Amherst Alum and Astronomy Professor David Peck Todd Witnessed Total Solar Eclipse in Dallas in 1878

The Dallas Morning News – In the lead-up to the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, a Dallas newspaper looks back at the one that occurred on July 29, 1878. In Texas to observe and report was Todd, a budding “eclipse chaser” who had graduated from Amherst in 1875 and would later return to teach at the College.   

The 23-year-old Todd is described as “a one-man expedition,” having “brought with him a $500 budget, a sextant, a chronometer and a comet seeker, a type of small telescope.” He and other scientists hoped the eclipse would teach them more about the sun’s corona and reveal the hypothetical planet Vulcan, suspected (wrongly) to exist between Mercury and the sun.

“[F]or Todd, it was the beginning of a long career,” writes Dan Singer. “After packing up his comet chaser, he went on to become a professor at Amherst College in Massachusetts and an eclipse chaser whose expeditions took him around the world. The Dallas expedition was his first. He died in 1939.”

Learn more about Todd’s life and career in “The Star-Crossed Astronomer,” a feature written by Julie Dobrow for the Summer 2017 issue of Amherst magazine.

Former FBI and CIA Director William Webster ’45: Answering the Call of His Country

InsideNoVa – On the occasion of his 100th birthday, a Northern Virginia news outlet describes the extraordinary career and current social life of Webster, the Amherst graduate, Navy veteran and lawyer who became, to date, the only person ever to lead both the FBI and the CIA. 

“Intelligence and integrity were among his super powers,” writes Daphne Hutchinson, “and that combination persuaded presidents from both parties to appoint him a high-level problem solver not only as director of those two agencies but also chairman of the Homeland Security Advisory Commission, leader of the commission investigating the 1992 Los Angeles riots and more. The list of appointments, achievements, awards, medals, honorary degrees and notes of merit would run pages. It includes the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

The article notes that Webster’s undergraduate education was interrupted by Navy service during the Second World War, and that his role model was lawyer and diplomat John J. McCloy, Amherst class of 1916, who advised numerous U.S. presidents and was “Instrumental in rebuilding post World War II Europe.”

Webster was also profiled by Katharine Whittemore in a feature for the Summer 2022 issue of Amherst magazine.

Alexander Hurst ’12 Asks: Can Traditions Help Build a More Open Europe?

The Guardian – “At a time when rightwing nationalism is in the ascendency, it is not surprising that many people may have a gut reaction against ‘traditions,’” writes Hurst, a columnist based in Paris, but “I think there is a way in which they can be embraced to forge a more inclusive identity.”

Citing scholars Judith Butler and Emanuel Adler, as well as his own feelings as an immigrant to Paris who now has French citizenship, Hurst muses on how people construct a sense of identity and belonging. He suggests that diverse local and regional festivals—such as Weiberfastnacht in Cologne, Germany, and carnival in Dunkirk, France—might cut against authoritarian nationalism, which conceives of each nation as a uniform whole that must be defended against outside threats.

“During my time as an undergraduate,” Hurst notes, “my small, picturesque New England liberal arts college, Amherst College, found itself in a recurring debate about cohesion, campus community and old traditions that had fallen away. In response, a small group of us who wrote for the student paper spent a weekend scouring its archives … to see what traditions once existed that might be brought back. (We decided it probably wasn’t feasible to resurrect the annual ‘kidnapping’ of the first, second, and third-year class ‘presidents’ by the senior class; we did, however, propose bringing back something called ‘Mountain Day.’)”

The Influence of Amherst Alum Dr. William Montague Cobb Went Beyond Medicine

American Heart Association News – Cobb, class of 1925, “was a doctor, an anthropologist, a teacher, an author, an editor, a crusader for civil rights, and so much more,” writes Michael Precker. “Cobb’s achievements, and his battle for acceptance, helped pave the way for Black scholars and medical professionals who followed him.”

His achievements, as listed in the article, include a medical degree from, and teaching career at, Howard University; the first doctorate in physical anthropology ever awarded to an African American; presidencies of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, National Medical Association and NAACP; and authorship of five books and more than 1,000 articles. 

“Cobb spent a lifetime,” Precker adds, “exposing unequal levels of health care for white and Black people, and campaigning to integrate medical facilities and provide equal opportunities for Black doctors and patients.” 

Cobb received an honorary doctorate from Amherst in 1955 and is the namesake of a scholarship fund at the College. There is also a health institute named for him at Howard. He passed away in 1990.

Meridith Randall ’82 Becomes New President of Golden West College

Los Angeles Times Daily Pilot – “Randall has been selected as Golden West College president by the Coast Community College District Board of Trustees,” reports Matt Szabo. The Amherst alumna had served as interim president of the Huntington Beach, Calif., community college since April 2023.

“Randall has nearly 30 years of experience in higher education, including 17 years as a chief instruction officer in the California Community College system,” the article continues. She arrived at Golden West as a vice president of instruction in July 2020 and was appointed interim president after the resignation of President Tim McGrath.

