Ecologist Joe Pechmann ’76 is working to ensure the survival of an endangered three-inch amphibian. Read about his work, and that of other alumni, in the Know Thyself section starting on PAGE 4.
This I Believe
The campus landscape may change, but the sense of community endures. This is just one observation Colleen Hallagan Preuninger ’06 made when she returned to College Hill last fall as Hamilton’s inaugural dean of spiritual and religious life. PAGE 12
It’s a Work in Progress
Hamilton’s last major curricular review came in 2000. As the campus community begins envisioning “Open Curriculum 2.0,” here’s a look at how the College’s academic program has developed over the past 200+ years PAGE 24
The Endowment is Forever
Why does Hamilton have a big pot of money and only spend such a small percentage? Who decides how funds are invested? How have recent federal tax and policy changes affected the College’s financial picture? Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance Karen Leach shares an Endowment 101 primer. PAGE 46
How to Navigate ‘What’s Next?’
Students are making the connections necessary to successfully launch into life after Hamilton through Career Communities, field-specific networks supported by alumni experts. We caught up with some of these volunteers and asked what it’s like working with today’s students and what students can do to best prepare for their futures. PAGE 52
On the cover
Artificial intelligence, big data, predictive analytics, and machine learning are reshaping how we work, learn, and live. See how Hamilton students and faculty are drawing on a mix of technology and authentic intelligence to advance new ideas. PAGE 36
ILLUSTRATION BY TOTTO RENNA
THIS PAGE: Kate Noonan ’28, Amelia Petty ’28, and Sarah Walcott ’26 checked Mount Marcy off the list! For the first time in a decade, Hamilton’s Outing Club conquered all 46 of the Adirondack high peaks in one weekend. PAGE 14
COMMENTS
HAMILTON MAGAZINE
WINTER 2026
VOLUME 91, NO. 1
EDITOR
Stacey J. Himmelberger P’15,’22 (shimmelb@hamilton.edu)
Mike Castle ’61 passed away on Aug. 14, the nation and the Republican Party lost yet another voice of moderation — a voice critical of the political and cultural wars that beset us, and a voice crucial to transcending those wars.
A popular consensus-builder who served the First State for more than four decades and through 14 consecutive election wins, Mike described himself as “fiscally conservative but otherwise moderate,” a guy who won elections “not because of any inflexible ideological beliefs but by knocking on doors and asking for support.” That typically self-effacing characterization came in a “Point of View” column in the Spring 2012 Hamilton Alumni Review Following his talk at an Alumni College session during the previous fall’s Reunion Weekend, he and I conferred over several weeks as he worked on the column, ultimately titled “More compromise, less confrontation.”
He was perfectly positioned to make that case — and, as it turned out, prescient as well. Beginning in 1965, Mike had served Delaware as deputy attorney general, state representative, state senator and minority leader, lieutenant governor, governor, and nine-term U.S. representative. When Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was ushered upstairs to the vice-presidential spot by Barack Obama, Mike was the
likely successor to Biden’s U.S. Senate seat in 2010. What few saw coming was a primary upset from an unknown firebrand with a far-right agenda and a sketchy résumé, Christine O’Donnell.
As Mike told it, “She was part of a very conservative and confrontational movement, usually referred to as the Tea Party, which was coming to the fore and challenging moderate Republican officeholders in primaries; a group called the Tea Party Express decided to support O’Donnell, and the primary campaign quickly became a political drama that reached far beyond the boundaries of the small state of Delaware.” Again, Mike understated the case. O’Donnell drew vocal support from farright icons Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and big money to match. They “brought the hammer down.”
O’Donnell was then crushed in the general election, but Mike Castle’s exit from the political stage was a gloomy harbinger of what has followed over the last 15 years.
In our own exchanges, he took the loss with grace and humor — qualities in very short supply these days in the realm of politics. Perhaps he was a little relieved, given what he foresaw. We had a scheduled 15-minute interview and a vague connection: we were fellow Delawareans, a state where — back in the day — everyone knew everyone, as the cliché goes. Our interview turned into
an hour’s chat about Hamilton, Delaware, sports, and the state of contemporary politics. He immediately impressed me as one of the warmest, most thoughtful, intelligent, and gentle public servants with whom I’ve ever spoken.
We can only hope that his political spirit and acumen, his commitment to “strong but civil debate and intelligent compromise as foundations of democratic government,” survive this moment.
Don Challenger College Editor, 2006-13
PLEASED
TO LEARN the Mail Center has returned to Bristol where selected faculty received catalogs for pompoms and cheerleader uniforms. Yes, some packaged cookies were relayed to recipients with fractured results.
Stephen Dennis ’71 Former Mail Sorter
CONGRATS ON MICHAEL BLANDING’S “Driving Tech Innovation” article in the Summer 2025 issue of Hamilton Magazine. If the intention was to be exhaustive in the survey of HamTech alums who have played a role in global tech, I feel left out. In fact, I feel mixed about even raising the issue, but having come from a recent coaching conversation with a client who has been feeling one-down in his cofounder relationship — I work as a leadership coach
Scan to read the online edition.
these days, primarily with early-stage founders and operating leaders — where his reframe after our session was to be more explicit in claiming his wins, big and small, I figured what the heck.
In 1993, a classmate at Stanford Business School, Fred Campbell, and I started an early Internet pioneer eventually known as Egreetings Network. We spent six years building what became a top 20 website with 13 millions customers — back when that was a big number! Egreetings had its IPO in December 1999. Foreshadowing our digital greetings service via an independent CD-ROM marketplace where we sold customized and personalized paper greeting cards, soon to be followed by AOL’s CD-based “The Merchant,” we were AOL’s first digital start-up e-commerce partner anchoring its emergent online shopping service boasting traditional vendors like Eddie Bauer and 1-800-Flowers.
We were an integral part of the launch of AOL’s industry-leading ventures into online e-commerce, white-labeling their (horribly-named!) “Card-o-matic” digital greetings offering — the authors of a case used at Stanford Business School noted our ingenuity and prescience in creating a new global channel of distribution for a pedestrian product like greeting cards as precursor to creating a whole new category of communication, digital greetings (what we called
“thematic communications”), securing and leveraging exclusively the content of the world’s best greeting card merchants to delight millions of new consumers.
As modem speeds increased and millions more discovered the Internet, we supported innovation-hungry consumers through additional exclusive distribution deals with (then) prominent players such as Hotmail, WebTV, and MSN, to name a handful. We were the first company to track an e-commerce order back to its referring URL, essentially inaugurating the era of Internet commerce and monetization of lead generation/advertising on the Web. Egreetings became a founding member of shop.org, which for years undergirded the National Retail Federation’s e-commerce vertical.
Clearly a founder CV like that ought to have garnered at least a passing mention in the piece, yes? That’s OK. This brief traipse down memory lane — reflecting on some of my fondest Hamilton memories such as working alongside Brandon Nordin ’81 entrepreneurially to establish rugby, both men’s and women’s, as a leading club sport on campus; living a year with the remarkable Asian Studies historian Professor Edwin B. Lee, who took me in when no other housing was available to me on campus (“ugh” to his tuna casserole); crafting an independent journey across varied disciplines to secure my degree in Asian studies, which
COMMENTS
then launched my half-decade in Asia, which helped secure my slot at Stanford for business school, which was the perfect place to be as the digital domain moved beyond the Internet’s early limitations as host only to academicians and the military ... and soon greetst.com, egreetings.com, and companies like Marc Randolph’s [’81] Netflix — feels cathartic.
As a result, I no longer feel left out. What a run, what a time, what a confluence of adventures.
Anthony Levitan ’82
Correction: In the Summer 2025 edition, we mistakenly identified Vinnie Strully as Class of ’68. He is a proud member of the Class of ’69.
