“My classes put all the pieces together and showed me what the picture is.” Becky Rwakabukoza ’14, in Episode 4 of Amherst’s new Bicentennial podcast series, narrated by Jeffrey Wright ’87. Listen on your favorite podcasting platform. (Posted 12/1/21)
“Throughout my Amherst education, I think every course that I took has ended up feeding into what I do as an architect.” Kathy Chia ’88, in Episode 3 of Amherst’s new Bicentennial podcast series, narrated by Jeffrey Wright ’87. Listen on your favorite podcasting platform. (Posted 11/19/21)
“I know that people say math and music are connected, but for me, it’s music and prose. It’s music and words, it’s music and stories, it’s music and history, it’s music and struggle.” Bryant, in Episode 2 of Amherst's new Bicentennial podcast series, narrated by Jeffrey Wright ’87. Listen on your favorite podcasting platform. (Posted 11/17/21)
“We can craft what is to come. We can engineer a different society, we can engineer a different way of life if we only have the courage and the imagination and the will to do so.” Anthony Abraham Jack ’07 in Episode 1 of Amherst's new Bicentennial podcast series, narrated by Jeffrey Wright ’87. Listen on your favorite podcasting platform. (Posted 11/15/21)
“I feel extremely fortunate and honored to be able to not only gain access to a language lost to me because of colonization, but to collaborate with Indigenous language teachers on creating new materials that will benefit Dakota people for generations to come.” Associate Professor of American Studies Kiara Vigil, cofounder of the College’s Native American and Indigenous Studies Program. Read about the funding that will enable her to learn, practice and preserve the endangered language of her ancestors, Dakota, and translate Dakota-language papers and publications. (Posted 11/15/21)
“One of the first weeks I was on campus, I passed by two students sitting on a bench outside of Val. I stopped, and asked what they were talking about, and here’s what they said: “We‘re comparing Infinite Jest to James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. And I remember thinking, ‘I’ve arrived in heaven.’” President Biddy Martin in the premiere Bicentennial podcast. Martin, in discussion with former College Presidents Tom Gerety and Tony Marx as part of Amherst’s new Bicentennial podcast series. Listen on your favorite podcasting platform. (Posted 11/12/21)
“Service and sacrifice, not triumph and victory, are the overriding themes.” Blair Kamin ’79 writing about the College's War Memorial in his book Amherst College, a Campus Guide.
Indiginous Feminism, taught by Jennifer Hamilton, visiting professor in American studies in the Spring 2022 semester, explores how questions of sex, gender and sexuality relate to sovereignty, colonization and imperialsm.
“I used to scurry back to my dorm with each new assignment, nerdily think about it at dinner and start writing the minute I got back from Valentine. Sometimes I’d stay up late, knocking out a draft in the wee hours. I’d look at the time and be amazed how close it was to morning.” Helen Wan ’95, lawyer and author, in a new essay for Amherst magazine’s special Bicentennial issue.
Amherst College holds one of the most comprehensive collections of books by Native American authors ever assembled by a private collector. Learn about the Kim-Wait/Eisenberg Native American Literature Collection. (Posted: 11/1/21)
“However people arrived, it seemed to me that the College created a community, however imperfect, out of our most thoughtful, curious and eager impulses. Later, when I wrote about Amherst as a professional historian, I found the annals of the College teeming with these sorts of characters.” Debby Applegate ’89, a Pulitzer Prize winner for biography, in a new essay for Amherst magazine’s special Bicentennial issue. (illustration by John S. Dykes)
NOTE: Applegate began working on what would become her first book, The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, as an undergraduate in Frost Library; it won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for biography. Her second book, Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age, is out on Nov. 2. (Posted: 11/1/21)
“Throughout my time at Amherst and far beyond, these inexplicable generosities have accrued and coalesced into something larger than the sum of their parts. To call this compilation the Amherst experience would be inaccurate, or at least incomplete, but I will carry the opportunity, or wonder, or wisdom given to me from these kindnesses to the end of my journey.” J.M. Holmes ’12, author of the story collection How Are You Going to Save Yourself?, in a new essay for Amherst magazine’s special Bicentennial issue.
NOTE: Holmes won Amherst’s Howe Prize for fiction and has written for the New Yorker. He is now writing for Showtime’s City on a Hill and working on his first novel. (Posted: 11/1/21)
Amherst is ending the longstanding practice of legacy admission preference. Paired with a new, expanded financial aid program for lower- and middle-income families, the College is sending a clear signal to prospective students that its education is within reach for all. Read the full story (Posted: 10/20/21)
“There are so many talented students in the country and on this planet. We hope that any student who wants to use ideas to make a difference in the world will consider applying to Amherst.” Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Matthew L. McGann on Amherst's decision to end legacy admission preference and expand financial aid. (Posted: 10/20/21)
“We want to create as much opportunity for as many academically talented young people as possible at Amherst, regardless of financial background or legacy status.” President Biddy Martin on Amherst's decision to end legacy admission preference and expand financial aid. (Posted: 10/20/21))
Under a new financial aid program, Amherst students from 80% of U.S. households will typically receive a scholarship that covers full tuition. Those from families earning less than the median U.S. household income will typically receive a scholarship that covers not only full tuition, but also housing and meals. Read the full story (Posted: 10/20/21)
“His greatest triumph was the historian’s quintessential bounty; He rescued merit from oblivion.” Jerry Malloy, the late scholar of Black baseball, writing about Solomon White, who was part of the Cuban Giants baseball team that played Amherst in 1896.
Photo of Jerry Mallow courtesy of the Society for American Baseball Research.
“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)
“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.
“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.
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.
“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.
“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.
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.
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.
“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
“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.
“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.
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.”
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.
“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.
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.
This week, Amherst College welcomes the class of 2025! Learn more: Orientation Schedule.
“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
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.
“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.”
After the unexpected death of Warren G. Harding on Aug. 2, 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge, class of 1895, became the 30th president of the United States. He is the only Amherst graduate (so far) to serve in the role. Learn more about Amherst's history in the Bicentennial Timeline.
“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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
“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.”
Ten years ago, on June 14, 2011, Biddy Martin was named the 19th president of Amherst College. Learn more in the Bicentennial Timeline.
“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.
“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
“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.)
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.)
“Becoming who we are is no small task.” Stephen Cope ’71, a former anthropology major at Amherst, is a psychotherapist, Yoga teacher, and author of several books on yoga and meditation. He is the founder of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living.
“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.