“The interim period, from my perspective, was taking care of some long-standing issues and getting things on track,” Randall is quoted as saying. “Now, it’s a new era. It’s an opportunity for the college to really make connections with the community that we haven’t had, and move forward on several projects that we’ve been talking about.” Those projects include, among others, expansion of the school’s health care program and free noncredit programs for community members.

Randall majored in English at Amherst and went on to earn a master’s degree from Cornell University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Photos: Amherst Celebrates National Girls and Women in Sports Day

Daily Hampshire Gazette  – “The Amherst College Department of Athletics, in partnership with the town of Amherst and Amherst Recreation Department, held a National Girls and Women in Sports Day last Saturday,” reports a local newspaper, sharing photos of the day’s activities.

“Girls in grades 4–6 explored various sports led by the college’s women’s sports teams including: squash, basketball, softball, volleyball, soccer, tennis, field hockey, lacrosse, golf, cross country and track and field,” the report continues. “The event was part of the town’s eight days of Winterfest.”

Featured photos show young girls from the local community practicing skills in soccer, field hockey, tennis and softball on campus, with guidance from members of the College’s women’s athletic teams. 

Capt. Chelsea Michta ’13 Becomes U.S. Army’s First Military Intelligence Direct Commission Officer

U.S. Army  “[H]ow often does a University of Cambridge Ph.D. graduate who speaks English, German, Polish and Spanish commission in the Army?” Jennifer DeHaan writes of Michta, who is now the officer in charge at the Army Europe Open Source Center in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Michta attended secondary school in Munich, where her father worked for the U.S. Department of Defense. “[S]he went on to earn a bachelor’s in European history from Amherst College and then attended Cambridge for her master’s. There, she was one of just a few graduate students selected by the university to receive a full tuition scholarship to pursue her doctorate,” writes DeHaan. “When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she had to return to Germany … [and] spent the days of lockdown with Soldiers attending the Foreign Area Officers’ program there.” 

“I was struck by how diverse their experiences had been and the responsibility that was entrusted to them so early in their career, and by their sense of shared values and purpose,” Michta is quoted as saying. 

So she decided to pursue an Army career for herself, and thanks to “her combined education, cultural exposure and language capabilities, a panel of senior intelligence officers … selected Michta to be the first person to direct commission into the MI Corps.”

Professor Lucia Monge Presents “While a Leaf Breathes”

New Jersey Stage – An installation by Monge, assistant professor of art, is on display at ArtYard in Frenchtown, N.J., until Jan. 28. Made entirely from compostable plant- and fungus-based materials, the artwork “looks at plants up close, rendering the microscopic view on a grand scale,” reports Ilene Dube.

Monge “is interested in the way plants breathe,” Dube writes; “it was during the pandemic, she says in a video from her Amherst studio, that she became aware of the importance of breathing together.” 

“The materials in my works are prepared, fermented, cooked, and cultivated,” Monge is quoted as saying. “It is important for me to … have my practice be guided through their cycles, time, and urgencies.”

The article additionally mentions Monge’s other projects, including “Plantón Móvil, a yearly walking forest performance that has led to the creation of public green spaces in cities such as Lima, London, Providence, Minneapolis, New York, and soon in Paris.” 

Also currently on view at ArtYard, and described in the article, is an installation by Kendall Buster titled What Blooms.

For Louise Stevenson ’09, Tiny Life Forms Yield Big Insights Into Ecosystem Health

ORNL.gov – Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee highlights Stevenson’s research into the effects of contaminants on aquatic systems. The Amherst alumna is principal investigator for ORNL’s Environmental Toxicology Lab and former chair of its Women in Science and Engineering group.

Stevenson now has a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, but her interest in environmental toxicology crystallized while she majored in biology at Amherst. A research project on how plant-based hormones affect Siamese fighting fish showed her “that the problem of just one little fish in one little beaker in one little lab at one little college actually has applications to the whole natural world,” she says.

Much of Stevenson’s current research focuses on the stress responses of small planktonic crustaceans called Daphnia magna. “Extrapolating effects from individuals up to populations and communities,” she says, “can help scientists understand ecological risks at higher biological levels, where processes and interactions become more complex.”

Lung Specialist Dr. David P. Carbone ’77 Finds His “Sweet Spot” at the Intersection of Medicine and Technology

OncLive – The website of the Oncology Specialty Group presents a profile of Carbone, who directs the James Thoracic Center at The Ohio State University Medical Center and was honored with the 2023 Bonnie J. Addario Lectureship Award from a patient-support organization called GO2 for Lung Cancer.

Carbone refers to himself as “a geeky, technologically oriented person,” but says he has also always valued “being able to interact with people and to write and to think and not just compute.” “Realizing the importance of a well-rounded education,” Caroline Seymour writes, “he went to Amherst College … where, in addition to history, art, and philosophy, he continued his interest in math, physics, and electronics, and became the chief engineer for the college’s FM radio station.” He majored in biophysics at Amherst and went on to earn an M.D. and Ph.D. at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School Public Health.