THE TRUSTEES
David M. Solomon ’84, P’16, Chair
Robert V. Delaney ’79, Vice Chair
Linda E. Johnson ’80, Vice Chair
CHARTER TRUSTEES
Aron J. Ain ’79, P’09,’11
Mason P. Ashe ’85
Richard Bernstein ’80
Peter B. Coffin ’81, P’14
Julia K. Cowles ’84
Mark T. Fedorcik ’95
Daniel C. Fielding ’07
Amy Owens Goodfriend ’82
Philip L. Hawkins ’78
Gregory T. Hoogkamp ’82, P’25
Lea Haber Kuck ’87, P’24
Sharon D. Madison ’84
Christopher P. Marshall ’90
Daniel T.H. Nye ’88, P’24
Montgomery G. Pooley ’84, P’16,’19
Ronald R. Pressman ’80
Imad I. Qasim ’79
R. Christopher Regan ’77, P’08
Alexander C. Sacerdote ’94
Jack R. Selby ’96
Steven Tepper
ALUMNI TRUSTEES
Josie M. Collier ’97, P’14
Kathleen Corsi ’82, P’23
Monique L. Holloway ’87, P’14,’18
Stuart P. Ingis ’93
Edvige Jean-François ’90
Elizabeth Fox Keogh ’94, P’26
Kevin J. O’Donnell ’89, P’22,’25
William C. Schmoker ’89
Alice Davis Tornquist ’86
Vidal Torres ’00, P’29
Kiki Yang ’00
Gillian B. Zucker ’90
LIFE TRUSTEES
Henry W. Bedford II ’76
David W. Blood ’81
Harold W. Bogle ’75, P’14
Brian T. Bristol P’11
Christina E. Carroll P’90
Gerald V. Dirvin ’59, P’84, GP’17
Sean K. Fitzpatrick ’63, P’87
Carol T. Friscia K’77
Lee C. Garcia ’67
Eugenie A. Havemeyer GP’00
David P. Hess ’77
Joel W. Johnson ’65, P’93
Kevin W. Kennedy ’70 †
A.G. Lafley ’69 †
Email letters, story ideas, and feedback to editor@hamilton.edu or mail to Hamilton Magazine, 198 College Hill Road, Clinton, NY 13323.
We welcome comments on topics discussed in the magazine or on any subject of possible interest to the College community. Please include your name and class year, and whether you intend for your letter to be published. We reserve the right to judge whether a letter is appropriate for publication and to edit for accuracy and length.
George F. Little II ’71, P’04
Arthur J. Massolo ’64, P’93
Robert S. Morris ’76, P’16,’17
John G. Rice ’78
Stephen I. Sadove ’73, P’07,’10,’13 †
Howard J. Schneider ’60, P’85,’87,’89, GP’21
Thomas J. Schwarz ’66, P’01
A. Barrett Seaman ’67
Chester A. Siuda ’70, P’06, GP’25
Susan E. Skerritt K’77, P’11
Charles O. Svenson ’61, P’00
Thomas J. Tull ’92, P’13
Susan Valentine K’73
Jack Withiam, Jr. ’71, P’16,’20
Jaime E. Yordán ’71
Srilata Zaheer
† Chairmen Emeriti
PRESIDENT OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Laura Anne Engelhardt ’95
Know Thyself
MEET PEOPLE TAKING HAMILTON’S MOTTO TO HEART AS THEY DISCOVER AND EXPLORE THEIR PASSIONS WHILE MAKING VALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS ON COLLEGE HILL AND BEYOND.
The Steamy Success of Bathhouse
Travis Talmadge ’09
Travis Talmadge ’09 has a hot idea — bringing sauna and bathhouse culture, which has long existed in Scandinavia and Japan, to America. He co-founded Bathhouse, “a home for people to look, feel, and perform their very best.”
Thanks to the steamy success of locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, in the next two years Talmadge and his business partner plan to bring eight locations — each with scrub rooms, lounges, and restaurants — to seven more states. Among the newest sites: Los Angeles, Nashville, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Two other alumni have signed on as well. Jordan Hummel ’09 heads the company’s real
estate operations, and Henry Ciocca ’09 serves as general counsel.
Unlike spas, which Talmadge believes involve “forced relaxation and have a luxury focus,” the Bathhouse experience is different. It’s been described as a social wellness destination. “[Our vision] is about putting out an effort and getting benefits from saunas, cold plunges, splashing around, and being social and part of a communal space,” Talmadge said.
He started out in investment sales but got the sauna habit when he was invited to a Russian bathhouse in New York City and did a sauna and cold plunge. The result? “I walked out of there and felt a sauna high. I was walking on clouds. I slept great that night. I was hooked from that day forward,” he recalled.
Routine sauna bathing, according to the Mayo Clinic, is linked to an array of health
benefits. Talmadge points to a Finnish study that tracked 2,682 middle-aged men over more than 20 years. It found that regular sauna users lived longer and had far lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Other studies suggest that routine sauna time can reduce the likelihood of depression and developing Alzheimer’s disease.
At Hamilton, Talmadge majored in economics and photography/fine arts, both of which get a workout running Bathhouse. “Of course, I apply a lot of economic principles, and design is a big cornerstone of our product,” he said. “The artist in me definitely loves being involved in the creative design of spaces.”
Today he sweats out business problems in a cedar-lined sauna five days a week. “It’s changed my life,” he said. • — George Spencer
Travis Talmadge taking advantage of a Bathhouse sauna experience.
Strength, Skill, Sisterhood
Connie Halporn K’78
Connie Halporn K’78 fights both on the mat as a 6th degree judo black belt and in the nonprofit sphere as chair of the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation.
Halporn’s judo journey began in high school and continued to blossom at Kirkland College, where she first started leading judo classes. After a long career instructing judo at Columbia University and later Polytechnic Institute (now NYU Tandon School of Engineering), she advocates for women’s advancement and inclusion in a sport historically dominated by men.
“In the ’70s, there were a lot of problems for women and girls in the martial arts.
Women were still not allowed to compete in the fighting part of judo,” Halporn said.
While the sport has made significant advancements over the years, Halporn remains keenly aware of the threat that political attacks on women, girls, and other marginalized communities pose toward that progress. She views her organization as a crucial safe space where women can empower themselves through learning new skills and connecting with each other.
“Physical activities are critical for women and girls, with statistics showing better self-esteem, better body image, better everything,” said Halporn, who brings the spirit of Kirkland and martial arts back to College Hill each spring during Reunion Weekend when she offers her expertise to the community through a family-friendly judo class.
“An advantage to martial arts is if you’re confronted with a real-life situation, you
can defend yourself. An advantage to judo, in particular, is that judo is judo,” she said.
“You study in Clinton, you get your yellow belt, you go to Abu Dhabi, and it’s the same judo. Even if you don’t know the local language, you have a built-in community. You can show up at any judo club in the world and you’re family.”
• — Holly Mirales ’26
Supporting Kids’ Futures
Omar Reid ’80
Omar Reid ’80 gets around. As a school psychologist and presi dent of the Black Mental Health Alliance of Massachusetts, he has visited schools across the state and worked with children for 40 years.
“It’s been rewarding,” said Reid, who earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Antioch University. “When I see children or parents after I’ve worked with them, they say, ‘The information you gave me changed my life.’ Man, I feel good about that.”
Much of his consulting work centers around helping middle- and high-school students with learning disabilities. One current hot topic issue he supports is a ban of cell phone use in classrooms. “Kids need to be able to focus on learning instead of getting a text,” he said.
Hyperactivity and memory issues are also huge problems. “A lot of such disabilities are related to diet and nutrition. Kids are eating Pop-Tarts in the morning, not proteins. I work with parents and give them advice to adjust that.”
Another “crazy national problem,” according to Reid, is a shortage of school psychologists. Even worse, most counselors are female,
and boys need male role models. “There’s an opportunity for men in our field,” he said.
As head of the Black Mental Health Alliance, Reid is proud that Massachusetts has more Black-owned and operated mental health clinics than any other state. The alliance got its start 20 years ago to address biases in the ways in which Black children were being tested and diagnosed in schools. Today the organization serves children and adults in clinical settings.
Reid learned much about helping others as a member of the Continentals football team. A running back, he roomed with Jon Hind ’80, Hamilton’s former athletics director. “Our team wasn’t good, but we worked hard as a unit,” he said. “We all came together, helped each other, and lifted up each other. When someone’s down, he needs support. That’s what it’s all about.” • — George Spencer
A Spirit of Exploration
Victor Maldonado ’86
Victor Maldonado ’86 has no plans to retire from practicing immigration law anytime soon. In fact, he’s pushing himself harder than ever. Last summer, Maldonado swam the English Channel, a course considered the “Mt. Everest of Open Water Swimming” — and he’s not stopping there. Maldonado transferred to Hamilton as a sophomore. He remembers feeling anxious about his English-language skills, as he had predominantly spoken Spanish growing up in Puerto Rico. But he quickly found a mentor in Professor of English Literature Austin Briggs, who happened to proctor the swimming test required of all students. Briggs inspired Maldonado not only to major in English, but also to take up swimming recreationally.
