Alumni Colloquium Schedule

You can pick up your packet with a nametag, schedule, particpant biographies and meal tickets.

Lobby, Converse Hall

Meet in front of the Alumni House at 9:15 a.m. to walk over together. If you would prefer to drive directly to the museum, parking information is available on their website: https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/directions.

The Emily Dickinson Museum, 280 Main Street

Jane Wald, Executive Director of the Emily Dickinson Museum. Would one expect the home of the Amherst College treasurer to become an international tourism site? Granddaughter of a founder, daughter and sister of two successive College treasurers, poet Emily Dickinson became the most famous scion of a family intimately involved in the College's first seventy-five years. Publications of her work only after her death brought almost immediate recognition to the family homes as a significant literary destination. By the turn of the twentieth century, early literary tourism - fueled subtly by antipathy between promoters of Dickinson's celebrity and overtly by strategic publishing campaigns - had lasting consequences for the Emily Dickinson Museum's institutional memory and the stories it tells.

Cole Assembly Room, Converse Hall

Meal tickets provided in registration packets.

Valentine Dining Hall

Mike Kelly, Head of the Archives & Special Collections at Amherst College.

Cole Assembly Room, Converse Hall

With Kirstin Henry '20, Missy Roser '94, Head of Research and Instruction at Frost Library, and Este Pope, Head of Digital Programs.

Cole Assembly Room, Converse Hall

Refreshments available.

Lobby, Converse Hall

David Peck Todd, Class of 1875, returned to Amherst College in 1881 to direct its nascent astronomy program. His years on the Amherst faculty were marked by notable achievements and significant failures, remarkable publicity for his work and stunning notoriety for it, and personal tumult that roiled his family, the town and the College. Julie Dobrow P'22, a  professor at Tufts University, has just published a mother/daughter biography of David's wife, Mabel Loomis Todd and their daughter, Millicent Todd Bingham. Her next project will focus on David, whose fascinating and frustrating life is a story well worth telling. Her talk will introduce you to this Amherst alum and faculty member and explain how his work not only represented a change in the Amherst College education of science, but also provided an international outlet for publicity.

Cole Assembly Room, Converse Hall

The Alfred Friendly '33 Periodicals Reading Room, Frost Library

Nancy Pick '83 has spent years collecting Amherst stories for a forthcoming Bicentennial collection. Hear some of her favorite "Weird Amherst" stories over dessert.

Lewis-Sebring Dining Commons, Valentine Hall

Kannan Jagannathan, Bruce Benson '43 and Lucy Wilson Benson Professor of Physics will join us for a viewing (weather permitting), but even if it is cloudy, we are welcome to come observe the observatory. When Wilder Observatory was built in 1903, its telescope was one of the largest telescopes in the world at 18 inches (0.46 m). It remains one of the largest refractors. Please note that while the building's main level is accessible by ramp, the telescope platform is not. There is ample parking at the observatory, if you need help with transportation, please let a staff member know.

Wilder Observatory, 80 Snell Street

Meal tickets are provided in registration packets.

Valentine Dining Hall

Did you know that more than thirty black Amherst College alumni in the early twentieth century all hailed from the same segregated public high school in Washington, D.C.?  Amherst is known to have graduated more Dunbar High School students than any other college outside the nation's capital. For some class years at Amherst, Dunbar students made up the majority, if not the entirety, of admitted black students. Join historical researcher Matt Randolph '16 to learn about the forces that sustained the Dunbar-Amherst connection as well as the legacy and impact this group of black alumni left behind for Amherst, the United States, and the world. Matt's work on this topic will be featured as a chapter in a forthcoming volume of essays through the Amherst College Press for the College's bicentennial in 2021.

Pruyne Lecture Hall, Fayerweather Hall

Explore with Fred Venne, Museum Educator a fraction of the extensive and diverse collections at the Beneski Museum, the result of the work of faculty, students and alumni over the course of the College's history, derived from expeditions, donations and exchanges. The physical and biological sciences have been a vital part of the Amherst College curriculum from the time of its founding 1821. Providing natural history specimens for direct hands-on study has been an integral component of teaching, learning and research in the sciences ever since. Refreshments will be provided at the end of the tour (back outside Pruyne).

Beneski Museum of Natural History

Reflections on the outreach of early Amherst graduates with Martha Saxton, Professor of History and Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies and Elizabeth W. Bruss Reader, Emerita.

Pruyne Lecture Hall, Fayerweather Hall

No meal ticket required.

Lewis-Sebring Dining Commons, Valentine Hall

Hear the story of Amherst's engagement in World War I and World War II. Our speakers include: Jim Hamilton '78, whose grandfather served with the Black Cats of Amherst in WWI and has published a recent book on the topic; Jeremy Simon '13, who wrote his senior thesis on President Meiklejohn during WWI; and Dick Banfield '46 who trained and served with the 65th AAF TTC (Army Air Force Technical Training Command) at Amherst during WWII.

Pruyne Lecture Hall, Fayerweather Hall

To close out our time together, join us for a walking tour of the main campus with Nancy Pick '83 sharing moments of the history that took place in beloved spaces including South Hall, Johnson Chapel (including the steeple!), and Stearns Steeple. Aaron Hayden will offer a tour of the interior of Stearns Steeple and a demonstration of the bells. Van transportation will be available for those with mobility concerns.

Begin at Pruyne, Fayerweather Hall