referred to the College as “an infant Hercules,” whose impressive students “..write and study in a sort of fury which, I think, promises a harvest of attainments.” From “Amherst in the World” by Martha Saxton. Learn more about our Bicentennial books.

Elizabeth Aries

“These three studies are a testament to what Amherst has worked so hard to accomplish.” Elizabeth Aries, the Clarence Francis 1910 Professor in Social Sciences, and the author of three studies, done over 15 years, on how race and class attitudes shaped Amherst students.

Amelia Worsley

“The poems about AIDS just seemed so much more present to us than they had when I've taught them before.” Amelia Worsley, assistant professor of English, on the remarkable ways the pandemic changed her poetry course.

Footnote:  April is National Poetry Month. Learn more about Literary Amherst.

Rosanne Haggerty ’82

“We are grateful and eager to seize this historic moment in our country to build a future where homelessness is rare and brief.” Rosanne Haggerty ’82, Founder of Community Solutions.

Community Solutions won a $100 million MacArthur foundation grant to end homelessness.