Five political journalists covering this year’s presidential campaigns participated in a panel discussion titled “Tales from the Trail” on Oct. 6. The discussion, which was open to the public and held in Johnson Chapel, featured Julia Ioffe from Politico, Abby Phillip from The Washington Post, Jessica Taylor from NPR and Byron Tau from The Wall Street Journal and was moderated by Tim Murphy from Mother Jones.
President Biddy Martin opened the night by introducing Murphy, who introduced each of the four other participants.
Art historian and curator Kellie Jones ’81 was named a 2016 MacArthur Fellow by the MacArthur Foundation on Wednesday, Sept. 21. Along with the 22 other fellows, Jones received the foundation’s “genius” grant, a $625,000 stipend paid over five years.
Acclaimed writer and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates gave a talk titled “Race in America” in LeFrak Gymnasium on Tuesday, Sept. 13. For an hour, Coates spoke on the history and his own experiences of being black in America, then spent another half hour answering questions from the audience.
The talk was open to the public, with seating preference given to members of the Amherst community, and the gymnasium was filled to capacity with nearby overflow locations streaming the talk.
President Biddy Martin announced the selection of Dr. Norm Jones as the College’s chief diversity officer to the Amherst community in an email on June 16. Jones officially joined the college staff on July 15.
Jones was selected after a nearly year-long search following the resignation of the former interim chief diversity officer and director of the Multicultural Resource Center, Mariana Cruz, last October. The search was led by a committee comprised of students, faculty and staff that held open campus-wide discussions and meetings with candidates throughout the year.
A captain of the football team and a leader Amherst’s Christian Fellowship, Chris Gow fulfills his roles with a combination of purposeful direction and easy charisma. In addition to being a natural leader, he has sought academic challenges, double majoring in religion and mathematics. His dedication to playing passionately, learning deeply and serving wholeheartedly is clear to the many whom Gow has influenced in some way.
A majority of the faculty voted to approve the Statement of Academic and Expressive Freedom during a faculty meeting on Tuesday, May 3. The statement, which lays out and clarifies the college’s position on freedom of speech and expression, was written by the Committee of Six.
Renowned scientist and environmental activist David Suzuki ’58 gave a lecture on the effects of economic development on climate change, titled “The Currency of Change: How do We Define and Resolve Our Environmental Crisis?” on April 20 in the Cole Assembly Room. The talk is part of the Questions of Consequence speaker series, which aims to bring influential alumni of color to discuss issues relevant to the college and the world.
