Amherst College Events Multimedia Podcast

Life expectancy has advanced more in the past half century than in all of previous human history. This amazing revolution in health, largely unrecognized, has been achieved by attacking the most pressing problems of the largest numbers and using appropriate technologies, modern communications and social activation. Water, diet, and education enhanced by targeted interventions with vaccines, contraceptives and simple treatments have decreased deaths and extended average life expectancy by over 25 years. Living through this revolution and working for over 40 years in developing countries, Dr. Rohde will review some of these remarkable achievements and discuss the emerging careers that promise to carry these advances into the most remote corners of the earth.

Featuring selections of her writings from the past twenty years, EyeMinded reveals Jones’s role in bringing attention to the work of African American, African, Latin American, and women artists who have challenged established art practices. Reflecting Jones’s curatorial sensibility, this collection is structured as a dialogue between her writings and works by her parents, her sister, Lisa Jones, and her husband, Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr.

Listen to Phil discuss some of the topics that have made recent headlines in the world of sports, including the new NFL and NBA labor agreements, drug testing and anti-doping efforts, the NCAA and its role in collegiate athletics, and the evolution of our in-arena and home viewing experiences.

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles Mann '76 The Columbian Exchange underlies much of subsequent human history. Presenting the latest research by ecologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the creation of this worldwide network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City—where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted—the center of the world. In such encounters, he uncovers the germ of today’s fiercest political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars.

Oliver Vice, forty-one, prominent philosopher, scholar, and art collector, is missing and presumed dead, over the side of Queen Mary 2. Troubled by his friend’s possible suicide, the unnamed narrator of Douglas’ new novel launches an all-consuming investigation into Vice’s life history.

MIT Professors Jeff Hoffman '66 and Larry Young '56 shared their insights into what the future may hold with respect to human space flight in the coming decade and beyond. Hoffman was a NASA astronaut for 19 years, making 5 space flights including the 1993 rescue/repair of the Hubble Space Telescope. Young has been the principal investigator on numerous space experiments as well as having been trained as an alternate payload specialist for NASA spacelab missions.

With a perfect balance of authoritative research and breezy humor, Don’t Cross Your Eyes ... They’ll Get Stuck That Way! exposes the truth behind all of the things you thought you knew about your health, your well-being, and how the body works.

On Nov. 5, 2011, President Biddy Martin spoke to parents and families attending Family Weekend, and answered questions. She was introduced by Allen Hart, Dean of Students and professor of psychology.

During her first Homecoming Weekend as president, Biddy Martin conversed with alumni and other visitors in Johnson Chapel about, among other topics, Amherst's planned new science center, the rising costs of higher education and her own visions for the future of the college.

One of the most notable aspects of the Arab revolts that spread throughout the Middle East in the spring of 2011 was the innovative use of the internet and social networking. Almost exactly two years previously, the Iranian Green Movement was the first to deploy these new technologies against the government. What can we learn from the Iranian experience? Do these 'facebook' revolutions portend radical change for the future of democracy movements in the Middle East? This lecture examines the Arab revolts and the Iranian Green Movement in comparative perspective with particular reference to social networking, visual art, and the youth.

On a September 23, 2011 Amherst Today program, poet David Sofield, the Samuel Williston Professor of English, read selections from his work and that of the late James Merrill ’47.

On a September 23, 2011 Amherst Today program, poet Richard Dan Chiasson ’93 read selections from his work and that of the late James Merrill ’47.

On a September 23, 2011 Amherst Today program, poet David Ferry ’46 read selections from his work and that of the late James Merrill ’47.

On a September 23, 2011 Amherst Today program, poet Richard Wilbur ’42 read selections from his work and that of the late James Merrill ’47.

Biddy Martin, the first woman president of Amherst, spoke at lunch; she was introduced by Elizabeth Aries.