In fall 1975, as the first women arrived on Amherst’s campus for orientation, the student coach for men’s crew was recruiting novices to join the team. In an effort to fill more boats, he decided to hang flyers in women’s dorms as well as men’s.
“That kind of kicked off the athletic program for women,” said Professor of Physical Education Michelle Morgan, who arrived at Amherst a few years later in 1978.
The college’s religious and spiritual life staff consecrated Chapin Chapel in a short multi-faith ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 19.
Director of Religious & Spiritual Life Paul Sorrentino said religious staff held the event after realizing that though Chapin hosted its first religious service in 1958, college archives did not have any record of a service of consecration for the chapel.
Juan Gabriel Delgado Montes and I were sitting side by side on a bench overlooking Memorial Hill, witnessing a too-perfect Amherst College scene. Everywhere around us, members of the class of 2016 were taking advantage of the tentatively sunny weather to have their senior portraits taken, all dressed up and grinning in front of the Holyoke Range. Speakers from the baseball stadium blared loud music in the background.
Updated Jan. 27, 2015 at 11:53 a.m.: According to Chief of Campus Operations Jim Brassord, the college is unlikely to be closed on Wednesday. "The storm is trailing off and is less intense than some of the forecast models predicted," Brassord said.
Amherst College will be closed Tuesday in preparation for a snowstorm expected to bring 1 to 2 feet of snow to the region.
New Dean of Students Amherst Alex Vasquez comes to Amherst from Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. At Wheaton, Vasquez spent 13 years working in a variety of administrative roles, including positions in the dean of students office, the provost’s office, the advising office and the president’s office. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degree from the State University of New York at Albany, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in higher education at Boston College.
August
Amherst’s Book & Plow Farm celebrated its first harvest, bringing in hundreds of pounds of kale, watermelon, mustard and bok choi, among many other fruits and vegetables. Farmers Peter McLean and Tobin Porter-Brown opened Book & Plow last year, and have been using the farm’s produce to supply Valentine Dining Hall as well as other customers around Amherst.
Next fall, the college will open a new Office of Environmental Sustainability. In an email to the campus community last week, President Biddy Martin announced that Amherst will soon begin a nationwide search for the office’s director.
The office, which was proposed by Chief of Campus Operations Jim Brassord, will focus on coordinating campus sustainability initiatives and on further incorporating sustainability issues into research and teaching. Martin said the college plans to begin searching for a director this month and will open the office in the fall.