KNOW THYSELF
Graduation brought more uncertainty. A few days before Commencement, Maldonado received a call from a cousin conducting marine ecology research in Panama. A few days after walking across the stage to receive his diploma, he flew to Panama City and spent the next six months without a phone connection or reliable electricity. Maldonado joked, “It was an auspicious start to a motley career. But not having a plan in your senior year is not a handicap; it can be a blessing. It leaves you open to opportunities that may end up defining your life.”
Back in the U.S., Maldonado worked for an environmental advisor to the governor of Puerto Rico and continued his studies at Tufts University and the Vermont Law School. Along the way, he moonlighted as a Spanish interpreter and began frequenting immigration court proceedings. “I was hooked,” he said. After he passed the Maryland Bar Exam, a judge suggested he take a caseload. The rest is history.
Swimming remained Maldonado’s outlet. He trained multiple times to swim the English Channel, but life kept getting in the way. This year, he finally completed the challenge in 12 hours and 11 minutes, raising funds for Swim Across America and honoring his longtime partner who died of cancer in 2022.
“It was something I had wanted to do for many, many years, and now it’s done,” he said. Next, Maldonado aims to finish the 20 Bridges Swim around Manhattan Island and the Catalina Channel by September 2026. • — Dana Blatte ’26
Hitting the Green Katie Veasey ’17
For Katie Veasey ’17, golf is all about the greens — and we’re not talking about the putting area. As a golf sustainability consultant at Waste Management (WM), she works with some of professional golf’s biggest tournaments to make their events eco-friendlier by reducing waste and carbon emissions.
A lifetime golfer and environmental studies major, Veasey first combined her two passions in a Bristol Fellowship post-graduation. Her Bristol year brought her to nine countries, including Japan, Iceland, and Argentina, to investigate sustainability in global golf course maintenance practices.
In the years that followed, Veasey worked in various environmental roles,
from lobbying for renewable energy to supporting the EPA’s energy efficiency programs. When she received the opportunity to return to the world of golf as a WM consultant, she was eager to take her environmental expertise back to the course,
drawing upon her previous experiences to solve new challenges in event management.
“I love being able to touch so many different areas of sustainability. We’re trying to decrease methane emissions from food waste, implement recycling programs, and look where we can get renewable energy on site at these events,” Veasey said. “We look at sustainability holistically through the lens of golf.”
As a consultant, Veasey coordinates with high-profile events like the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open. Of the tournament, she said, “The sheer size of it is unbelievable. It’s one of the biggest spectator sporting events in the U.S. It’s incredible to see how everyone there is excited about making zero waste happen and willing to participate in such an important effort.”
•
— Holly Mirales
’26
Victor Maldonado displaying the flag of his native Puerto Rico after conquering the English Channel.
Finding Answers in Groundwater
Michelle Walvoord ’93
As a research hydrogeologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, Michelle Walvoord ’93 is forging new frontiers in studying the impact of changes and instability on groundwater.
In October, her work earned her the prestigious O.E. Meinzer Award from the Geological Society of America. The honor highlighted her seminal papers on cold region hydrogeology, which drove interest in the threats of increased permafrost thaw, a side effect of the Earth’s changing climate.
“A central theme of my research is understanding how groundwater systems respond to climate variability and landscape perturbations, such as permafrost thaw and wildfire,” she said. Walvoord’s work has taken her from the frigid Alaskan Yukon to the arid deserts of the southwestern United States. After graduating from Hamilton, she even worked with the winding Nile and Congo rivers throughout Africa.
Walvoord’s courses with Professor of Geosciences Emeritus Todd Rayne engendered her interest in groundwater, which then propagated during her senior thesis project working alongside Michael Lane ’65 on groundwater contamination at an EPA Superfund site.
“One of the most memorable moments was presenting my findings to concerned citizens at a town hall meeting in Lincklaen [N.Y.], a glimpse of the real-world impact of scientific research,” she said.
Walvoord’s work has been referenced by national and international governing bodies, shaping environmental policies and responses. “Ideally, hydrologic research underpins informed decisions and policies about water resources and the systems that depend on them,” she said. “Just as critical as the science itself is communicating these findings in ways that make them usable and accessible.” • — Holly Mirales ’26
Fighting for Frogs
Joe Pechmann ’76
Consider the endangered dusky gopher frog. When threatened, the best this three-inch amphibian can do is cover its eyes with its hands. By 2002, its habitat had shrunk to only one or two ponds in Mississippi. It likely would have become extinct had Joe Pechmann ’76, a population ecologist at Western Carolina University, not come to the rescue. For the past 20 years, he and other researchers painstakingly collected egg clusters, hatched them in livestock tanks, and battled parasites that threatened to wipe out the species. Today the frog, whose repetitive call sounds like snoring, has a fighting chance — its habitat has expanded to 15 ponds.
Population fluctuations and the aquatic and terrestrial lifecycles of amphibians have always fascinated Pechmann. This species burrows in pine forests during scorching
summers. That can be a deadly problem. Pechmann recorded a nine-year period when ponds dried up before tadpoles could metamorphose.
“There was no juvenile recruitment. They’re gambling and living on the edge,” the biology major said. “Their population fluctuates wildly with the weather. I’m interested in how they manage to survive that way and how to mitigate that to increase the chances they’ll still be around.”
Pechmann fears that proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act could jeopardize this frog’s future, especially if habitat alterations caused by humans are no longer banned. If so, “it’s likely the outlook will be far more grim for all endangered species,” he said.
As a teen, Pechmann was “a boy entomologist” — the first camper at Boy Scout Camp Tuscarora in 20 years to complete the insect study merit badge. He credits Professor of Biology Larry McManus with sparking his interest in ecology and conservation. “His course was very conceptual. He taught me there were all these interesting questions you could ask about populations and ecosystems.
“I feel very privileged to have been able to help save endangered species. I love introducing students to ecology and the wonderful world of amphibians,” Pechmann added. • — George Spencer
Joe Pechmann and a friend who owes him his life — the dusky gopher frog.
Healing Through Humility
Scott Kelsey ’93
Scott Kelsey ’93 is a vocal beneficiary — and architect — of compassionate communities. He’s the founder of Shareapy.com, a platform that connects people to therapeutic support from guided peer groups. The company was born out of a personal healing process, one that now drives his mental health advocacy.
Kelsey was a world politics major at Hamilton, but hockey was his bedrock. By his junior year, he was in talks with professional agents. Ultimately he extended his playing career, most notably with the Memphis RiverKings. But after more than a decade of being “in it 24/7,” Kelsey tapped into his network of Hamilton friends to find his next step. Encouraged by Kevin Kenyon ’82, brother-in-law of his roommate Matthew Henderson ’93, Kelsey began a career in the mortgage industry.
Then came the unexpected. Kelsey suffered a traumatic brain injury from a fall
in 2018, which prompted him to reflect on other areas of his life — notably the anxiety and depression he experienced during his hockey career. “One of the biggest parts of my recovery, starting then, was speaking with other people who had gone through something similar,” Kelsey explained. “That’s how Shareapy was born.”
Close friends, some of whom had also experienced life setbacks, encouraged Kelsey to scale up his passion project into a cross-generational community that’s part of a continuum of care, and he’s only continuing to expand. Hamilton alumni have been with him at every stage, from investing in the business to testing the platform and advising the Shareapy team. “We’re re-engaging in relationships that we had 10, 15, 30 years ago,” Kelsey said. “And at the same time, we’re building a wellness community.”
Shareapy relies on a collaborative model. Members can receive training to become meeting facilitators, through which they acquire problem-solving and communication skills that are also applicable to their daily lives. Facilitators lead weekly 60-minute sessions for other users. As the needs of Shareapy users change, the platform shifts with them. Specialized groups now exist for athletes, military personnel, and corporate employees.
