Carolyn Arthur “Biddy” Martin will start sometime in August and be introduced to the Amherst community on Thursday.
Carolyn Arthur “Biddy” MartinAMHERST - Amherst College has named Carolyn Arthur “Biddy” Martin, the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin’s Madison flagship campus, as the college’s 19th president.
Martin will be the first woman to lead the liberal arts school, which was a male-only institution until 1975.
Martin will start sometime in August and be introduced to the Amherst community on Thursday.
Jide Zeitlin, Board of Trustees and Presidential Search Committee chairman, said in a press release that Martin’s "formidable intellect" and leadership experience made her the top choice in an extremely rich pool of candidates.
“Martin is a seasoned leader with a deep understanding of issues ranging from attracting and retaining an extraordinary faculty, supporting and investing in a diverse student body, institutional governance, and some of the evolving ways that knowledge is delivered,” Zeitlin said.
President Anthony W. Marx is leaving at the end of the month to become the president of the New York Public Library after serving as president here for eight years.
“Amherst represents everything I value in higher education,” Martin said, “including the best possible education by a faculty known for outstanding research, a serious and lively intellectual community, and a commitment to opportunity and service. Amherst’s leadership has worked hard to increase the socioeconomic, racial and ethnic diversity of the campus to an extent rarely seen elsewhere—something I personally hold dear. What amazes me is that Amherst has maintained this commitment to diversity in the face of extraordinarily difficult circumstances economically. I know that we can take even greater advantage of the diversity that the college has now succeeded in establishing.”
Martin was on the Cornell University faculty for more than two decades and served as provost from 2000 to 2008. She earned her doctorate in German literature from the University of Wisonsin-Madison in 1985.
She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the College of William & Mary with a degree in English, in 1973, then received a master’s degree in German literature from Middlebury College in Vermont. She continued her studies at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz, Germany before seeking her doctorate degree.