Amherst at 200: Celebrating Mind, Heart, and Community

Former Amherst trustee Bill Ford ’83 is CEO of General Atlantic, a private equity firm that is based in New York but active around the globe in the climate, consumer, life sciences, healthcare, and technology sectors. He talks with President Biddy Martin about business, philanthropy and the relevance of a liberal arts education to a rapidly changing world.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/AmherstBillFordTranscript

Rebecca Segal ’18 was a transfer student, a neuroscience major and Amherst’s first U.S. Army ROTC member in 24 years. Now she’s a field artillery officer and a first lieutenant. In this interview with President Biddy Martin, she describes all of these experiences, plus the three lasting lessons she learned in her college courses.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/AmherstRebeccaSegalTranscript

Federico and Alejandro Sucre are twin brothers who grew up in Caracas, Venezuela; attended high school in New Mexico and Wales, respectively; and then both enrolled in Amherst’s class of 2013. They converse with President Biddy Martin about their academic and career paths, the sense of community they found on the men’s soccer team and more.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/AmherstSucreBrothersTranscript

President Biddy Martin speaks with Rosanne Haggerty ’82, former Amherst trustee and current president and CEO of Community Solutions, about how the organization strives toward a lasting end to homelessness in communities nationwide. Both Haggerty herself and Community Solutions have won MacArthur Foundation awards for their work.  

Transcript: https://bit.ly/AmherstRosanneHaggertyTranscript

Kirk Johnson ’82 is the Sant Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He digs deep into his passion for paleontology and geology, as well as his memories of Amherst. And he takes a panoramic view of the future of the College and the planet.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/AmherstKirkJohnsonTranscript

Dr. Meron Hirpa ’11 is a physician focused on public health and health equity in Cincinnati and Ethiopia. She recalls bidding an emotional farewell to her family and enrolling at Amherst as a first-generation college student, in pursuit of her longtime dream of becoming a doctor. Find out how the telementoring and QuestBridge programs, as well as faculty, staff and alumni, helped her blaze her path.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/AmherstMeronHirpaTranscript

While still an undergraduate, William H. Pritchard ’53 “decided that there was nothing in the world that I would rather do than come back and teach at Amherst”—and that’s exactly what he did. Pritchard, now the Henry Clay Folger Professor of English, Emeritus, looks back on more than 70 years of learning, teaching and institutional change.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/AmherstBillPritchardTranscript

Chris Lehane ’90 is currently a global policy and communications executive at Airbnb and previously served as special assistant counsel in the Clinton White House. As a college student, he got the chance to have pizza with another future U.S. president. Lehane shares this story and other memories and insights from his days as a political activist and athlete at Amherst.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/AmherstChrisLehaneTranscript

Now a J.D./M.B.A. candidate at Howard University, Christine Ayanna Croasdaile ’17 looks back to her many activities at Amherst: majoring in Black studies and Spanish, engaging with Black and Caribbean student organizations, and taking on a key role in the activist movement known as Amherst Uprising. Croasdaile also looks ahead, sharing her hopes for the College’s future.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/AmherstChristineCroasdaileTranscript

As a federal prosecutor, Pat Fitzgerald ’82 has worked on multiple high-profile legal cases, including those related to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in East Africa. Here, the former Amherst trustee looks back on the most indelible moments of his career and on the many lessons he learned when arrived at the College from a Catholic high school in Manhattan.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/AmherstPatrickFitzgeraldTranscript