News & Events 02/2015

February 27, 2015

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The title page of the First Folio with Droeshout engraving of Shakespeare. Credit: Shakespeare First Folio, 1623. Folger Shakespeare Library.

AMHERST, Mass.—Amherst College has been selected as the host site for the state of Massachusetts for First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare, a national traveling exhibition of William Shakespeare’s First Folio, one of the world’s most treasured books. The Folger Shakespeare Library, in partnership with Cincinnati Museum Center and the American Library Association, is touring a First Folio of Shakespeare in 2016 to all 50 states; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico.

February 12, 2015

February 23, 2015

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Missy Roser ’94, head of research and instruction at Frost Library, and
Rhonda Cobham-Sander, professor of Black studies and English

Thanks to the digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC), an entire collection on Panama and the Panama Canal is available online. For Rhonda Cobham-Sander, professor of Black studies and English at Amherst, the collection inspired a collaborative course—and promises a long-term international partnership.

Several years ago, Leah Rosenberg, associate professor of English at the University of Florida and fellow scholar of early Caribbean literature, introduced Cobham-Sander to dLOC, and Cobham-Sander was impressed: “They can digitize materials that were published long ago, or published in very small editions—the kinds of things that, when we were doing research as graduate students, we had to look long and hard to find.” Housed at the university, dLOC digitizes materials from libraries and archives across the Caribbean.

Amherst wouldn’t be Amherst without its alumni, and each February—around Valentine’s Day—students stop by the Keefe Campus Center to pen thank-you cards. The event, called Love My Alumni Week (LMAW), is organized by student engagement fellows with help from the Office of Alumni and Parent Programs and the Annual Fund.

February 16, 2015

By Madeline Ruoff ’18

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The Common founder and editor Jennifer Acker ’00 (second from left) laughs
with students and Diana Babineau ’14, managing editor (far right)

The Common, Amherst College’s literary magazine, was one of 55 organizations nationwide to receive a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) literature grant in 2014, the first year that the publication was eligible. The magazine received $10,000 “to support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence.”

“The last thing on my mind was that my own mother would pour olive oil on me, and for me to scream, ‘Anny, Anny! I’m burning! I’m burning! Please help me!’”

That was part of the phone message Saúl Grullón ’15 left to catch the attention of the organizers of New England Public Radio’s Valley Voices story slam. Out of about 70 local residents who pitched stories, Grullón was chosen as one of 10 to take the stage on Sept. 14, 2014.