Ask Big Questions, a new campus-wide initiative started by Provost Peter Uvin, began last Tuesday. This is the newest of Provost Uvin’s projects to foster as stronger sense of community and promote dialogue, exchange and reflection.
“The aim of Ask Big Question is to bring out campus together in a meaningful way,” said Tania Dias, strategic planning assistant to the provost. “By listening and sharing our stories, we form new friendships, we understand each other better and we grow into a stronger, tighter community.”
Assistant Professor of History Vanessa Walker received her B.A. from Whitman College. She got her M.A. and Ph.D. in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has published work on 1970s human rights movements and is currently working on a book about human rights policies in the 1970s.
The tweed blazers and snow boots were out in full force at last night’s faculty meeting, the first of the spring semester and the first since the sudden departure of former Dean of Students Jim Larimore.
President Biddy Martin began her remarks to the faculty with an update on the forthcoming Humanities Center, to be constructed in Frost Library, and noted that she announced to the Board of Trustees that the College will support its construction.
Senior Christopher Finch has been named one of 14 American students to receive the Churchill Scholarship, which will allow him to spend next year pursuing research at the University of Cambridge. The biochemistry major plans to work at the lab of Cambridge Professor Alison Smith, where he hopes to learn more about the ways in which plants can be used as a source of bioenergy.
Finch found out that he had been selected as a finalist over Interterm, when he received an email inviting him to participate in an interview for the scholarship program.
Although most high school seniors are still playing the waiting game when it comes to college admissions, a select number of Amherst applicants have recently been relieved of their anxiety. The Office of Admissions reported last week that 169 out of 476 Early Decision applicants received acceptance letters in December. The College received 8,460 applications in total this year, an increase of more than 6 percent from last year.
Assistant Professor of Sociology Eunmi Mun received a B.A. with honors from Seoul National Univ. where she majored in Sociology. She also received an M.A. in Sociology from Seoul National University. She earned her Ph.D. from Harvard in 2011. She is the first Asian faculty member in the Sociology Department, as well as the first Korean faculty member in the history of Amherst College.
Amherst’s next crop of first-years will experience a newly revamped orientation when they arrive on campus in the fall, Provost Peter Uvin reported earlier this week.