Storytelling and sharing, which Kelsey feels are often underestimated, remain at the platform’s core. “There are times when we don’t give ourselves credit in terms of our experiences,” he said. “A problem shared is a problem halved.”
Kelsey judges the future of Shareapy by its impact. Currently the platform boasts 200+ members, including several Hamilton alumni and current students. “The proof is already there in terms of what we’re doing. The key is getting more people to experience it,” he said. “The Hamilton community is proof.” •
— Dana Blatte ’26
Finding Her Focus
Sofia Santana ’26
Sofia Santana ’26 came to Hamilton from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with a plan: 1) major in economics and computer science; 2) improve her Spanish language skills and study abroad; 3) play softball, a sport she’s loved since she was 5. Now a senior, she has accomplished many of her goals, but her path has taken some unexpected — and exciting — turns.
Fall 2022
JUMPED RIGHT IN with economics, computer science, and Hispanic studies classes.
I chose econ and computer science because I wanted to get a good job after graduation. But after taking the intro courses, I knew this wasn’t for me. I was trying so hard and putting in so much effort, but nothing seemed to be clicking. … My Spanish classes were great. My grandma is Cuban and my dad is first-gen. My goal was to become fluent and study abroad in a Spanishspeaking country.
Spring 2023
ELECTED A PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS — and found her passion.
I took a photography class in high school, but it wasn’t until I came back to it that I realized how much I love photography — it brings me joy and challenges me. At first I was super nervous to tell my parents [this would be my focus], but I decided if I’m doing this, I’m going to go all in.
Summer 2023
CREATIVE INTERN with the Tennessee Titans of the NFL. Completed rotations in photography, social media, project management, and video. Assisted the team with Media Day and the release of their new throwback uniforms.
Fall 2023
TOOK ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHY with Professor of Art Rob Knight where students designed and printed working 3D cameras in Hamilton’s Makerspace.
Fall 2023 — present
PHOTOGRAPHY INTERN in Hamilton’s Sports Information Office shooting football, soccer, field hockey, basketball, and ice hockey action.
Summer 2024
MARKETING INTERN with the Florida Panthers of the NHL. Assisted the official photographer on ice during the Stanley Cup finals, shot photos during the victory parade, and participated in brand ideation meetings.
I led a 35mm film project during the finals, capturing the energy and emotions as the team made history with its first Stanley Cup win. Shooting on film just felt right; it has this nostalgic, timeless vibe that fits with such a huge moment. I wanted to tell the story of what it felt like to be there — the excitement, the nerves, the pure joy in the crowd — through something that felt as authentic and lasting as the experience itself. It pushed me to think about storytelling in a deeper, more creative way beyond just documenting the action.
Spring 2025
NAMED HAMILTON SOFTBALL’S REPRESENTATIVE to the All-Sportsmanship Team, comprised of student-athletes who show exceptional respect for themselves, teammates, coaches, opponents, and spectators.
Summer 2025
STUDIED IN SPAIN at LCI Barcelona. Took three courses: Entrepreneurship and Design Thinking, Graphic Design, and Fashion Photography, where she worked behind the scenes at a fashion show.
What’s Now & Next
Santana, an outfielder, is captain of the Continentals softball team and busy completing two theses for her concentrations in art and Hispanic studies. After graduation, she hopes to work for a professional sports organization in social media or photography.
My fine arts perspective allows me to bring a more emotional and abstract way of approaching the world that I don’t always see reflected in sports where everything can feel very predictable and surface level. That’s something I hope to bring to my work in the sports world. • — Stacey Himmelberger
Sofia Santana with her Hamilton softball teammates and (below) on ice after the Florida Panthers captured their first Stanley Cup.
JOSH MCKEE
RECENT NEWS HIGHLIGHTS from across the Hamilverse
1 LIST CENTER
If you’ve read Ayana Gray’s epic villain origin tale I, Medusa, members of Know Thy Shelf would have welcomed your thoughts. The book was the topic of the popular student novel club’s final meeting of the semester on Dec. 6. Members gather monthly for discussion, snacks, crafts, and good vibes.
2 KIRNER-JOHNSON COMMONS
On Oct. 1, Hamilton’s seven 2025 International Summer Research Fellows showcased their work at a poster session. Projects included “Seed dispersal systems in the Bornean rainforest”; “How does anthropogenic climate change impact Iceland and its coastal communities?”; and “Conceptualizations around the border (symbolic and cultural divide) between the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires.”
3 LEVITT CENTER, KIRNER-JOHNSON BUILDING
Are international travel and tourism benefits or burdens? Do they provide cultural exchange and economic uplift or commodify local traditions and drain local resources? Are we expanding our horizons or simply consuming destinations? Those were a few of the questions students, faculty, and staff addressed at the seventh and final Community Conversation of the semester on Dec. 4. Prior discussions centered around cell phone bans in schools, legality vs. morality, and “failing better” — how to reframe setbacks as catalysts for growth and innovation.
WANT MORE HAMILTON NEWS?
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4 ROMANO THEATRE, KENNEDY CENTER
Student actors explored what’s necessary to bring a character and comedy to life in a workshop led by performer and teaching artist Elizabeth Baron on Sept. 19. Through the discovery of vital fundamentals of movement, mask, and comedic theatre, participants honed their ability to listen to their own bodies and impulses, and to be in “contact” with each other and the audience.
5 DAYS-MASSOLO MULTICULTURAL CENTER
The Geological Society launched the first event in its Environmental and Geological Violence and Oppression Awareness Series, an Oct. 22 discussion on cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Attendees examined how cobalt supports the production of everyday electronic devices while simultaneously contributing to ecological degradation, unsafe labor conditions, and systemic exploitation of Congolese communities.
6 CHAPEL
Hamilton’s Common Ground series opened the year on Sept. 15 with a focus on U.S. immigration policy featuring Emily Mendrala, former deputy assistant to President Biden and senior advisor on migration to the White House, and Jon Baselice, former VP of immigration policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and former legal counsel to then-Senator Rubio (R-FL). The event was moderated by Mimi Geerges, host of C-SPAN’s Washington Journal
TAYLOR SCIENCE CENTER
Gardening enthusiasts from the Hamilton and local community gathered on Nov. 1 for an Arboretum Saturday Series presentation by horticulturalist and writer Christine Froehlich where they learned about ways to incorporate more native plants and cultivate naturalistic landscapes. 7
8 GOODFRIEND FIELD
The nationally ranked No. 12 Continentals field hockey team won a double overtime thriller against SUNY Geneseo in the NCAA championship first round on Nov. 12. Hamilton advanced to the second round for the first time in program history where they fell to Wesleyan University.
A Spiritual Journey Back to Hamilton
THE REV. DR. COLLEEN HALLAGAN
PREUNINGER ’06 returned to College Hill last semester as Hamilton’s inaugural dean of spiritual and religious life, bringing with her 15 years of experience in campus ministry and spiritual leadership. As a member of the Student Life leadership team, Preuninger is coordinating efforts to support students across all faith traditions and spiritual identities, and helping ensure that religious and spiritual life is a vibrant part of the Hamilton experience.
Preuninger recently sat down with Hamilton Magazine to share what it’s like to be back on campus, what’s changed — and what hasn’t — and what she hopes to bring to her new role. Conversation edited for space purposes.
What are your initial impressions of Hamilton today?
What’s really comforting is that campus is both the same and different. There’s been a lot of construction since I graduated, but it’s so streamlined with new buildings integrated with the older structures. And enough is different that it makes me feel proud that Hamilton has moved and expanded in meaningful ways. Yet the thing at the heart of who we are — the community — is familiar.
You came to Hamilton from Newark, N.Y., and majored in art and German studies. When did you realize you were called to the ministry?
I grew up United Methodist in a small town. My family’s still really active in our local church. Before I came to Hamilton, I took what today you’d call a gap year. I was an exchange student in former East Germany on the Baltic Sea. It was about a decade after the wall fell, and the religious landscape in that area had really been impacted by
the East German ethos. Also, September 11 happened about two weeks after I arrived in Germany, so I had a real crisis of faith and identity when I was there. There were a lot of deep spiritual and cultural questions I was confronting as an 18-year-old before I came to Hamilton. I was exploring who I was, what I believed, and what my values were — maybe not independent of my faith tradition, but outside of it.
