Jyl Gentzler P’23, philosophy, Susan Daniels, public speaking, and Martha Umphrey, law, jurisprudence and social thought and incoming provost and dean of the faculty, provide insights on issues related to democracy on the Amherst campus.
Emily Todd ’89, Francesca B. Purcell ’89, and Karin Chang ’89 lead an interactive discussion about the role of the liberal arts in the 21st century and the call for universities to align their degree programs with specialized workforce preparation.
Panelists discuss the impact of the death of Gerald Penny ’77, a young Black man from New Orleans, who, newly arrived at Amherst, drowned in Pratt Pool in September 1973 during the course of a swimming test.
Join panelists Paula Castner ’94, Jean-Luc Charles ’94, Brian Harrigan ’94, Doug Norry ’94, P’2, and Seth Reynolds ’94 for a discussion about the continually evolving landscape of education.
Pam Allyn ’84, P’12, Pamela Rotner Sakamoto ’84, and Phoebe Yeh ’84 discuss how to raise children and teens as readers during this historic moment when library funds are being cut, books are being banned, and children are spending hours on social media and other screens.
From the local to the regional to the global, climate change is the major throughline of our times. Hear a collection of stories from alumni who have been grappling with the interconnected influences of climate change in disparate fields of work.
Although many people leave college with a fairly certain idea of how their life will look, as they enter their 30s, many realize they need or want to do something else with their lives. Have we learned to pivot? And should we? This panel features speakers who have successfully pivoted in their lives.
The College, in recent years, has seen an increase in the number of students who are military veterans. Hear from three veterans who bring their own special perspectives to campus and have a unique vantage point on an Amherst education.
May 30, 2024
Join Olufemi Vaughan, the Alfred Sargent Lee ’41 and Mary Farley Ames Lee Professor of Black Studies and Chair of Black Studies, for a talk based on his new book, Letters, Kinship, and Social Mobility in Nigeria, published by University of Wisconsin Press last fall. The book is based on a trove of more than 3,000 letters written by four generations of his family in Ibadan, Nigeria, from 1926 to 1994. The men and women who wrote these letters emerged from the religious, social and educational institutions established by the Church Missionary Society, the preeminent Anglican mission in the Atlantic Nigerian region following the imposition of British colonial rule in the late 19th century. Drawing on major themes from these letters, Professor Vaughan will discuss how these unique sources illuminate everyday life for an important segment of Nigeria’s emergent society during a transformative period in African history. His talk will discuss how intimate stories constructed from the letters provide important insight into dominant themes in modern Nigerian society: kinship, social mobility, mission Christianity, Western education and modernity.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Book Discussion: Letters, Kinship, and Social Mobility in Nigeria | 94.76 MB |
May 30, 2024
In an episode of the 1970s series entitled “Negative Reaction,” Lt. Columbo enters a camera shop for a brief lesson about printing photographs from negatives. “I’ll be a monkey’s uncle,” the lifelong learner tells the clerk. “You learn something every day!” Amelie Hastie, the Nancy and Douglas D. Abbey ’71 Professor of English in Film and Media Studies, will discuss what led her to write Columbo: Make Me a Perfect Murder and how the series taught her about film and television. Her talk will develop the premise of her book through an attention to the details of Columbo itself and the research methods she employed while writing her volume. Seeing television as an intertextual system, she considers the series through the plentitude of the medium and the complex mode of viewing that it demands. She will also explore how the interpretive methods she applied to her study of the series can both serve as an introduction to the discipline of film and media studies and illustrate her own work in the field as a scholar and a teacher.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Columbo, Curiosity, and the Dogged Detective | 88.47 MB |
May 31, 2024
Over the past several seasons, nearly half of all NBA teams have had a head coach and/or general manager who played Division III college basketball. How did so many former small-college athletes reach such prominent positions? Join Ben Kaplan ’09, author of Pipeline to the Pros: How D3, Small-College Nobodies Rose to Rule the NBA, as he shares stories and data behind the networks and macro trends that lifted D3 athletes (including a handful of Amherst alums) into basketball’s most influential jobs. Presented by the Class of 2009.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| From D3 to the NBA | 63.76 MB |
May 31, 2024
This panel will feature Dan Foliart ’74, Hollywood composer (Roseanne, Home Improvement) and Vice Chair of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; Michael MacLeod ’74, former Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Glimmerglass Opera and City of London Festival; and Dalton Winslow ’74, longtime teacher and music director at Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire. Moderated by former New York Times and Bloomberg editor (and lapsed cellist) Jon Landman ’74. Presented by the Class of 1974.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| A Life In Music: Hollywood, Symphony Orchestras, Opera and the Classroom | 88.21 MB |
May 31, 2024
We will discuss important principles and challenges educational institutions face in promoting expressive freedom, disciplined nonpartisanship and intellectual diversity. Participants include John Gulla ’79, Executive Director of The Edward E. Ford Foundation and former Head of School at The Blake School, and Michael Gorra ’79, the Mary Augusta Jordan Professor of English at Smith College. Moderated by James Brigagliano ’79, Retired Partner at Sidley Austin. Presented by the Class of 1979.
May 31, 2024
What do you want most during your short stay here on Earth? When we first come into this world, all we desire is to be touched, held and loved. Then life happens! We are told who we should be, how we should be, how to act and even what to feel. We are applauded for accomplishing tasks that often necessitate stifling our needs, wants and emotions. And then, after attaining all those achievements, awards, diplomas and possessions, we’re left wondering if that’s all there is.
Hell no—there is so much MORE!
More love, more intimacy, more connection and more fulfillment!
Join Dr. Daniel Javit ’84, P’16, C.H.W.C., and Ester Cambronero to experience the extraordinary journey from doing to being, from trying to living, and from striving to loving. As love and intimacy spiritual guides and mentors, they have experienced it all on their own personal journeys from co-dependence to love, intimacy and soulful union—the exact same haven awaiting us all! Presented by the Class of 1984.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Love and Intimacy: The Ultimate Aphrodisiac of Life | 83.51 MB |
June 1, 2024
Join us for a screening and talk-back of Talking OutLOUD: Teens & Suicide Loss, A Conversation, from award-winning director Geoffrey Cantor ’84 and executive producer Joanne Lelewer Harpel ’85, P’20, C.T., M.Phil., J.D., one of the world’s leading experts on suicide bereavement. Addressing a subject historically burdened by stigma, misinformation and lack of understanding, the landmark film features five remarkable teens who open up and share things that even their parents had never heard. Until now, there has been nothing for teens who’ve lost a parent or sibling to suicide that spoke to them in the voices of their peers. Talking OutLOUD has changed that. The honesty, vulnerability and resilience of these teens will take your breath away. Talking OutLOUD was created by the nonprofit organization Rethink The Conversation in collaboration with Coping After Suicide. Geoffrey and Joanne will be joined in conversation by pediatrician Douglas Barlow ’84, M.D., and neuropsychologist Joseph Struckus ’83, Ph.D. Presented by the Class of 1984.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Talking OutLOUD: Teens & Suicide Loss, A Conversation | 80.75 MB |