The article describes Carbone’s family life and world travels in addition to his career path, his many contributions to cancer treatment breakthroughs and his own diagnosis with lymphoma. “What I want to be remembered for,” the doctor says, “is the impact I’ve had on patient care, on my patients, and on the young people that I’ve worked with and mentored.”

Actor Jeffrey Wright ’87 Sees Some of Himself in “American Fiction”

Associated Press – Wright shares thoughts about his career and his starring role in American Fiction, a new adaptation of Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure. “There might be an impression of this film being comedic and satirical,” he says, “but there’s a deep vein of simple humanness inside of it that I appreciated.”

“Across an expansive array of roles both small and large for more than two decades, Wright has been among the most malleable of actors, able to transform endlessly while still maintaining a singular, rigorously grounded screen presence,” writes Jake Coyle. “But it’s Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction in which Wright gives one of the best performances of his career.”

“Wright attended private school, studied political science at Amherst College and briefly sought an MFA at New York University before leaving to pursue acting full time,” Coyle adds. Wright has performed in, among many other projects, BasquiatThe French DispatchWestworld and Angels in America, for which he won a Tony, an Emmy and a Golden Globe. 

A Mexican Hanukkah: Professor Ilan Stavans Reflects on His Heritage and the Message of Endurance

NBCNews.com – Stavans, the Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture, shares thoughts about his new children’s book, The Mexican Dreidel, co-authored with Linda Elovitz Marshall and illustrated by Maria Mola.

“For Stavans, maintaining his heritage after moving to the United States [from Mexico] became a focus of his writing. In the last three decades, the Amherst College professor has written over 30 books on American, Latino and Jewish identities,” writes reporter Arturo Conde. This new picture book “tells the story of a magical wooden dreidel, or spinning top, that a grandmother gives her grandson in a Mexican town.”

“Whether it is now, when antisemitism is rising, or in the past, during the Holocaust, or even further back, during the Spanish Inquisition, Hanukkah is a reminder that we have to find a way to endure,” Stavans is quoted as saying. “Hanukkah reminds us that as we go from one diaspora to another, we can get inspiration from moments of resistance in the past to continue our story.”

Mason Daring ’71 and Jeanie Stahl Celebrate a 50-year Musical Partnership

The Boston Globe – Reporter Ed Symkus interviewed Daring and Stahl, friends who live in Marblehead, Mass., and have been performing and recording together since they first met in a Boston coffeehouse in 1973. 

“I went to Amherst College, then I was signed to Columbia Records with a band, but the band broke up just before our album. So, I decided to go to law school in Boston, at Suffolk,” Daring is quoted as saying. 

After that, Symkus writes, “Daring practiced entertainment law. He also wrote, edited, and directed TV commercials; began composing music for film soundtracks, including 18 directed by John Sayles; founded the Daring Records label; and made a self-titled solo album” in addition to his collaborations with Stahl.

“We rehearse even when we don’t have a gig,” Daring says. “Age takes a toll on voice and chops. But we’re still good. We’ll rise above the threshold. We’ve been playing together for 50 years. That doesn’t happen to people very often.”

Professor Sonya Clark ’89, A Collaboration, at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta

Forbes – “Clark’s large-scale, community-centered, and participatory projects are brought together for the first time during the exhibition Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other,” writes Chadd Scott. “The exhibition features six of Clark’s projects created through mass participation, two directly addressing the Civil War, a theme common to her artmaking.”

Those two Civil War-themed projects are Unraveling and Monumental Cloth, which were exhibited in the Mead Art Museum in 2018. More broadly, the six works in We Are Each Other—on view at the High Museum until Feb. 18, 2024—serve as a refutation of the individualism that is often prized in American culture and in the art world. On the contrary, Clark, Amherst’s Winifred L. Arms Professor in the Arts and Humanities and Professor of Art and the History of Art, sees every artwork and every human life as inherently collaborative.

“I'm inviting all of those other people to come in and make the work with me because that helps me understand the work better,” she is quoted as saying. “When we remember that we are each other—you are me, I am you—we’re not the same person, but we are both human beings … [it] allows us to say we’re complicated.”

Meet Sage Loyema Innerarity ’22: Emerging Trailblazer in Tribal Archives

Simmons.edu – Previously a Postbaccalaureate Fellow working with the Amherst College Collection of Native American Literature, Innerarity is profiled on the website of Simmons University, where she has begun graduate studies at the School of Library and Information Science. She is focused on building and preserving archives for her community, the Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California.

“I had never really engaged in archival spaces before,” Innerarity says of her yearlong Frost Library fellowship after graduating from Amherst. “Previously, I felt that [as an Indigenous individual] I did not belong in these kinds of spaces, but I felt very welcome there, and I learned so much about tribal histories and collections.”

The profile also describes Innerarity’s work with the Miwok Heritage Center in Ione, Calif., and quotes her about “the oral vs. written binary”: “Even though orality and performance are very important to many tribal communities, Native folks have been involved in writing and printing as long as those communicative technologies have existed here.” Innerarity advises other BIPOC graduate students to cultivate support networks for themselves, and suggests resources for learning about the significance of Thanksgiving to Native peoples.