For that reason, I didn’t set foot inside the Chapel for several years. That’s not to say I wasn’t engaged in spiritual questions in other communities. I found that in the art community, in the ceramics studio, on the rugby team. I was really involved with WHCL and independent music, and all of those things are related.
In the summers, I worked at a Christian camp, Casowasco, where I led Bible study with small children. As I got older, the children [I worked with] got older too because we had to have two-year gaps, so by my last year, I was working with high school students. They were asking important questions that I didn’t have good answers to in terms of the Bible and our faith tradition. I realized at that point my call to ministry was really a call to seminary, a call to get more information.
How did your Hamilton experience influence your journey?
I loved the open curriculum, the ways in which you could rigorously explore texts, traditions, and intersectionality across traditions. And I thought, well, I’ve had these meaningful experiences in intentional community at Casowasco, and I feel really energized by conversations with folks younger than me, but I need more academic information to be able to adequately answer their questions. And if I’m feeling this pull back toward the Christian tradition, back toward my faith tradition, I wonder if it will hold up to the rigorous academic inquiry that I’m used to at Hamilton?
That was between my junior and senior year, and that’s what brought me to [former
Colleen Hallagan Preuninger getting comfortable in the Hamilton Chapel.
NANCY L. FORD
College Chaplain] Jeff [McArn]’s office. I talked with him about his journey and the questions that he had that brought him to seminary and into spiritual life, into higher education, and I really appreciated and respected his process. And I thought, if he can do it, I can do it.
You went to Princeton Theological Seminary and later earned a Doctor of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary. Did you always think you’d focus your ministry on young adults?
I’ve always been drawn to working with this age demographic. And now that I’m older, I think it has to do with an openness to change. And by that I mean, especially as undergraduates in a residential setting, you’re in this really intense period of learning and change. That’s the whole point of being here, and this is a particularly interesting and powerful place to ask and answer spiritual questions — whether those are within the tradition that you came from or a deconstruction and reconstruction: What is spiritual wellness if I step away from a faith tradition or if I didn’t come from a faith tradition? Who am I? Who do I want to be? What will my job after this place have to do with my values? What are my values? For me, those are all spiritual questions.
What do you find college students are looking for in terms of growing in faith or spirituality?
Whether or not you have to lose your faith to find it, it’s my firm belief and experience that every person reaches a point where they have to claim their own belief structure as an adult. This often happens in college, or soon thereafter, and should be a really beautiful and hopefully supported time where students can ask themselves those questions safely. You know, I’m a person who had to totally lay down my faith before picking it back up. It was really important to me that I could safely ask those questions, and when I finally got the courage to even come to the chaplain to
talk about them, that he just held them, right? He didn’t try to change them. It reminded me that it was totally normal and good.
I think for every student that’s different. Sometimes students have had a shattering experience in their faith community and there’s real religious trauma there. But I think it’s a good and healthy part of the process of differentiation and of examining their own values for themselves, whether those are similar or different than those of their family or the community of origin. Because honestly, that’s going to happen. At some point, you’re going to be faced with something that makes you question everything and makes you articulate for yourself your own values, your own belief structure. Honestly, I would rather work with students through some of those questions in a place that is supported so that if and when they face those shattering kinds of experiences, and many of them have, that when they launch to whatever’s after Hamilton, they have a firm foundation within themselves, whether that’s rooted in a faith tradition or not.
From 2013-16, you served as a United Methodist chaplain at Syracuse University, and after a short time in Virginia you became associate dean for religious and spiritual life at Stanford. What was that move like?
I was at a small school [Shenandoah University] on a three-year Lilly Endowment grant, so I was really looking for what was next. My dean at Syracuse when I worked there had recently become the dean at Stanford, and she was recruiting her team. I went out to the Bay Area because I really believed in her vision. It seemed exciting, and it was exciting. My spouse, Nick, and my son, Henry, who was 7 at the time, came with me. It felt like a grand adventure. My spouse is from the Pacific Northwest, so we’ve always been sort of bicoastal. That experience really informed my work, but also just gave me a range of experiences that I would not have had.
How has your role changed over the years?
Although I’m rooted and informed by my tradition, I’ve transitioned to be more of a multifaith chaplain — my charge is not to serve a particular student constituency but to provide access for the fullness of our student body. I think about this in three ways: spiritual or religious access, which is working with student constituencies, in particular traditions; multifaith engagement where we look at how are we facilitating intentional conversation, either within or across traditions, including folks who don’t come from traditions; and spiritual wellness generally — contemplative programs, such as a dependable meditation space or a grief group.
What kinds of conversations have you had with students already?
I will get folks in my chair for spiritual care, which ranges from typical challenges of, you know, just life, living, growing, roommate issues, breakups, death of family members, addiction, grief. But usually when students are scheduling time on my calendar now, it is to see what possibilities exist for either strengthening existing spaces or creating new ones. Right now, we’re working with a student who got a microgrant to go to the Interfaith America annual summit in Chicago over the summer and now is asking what would it look like to have a thriving interfaith service group or initiative.
In my first two weeks, I had at least five meetings with students who are either underrepresented, or not yet represented, by our student group traditions. They are asking what are the pathways toward convening community on campus in this particular tradition. What does it look like to make sure that our Hindu students and our Orthodox Christian students and our pagan students can identify and gather in ways that are really meaningful and amplified? And for me, that’s really exciting.
You’re filling a role that had been vacant for two years after the departure of Jeff McArn, who served as longtime College chaplain. How have you found that transition?
Honestly, I’ve felt so supported. This is a community of deep love and care and relationships. I’ve been so encouraged at the willingness of both folks who have been here a long time and folks who are new to reach out. Some are really honest and acknowledge that they still feel upset. I realize when there’s a rupture, that doesn’t just go away. But they also say, “This is what I would like to see, and this is how I can support you.” And I’ve said to everyone, I don’t expect you to trust me without knowing me. All I can do is seek to be trustworthy and clear and consistent.
And how do you navigate filling those big shoes?
I think one step at a time. This is a restructured role that is still evolving. For example, I’m not charged with leading services or a particular constituency myself. This wasn’t the case with Jeff, who for many years led the Protestant service while overseeing a multifaith team. The new [dean of spiritual and religious life] position was restructured to allow for a broader range of intersections of identities. I think in many ways, Jeff was doing that. Since he came [to Hamilton] in the late ’90s, the model for the chaplaincy in higher education has really expanded and grown. He did a wonderful job at creating a strong foundation.
What’s most rewarding about your job?
Theologically or philosophically, it’s not my job to vet or determine where I think a student’s belief structure should be, but I do have a vested interest in accompanying them, with their consent, through those questions of determining for themselves what is at the heart of it. It’s my favorite thing — when you feel that you’ve done that well or that a student has made a connection. But it doesn’t always have to be me. The structure
AROUND COLLEGE
matters, the details matter, because actually I am in the business of creating equitable, consistent structures and networks of vetted, trustworthy people. Those might be clergy or laypeople, or faculty and staff who can connect students to communities of care. They could be peers convened by student groups or nonprofits, like local faith communities.
I can understand how you chose German as a major, but what about art?
Shauna Hirshfield [’06, a senior leadership gift officer at Hamilton] was my freshmanand sophomore-year roommate. Her dad [Professor of Computer Science Emeritus Stuart Hirshfield] is the reason I was an art major. Once a week, he would invite Shauna and all of the roommates in our Dunham quad to lunch at Backus House, and we would have these discussions. I was really enjoying ceramics, but in order to have 24-hour access to the studio, you needed to be an art major. I was like, “It’s so unfair because I really want to be in the studio.” And Stu said, “So be an art major.” I was like, “Well, I’m not an artist.” And he said, “So what? I mean, no pressure, but why not?” That gave me the courage.
That’s why I love Hamilton. I had no aspirations of doing anything with German or art. But when I came back [from the gap year], I couldn’t imagine living without them because they were such formative experiences. So I ended up taking so many German classes, and it has served me well because in theology there’s so much that’s in German, but really, it was just because I needed it to live and thrive. I needed art. I needed clay. I learned what I wouldn’t have the language for at the time, but the practices that I needed to be spiritually well, to flourish, to be grounded.
I know that the world has moved on and liberal arts is changing and sort of in danger. And I totally get it, of course we need preprofessional schools, places like Stanford that are very tech oriented. But I also think our world needs people who can communicate and be human. It’s a privilege to be here. n
Peak Performance
EACH FALL , the Hamilton Outing Club (HOC) sends out hikers to take on all 46 high peaks of the Adirondack Mountains with the hopes of having at least one Hamilton student summit each of them in a single weekend. From Oct. 3 to 5, 70 student-leaders set out on trips with 158 participants, and for the first time in 10 years, they completed their goal.
According to HOC officers Sarah Walcott ’26 and Georgie Rigby ’27, this year’s trips filled up within the first 20 minutes of the posted selection time, with more than 50 students ending up on the waiting list. “This was by far the most engagement we’ve ever had,” Walcott said. “The energy from the student body is what made this all happen.”
Walcott and Rigby explained that the weekend’s goal was twofold: to get as many people as possible outside and exploring the natural world, and, if possible, to reach all 46 Adirondack peaks. With clear skies and temperatures in the 80s, the conditions were nearly perfect.
Planning 46 Peaks Weekend took months of work and over 100 hours of coordination by the HOC officers, who oversaw trip assignments, gear distribution, and safety measures. In addition to Walcott and Rigby, officers include Gwen Sawicki ’28, Grace Fogarty ’28, Cole Conviser ’27, Charlotte Osgood ’26, Ava Alexander ’26, and Cooper Burn ’27. Working alongside them were trip leaders, who guided the participants up each peak.
“All 70 trip leaders packed into the Glen House claiming the trips they wanted to lead. The energy was palpable, they were so excited by the prospect of getting all of the peaks,” Walcott said.
The excitement and determination lasted all weekend as the trips went out beginning Friday afternoon and ending on
Sunday night. When a few summits were left near the end, a “clean-up crew” of Cale Piedmont-Lang ’26, Caroline Boies ’26, and Drew Niewinski ’27 hiked 15 miles on just a few hours’ notice to finish the job. Their efforts helped secure the victory for HOC’s most successful 46 Peaks Weekend in the past decade.
Hamilton Outing Club’s mission is to “promote awareness and appreciation for the wilderness that surrounds our campus by
Dining & Dialogue
WConquering Sawteeth Mountain during 46 Peaks Weekend were members of the Class of ’26 Eniman Imoke, Hannah Turner, Katharine Stevens, Kate Broeksmit, and Sacha Law-Gisiko.
Fall Break on Wall Street
Imaking the outdoors more accessible to all in our community.”
Walcott stated that this year’s turnout proves how true that mission remains. “46 Peaks Weekend is one of our most physically demanding trips, but it’s also one of the most rewarding,” she said. n
— Excerpted with permission from an article in the Oct. 10, 2025, Spectator by Lillian Foley ’27
HETHER YOU PREFER “Guten Appetit,” “Buon Appetito,” or some other way of saying “Let’s Eat,” you’ll find the perfect spot to dine and converse at one of Hamilton’s language tables that happen each week in the campus dining halls. Language learners of all skill levels have the opportunity to hone their speaking expertise while building community. n
NSTEAD OF CLICKING through an online course, 50 students interested in finance spent two days in October at Hamilton’s annual Wall Street Prep Fall Break Bootcamp. The program — led this year by Mike Hacke, founder of Steel City Capital Investments — brings to campus professionals who interact with students in a classroom setting.
Many Hamilton students interested in finance major in economics and take courses designed to strengthen their quantitative reasoning, analytical thinking, and understanding of market behavior. In fact, many employers prefer liberal arts students with strong critical thinking and creativity skills. It’s programs like Wall Street Prep that bridge the gap between academic theory and professional practice. Hacke transformed a range of accounting and financial modeling concepts into a concise, skills-focused curriculum.
The first day focused on accounting principles and building the three-statement model. Students were introduced to the different components of each model, and they interacted with each other across models. The second day transitioned into an in-depth focus on financial modeling. Using Apple as a case study, students learned to forecast the three-statement model using growth assumptions before they explored the time value of money and started to build a discounted cash flow model.
Wall Street Prep, sponsored by Howard Morgan ’84, managing partner and co-founder at Argand Partners, is just one resource for students interested in building their technical skills. Some take summer finance and accounting courses at the London School of Economics, while others participate in Dartmouth’s Tuck Business Bridge Program. n
— Excerpted with permission from an article in the Oct. 26, 2025, Spectator by Alex Wagner ’28
Purposeful Messaging
TRAVELERS PASSING THROUGH the Syracuse, N.Y., airport are proving us wrong — at least about nobody wanting to read anymore. After content strategist Meg Stringer ’07 posted a photo on her LinkedIn page, Hamilton’s new wall display has been getting lots of mentions on social media. Comments range from “The best argument for a liberal arts education that I have seen in a long time” to “Bravo, Hamilton College. Put it in every airport in America.”
BIG PICTURE
Crunching the Economic Numbers
RESEARCH CONDUCTED by four Hamilton students last summer through the Levitt Center has revealed good news for the local region. In its inaugural Economic Impact Report released in November, the Griffiss Institute (GI) shows it added $15.4 million to the Mohawk Valley economy in fiscal year 2024.
This conclusion resulted from economic modeling and data analysis that measured how GI’s technology transfer, workforce development, and startup initiatives contributed to the region’s prosperity. The research was conducted by Luke Hanson ’26, Delaney Patterson ’26, Samuel Low ’28, and Ton Somnug ’27, who worked with GI President and CEO Heather Hage ’02.
Located a few miles from campus in Rome, N.Y., at the site of the former Griffiss Air Force Base, GI is a nonprofit STEM talent and technology accelerator that trains workers and promotes research and development in fields such as cybersecurity, drone technology, and quantum computing.
According to a Nov. 20, 2025, article on GI’s website, the Economic Impact Report also revealed that GI created 164 jobs in FY24 and delivered $3.2 million to scholars and professionals to live, learn, and work alongside regional industry partners in the area. For every $1 GI spent on labor, the community received $1.33 in wealth creation from its activities, 96% of which were fueled by federal sources.
“This report is about how government investments in science, research, education, and technology transfer can translate into significant social and economic outcomes for our communities. Beyond the policy and finance layers of economic analysis, it’s the people — the hundreds of interns
and scholars, entrepreneurs, academic and government scientists, and our industry partners, who bring real-world challenges to the table and work together, through the Griffiss Institute, to drive innovation forward to the benefit of our country and community,” Hage said in the article.
In addition to honing their research and technical skills, the project allowed Hamilton students to connect with the local area beyond College Hill. Their project included speaking with community members and local businesses about their sentiments regarding federal funds.
“Working on this project, I’ve gotten a greater appreciation for how much this area has gone through and how much it struggled,” Low said in an article that appeared on Hamilton’s website last summer. “This work has been a source of pride for me since we can potentially recommend to organizations something that helps uplift the area.” n
ZACK
Griffiss Institute President and CEO Heather Hage discussing economic data with Hamilton students.
Getting Enough Exercise? Don’t Bet on It
Trash or Recycling Treasure
LEGALIZED SPORTS BETTING has spread rapidly across the country, transforming a once-limited pastime into a mainstream industry. In their study “Impact of Sports Gambling on Physical Activity” (Social Science Research Network, Nov. 5, 2025), Hamilton economics professors Cody Couture, Jeffrey Cross, and Stephen Wu delved into one unexpected side effect of this trend.
Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System — a survey conducted annually by the CDC that, among other questions, asks people if they’ve exercised in the past month — the researchers compared information from states before and after they legalized online sports betting.
“Our results indicate that legalized gambling decreases the likelihood of aerobic exercise for men between 30 and 44 by roughly 2-4 percentage points, with even larger effects during the football season and for those without a college education. We find no discernible effect for women or men of other ages,” the study notes.
Why does legalization reduce the likelihood of exercise, and why does it only matter for men in the early stages of midlife? “For the former question, roughly 90% of sports bettors indicate that gambling makes them more interested in watching sports live, potentially crowding out time that they would otherwise have spent exercising,” the researchers write. “Further, there is a negative relationship between stress and exercise. As such, stress generated by related outcomes like financial health may be partially explaining the decrease in physical activity.” n
APOTATO CHIP BAG. Does it recycle?
How about a milk carton? Kids can test their knowledge by taking a fun and educational quiz on a new app launched by the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority (OHSWA). There’s helpful information for adults, too, like where to dispose of household hazardous waste or find the nearest compost site. Users can also take a quick photo of an item and get instant advice about whether it should be recycled or headed for the trash bin.
The app is the product of work completed by Hamilton students Angel Apollos ’26, Ricaldo Lewis ’26, and Mia Wrisley ’26 for their senior project in computer science. The trio partnered with Eileen Brinck, OHSWA recycling coordinator, and Alma Lowry, lecturer in environmental studies, to create the app modeled after the “Am I Recyclable” feature on OHSWA’s website.
“The search function on our website is fine, but because you need internet access to use it, it isn’t always handy. We wanted to improve on that idea,” Brinck said.
After a chance encounter with Lowry over the summer at the Clinton farmers market, Brinck learned about the possibility of collaborating with Hamilton students. She submitted her idea, and the project was selected by Apollos, Lewis, and Wrisley, who met weekly with Brinck via Zoom throughout the fall to develop prototypes before the app launched in December.
For more than a decade, the senior seminar in computer science has run like a practicum with students applying what they’ve learned in software engineering analysis, design, coding, testing, maintenance, and documentation to solve real
problems. Initially the students partnered with faculty members and campus offices, but in 2023, projects expanded to support area nonprofits as well.
A few examples include creating software for optimizing pre-health course planning; developing a stat tracker for the men’s hockey team; working with the Oneida County History Center on an app that converts image files into PDF format; and assisting the Oneida County Volunteer Ambulance Corps determine hotspots of 911 calls so they can better understand where to devote resources.
As far as the work with OHSWA goes, Brinck said, “Feedback has been really positive. People really like that when you load [the app], it reads your location so you know what resources are available right here in our area.” She plans to continue working with Hamilton students in the future on updates.
To explore the app, search AmIRecyclable-OHSWA in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. (By the way, a potato chip bag is made of mixed materials that are hard to recycle; however, a milk carton can be recycled if it’s clean and empty.)
Other Senior Projects
While many Hamilton students present the results of their senior projects during the spring semester, some departments, like Computer Science, share research in the fall. Here are a few topics tackled by members of the Class of ’26:
Ross Eagle — Does Higher Self-Compassion Predict White Americans' Greater Acknowledgement of Systemic Racism?
Clara Fu and Maddie Tolliver — Examining Mediators and Moderators of the Relationship Between ADHD and Imposter Phenomenon
Drilling to Uncover Our Roots
AJavi Garcia and Tyrone Xue — A System to Prevent Removing Watermarks from Digital Photographs
Client: Josh McKee, campus sports photographer
Bakir Husremovic, Kevin Pillsbury, and Jacqueline Reynaga — Streamlined Particle Tracking
Client: Viva Horowitz, associate professor of physics
ECONOMICS
John Hill — Energy Transition in the Developing World: Examining the Relationship Between Renewable Energy Usage and GDP Growth in Developing Economie s
Jared Maidman — Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on Rural Hospital Emergency Departments
Samantha Rainero — The Impact of Instructional Modes During the COVID-19 Pandemic on Standardized Test Scores
Kristiana Klein — Justice Alternatives for Free Will Skeptics
Amaris Martins — Training the Soul: How Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics Can Help Soldiers with Moral Blindness in the Chaos of War
Quintin Utterback — Identifying the Gamer’s Dilemma: The Limits of Justifying Virtual Immorality
Annabelle Boyd — Comparing Exposure and Response Prevention with Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing for the Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Bridget Keogh, Sydney Klepper, and Natalie Peng — The Brain’s First Glance: Neural Markers of Face and Object Processing
Cale Piedmonte-Lang — Estrogen-Mediated Sensitivity to Cocaine Does Not Occur in Puberty-Blocked Male Rats
Sophia Testa — Role of Miro1 in Cajal Retzius Cell Population and Expression of Reelin in Early Postnatal Development n
SSOCIATE PROFESSOR of Geosciences Catherine Beck’s research extends 4 million years into the past and nearly two miles into the Earth’s surface. As principal investigator for the Turkana Basin Drilling project (TARGET), she and a team of researchers from around the globe are seeking to core a sedimentary record in northern Kenya to learn more about the environmental and climatic context in which our earliest hominin ancestors evolved in eastern Africa. Continental scientific drilling can inform our understanding of how ecosystems changed over time. Beck has a grant through the Turkana Basin Institute to support pre-drilling activities. This includes the logistics of bringing a 15-ton drill rig to a remote area and planning outreach and community engagement related to issues of water access and quality within communities in the Turkana region.
“Understanding who we are and why we are the way we are as a species is one of the most existential questions we can ask as humans,” Beck said. “The samples we seek to recover through TARGET will provide valuable context for our ancestors’ evolution and will allow us to look at change through time in unprecedented ways.”
Last fall, Beck co-led a workshop on planning and implementing continental scientific drilling projects at the 30th Colloquium of African Geology in Nairobi,
where she and colleagues met a group of primarily graduate students from Kenya, Tanzania, and Cameroon. She hopes activities like this will help increase the participation of African geoscientists in large-scale drilling projects.
Beck, with TARGET co-PI Lydia Olaka (Technical University of Kenya), also collected water samples from rivers and springs around the Turkana Basin that were then analyzed in her Hamilton isotope lab, as well as in Assistant Professor of Geosciences Emily Baker’s lab. Data from the samples will be used to inform future sampling activities.
Beck has been working in the Turkana Basin since 2010, including three field
On Display in Paris
L’ARTISTE SAPHIQUE ET SA MUSE, 2024, an oil-on-linen painting by Professor of Art Katharine Kuharic, was selected for display in Art Basel Paris last fall. The annual art fair, which takes place under the iconic glass roof of the Grand Palais, is heralded as one of the world’s major contemporary art events. In this piece, Kuharic honors 17th-century French artist Rosa Bonheur. According to P·P·O·W, a contemporary art gallery in New York City that represents her work, “Forgoing realism of scale, Kuharic situates Bonheur in an imaginary space where the natural world bends to her will, underscoring the force of the painter’s spirit.” n
seasons (2016, 2022, and 2023) that involved Hamilton geoscience students and annual thesis projects and independent study projects on campus. In 2016, Mary Margaret Allen ’17 and Mary Langworthy ’17 collected data that has contributed to peer-reviewed publications both published and in preparation. In the summer of 2022, Beck, Sara Shedroff ’23, and Marcella Winget ’24 collected data and samples from the
Mary Margaret Allen ’17 and Mary Langworthy ’17 pose triumphantly at the top of an outcrop after measuring their first stratigraphic section at Kaitio in West Turkana (2016).
17-million-year- old sites of Loperot and as part of the Turkana Miocene Project funded by the National Science Foundation, for which Beck is also a co-PI. Adeera Batlay ’25 built upon their work through her involvement in Kenya in 2023.
“One of the things I love about my job is being able to engage students in research outside of the classroom,” Beck said.
“Having the opportunity to develop a major scientific drilling project like TARGET is a full-circle moment for me, as it was my own involvement in continental scientific drilling as an undergraduate that launched my fascination of unlocking the secrets and stories that sediments contain. I am excited to share this passion and enthusiasm with the next generation of scientists here at Hamilton.” n
IAN EDQUIST
Dream JOB
’29 POLLED:
BACK IN DECEMBER, we persuaded 60 members of the Class of ’29 to take a break from studying for finals and share thoughts from their first semester at Hamilton. Here’s a snapshot of what they had to say …
PHOTOS
BY
NANCY L. FORD
Josie Buller ’29
Coatesville, Pa.
HAMILTON BUCKET LIST
Washington, D.C., Program
BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING U.S. Political polarization
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICYMAKER / Librarian / Microbiologist / TRAVEL BLOGGER / Wealth Manager / Novelist / HISTORY PROFESSOR / CEO / Pharmacologist /
Photojournalist / Theoretical Physicist / PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIAL / Bakery Shop Owner / NO IDEA!
OBSOLETE BY 2029
6-7 / In-person shopping / Landlines / TAKING NOTES ON PAPER / Plastic spoons in Commons / Trump / Having multiple streaming accounts / Generative AI (I hope) / PENNIES
FEELINGS ABOUT FIRST HAMILTON SEMESTER
Biggest CHALLENGES Facing the U.S. TODAY
Political Polarization
POVERTY/WEALTH DISPARITY
Growing Authoritarianism
Climate Change Lack of Empathy
INFLATION
Most Popular Items on HAMILTON Bucket Lists
STUDY ABROAD / Get an Internship / Conduct Research with a Professor / Become a Tour Guide / Be in a Mainstage Show / BE AN ADIRONDACK ADVENTURE LEADER / Take an Art Class / WIN A NESCAC CHAMPIONSHIP
A Word that Best DESCRIBES You
Jonathan Moon ’29
Ellicott City, Md.
HAMILTON BUCKET LIST
Play in the DIII national golf championship with the team; really get to “Know Thyself” FEELINGS ABOUT FIRST SEMESTER (excitement for what’s next because this semester was full of growth)
DREAM JOB
Something that will help people discover and pursue their potential I AM…
hat and how should students learn? Are we preparing students to lead productive lives? How can we incorporate innovative pedagogies while upholding the core principles of a liberal arts education?
These are among the questions that generations of presidents and faculty members have wrestled with throughout Hamilton’s history. Their answers have shaped the curriculum, each iteration of which builds on the previous in a continuing effort to provide the most meaningful experience for students.
It’s been 25 years since the last major curricular review re-introduced the open curriculum. Underway now is an aspirational design planning session titled Open Curriculum 2.0. The initiative challenges the community to “imagine a new integrated ecosystem of curricular programs, building from our open curriculum, that exponentially increases opportunities for students to pursue their interests while participating in the full richness of the Hamilton experiences, all as part of a coherent learning journey.”
As work continues on shaping tomorrow’s Hamilton experience, here’s a look at some of the milestones in curriculum development over the past two centuries on College Hill.
CLASSICISM IS KEY
In the vision of its founders, the education of Hamilton students was to be structured and unchanging. There were no electives. Each entering class took the same courses in the same order — Latin, Greek, and a smattering of mathematics and geography. Much like the curriculum at other colleges and universities in the 1800s, the study of ancient languages was thought to inculcate valuable “faculties of the mind,” instilling in students the mental habits of order, system, and accuracy.
Among the requirements were recitations. Each day, students would be called upon randomly to recite previous class lessons. Tutors drilled students in preparation for the task of performing the necessary feats of memory before their professors, who would judge and correct them.
“It was a system that depended upon discipline and hard work, but did not necessarily instill the habits of an inquiring mind … The assumption underlying the curriculum was that there was a fixed body of truth that could best be assimilated by rote, and thus the best students were those who could effortlessly parrot their tutors, their professors, and their textbooks,” wrote Maurice Isserman, the Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History, in On the Hill: A Bicentennial History of Hamilton College
Adjustments came to Hamilton’s curriculum about once a decade in the later 19th century. In 1872, seniors were given a few elective choices, such as chemistry. Ten years later, the possibility of taking electives was extended to sophomores and juniors. In 1891, the College created an alternative path toward graduation, a “Latin-Scientific course.” Depending on the electives they took, students could graduate with the degree of B.Sc. (Bachelor of Science), B.Litt. (Bachelor of Literature), or Ph.B. (Bachelor of Philosophy). The vast majority continued to pursue the traditional Bachelor of Arts.
THE RUMBLINGS OF CHANGE
Under President Melancthon Woolsey Stryker’s watch, Hamilton adopted a semester format in 1911, abandoning the three-term structure that had been in place since the College’s founding. Two years later, the “group system” was adopted. Each year, a student’s course choices included one language, one science, and one other subject that was neither a language nor a science. There were other requirements: four years of public speaking, one year of English composition, and the completion of two majors, each consisting of three year-long courses in a department.
However, Stryker would not budge on other proposed changes to the academic program. He dismissed the recommendations of a trustee-appointed commission that called for dropping both prior knowledge of Latin as a prerequisite for admission to the Latin-Scientific course and the requirement that students pursing the A.B. should be required to take Greek. He cited these as “well-tested convictions as to what is basic and formative in education.”
Stryker’s successor, President Frederick C. Ferry, saw things differently. “The number of desirable candidates who fulfill the heavy foreign-language and scholastic requirements made by the College seems
HILL IN HISTORY
lessening with the years,” said Ferry, who in 1935 charted a committee with reviewing the curriculum. “How long a small college can fill its ranks while making so heavy foreign-language requirements and granting the degree of Bachelor of Arts only when work is done in college in Latin or Greek is a serious question.”
Although Ferry did broaden the curriculum during his tenure with the creation of art and music programs, significant changes did not come until a few years later. In a report to the Board of Trustees and faculty in 1939, President William H. Cowley called for bold changes intended to give students the responsibility of self-choice and self-discipline. Beginning in 1940, the catalogue no longer required students to complete coursework in Latin or Greek. Instead, they would have to show proficiency in a
In the College’s early days, the academic calendar consisted of three terms, each 13 weeks long. Here is an example from the 1847-48 catalogue.
language of their choice. Compulsory mathematics in the freshman year was also dropped. And for the first time since the 1890s, all graduating seniors would receive Bachelor of Arts degrees.
Hamilton had offered 117 courses prior to World War II and 140 thereafter. Anthropology and psychology were added, and some courses once labeled “history” now had a focus on “political science.” Yet despite these incremental changes, the College faced pressure to take a deeper look at its curriculum.
On Oct. 10, 1944, Dexter North, Class of 1913, wrote the following to Daniel Burke, chairman of the Hamilton Board of Trustees, on behalf of the Washington, D.C., Alumni Association: “We recognize the merit of the Hamilton educational program … Nevertheless, we who know from
experience that life is a jealous and difficult task maker believe that the Hamilton preparation for it is no longer adequate. We do not mean to suggest that Hamilton should include technical or vocational skills in its curriculum. These have little or no place in a liberal arts college. We mean rather that literacy as to the structure of society, the basic relationships between the different sectors of knowledge, man’s artistic achievements down through the ages, the panorama of science, even the sure grasp which comes from evolving a working philosophy or a vital religion are among the many attributes of an educated man that Hamilton still leaves to chance electives or extracurricular discussion. We feel that the present program fails to integrate them to its requirements for all her graduates.”
A BALANCED CURRICULUM:
“THE
HAMILTON PLAN”
In 1947, a faculty committee released its report three years in the making. “The Hamilton Plan” called for students to participate more actively in the educational process. Committee members asked the faculty to espouse the notion that liberal education is not simply the possession of information. “No group of facts, no area of
knowledge is literally indispensable to a man of enlightened understanding and liberal attitudes,” the report stated. “We must require not the bringing of a certain content of learning into the student’s mind, but the use of certain intellectual experiences to achieve the proper end of liberal education.”
The committee believed that graduates should have a superior command of their own language, both written and
spoken; working knowledge of a language not their own; an understanding of the nature of reasoning; the inductive and deductive methods of science; the ability to enjoy and understand certain manifestations of the human spirit as revealed in the creative arts; and an understanding of the intellectual bases of ethical judgments. Achievement of these goals would lead students to “self-evaluation” and “self-realization” — qualities most likely to result from small seminars fostering freedom of discussion and considerable individual writing.
Instead of dividing the curriculum into divisions, the faculty voted to make a change that marked a departure from many colleges and universities of the time. As though defying pressures toward specialization, the faculty insisted that scientists teach philosophy and mathematicians aesthetics, that courses in literature may also train a student in the nature of the world in which he lives, and that courses in music may teach psychology and religion as well as acoustics and cadence.
The committee proposed a more structured process for the dean to review each student’s progress, allowing some flexibility during the senior year to undertake a program of fairly distinctive work. Also available would be “guided electives.”
Changes came into effect with the Class of 1954. Four years’ work in public speaking remained; however, participation in such activities as intercollegiate debate, a theatre production, or other types of expression could be substituted for traditional courses. Introduced was one major, or a major and allied minors, instead of two majors, which brought more depth and sequence to the student’s concentration.
In spring of 1959, further changes were introduced “to increase the amount of independent work each student does” and to provide for “more intensity in the field of concentration,” according to Dean Winton
Two presidents who proposed major changes to Hamilton’s curriculum: William H. Cowley, 1938-44 (left), and Frederick C. Ferry, 1917-38.
Tolles, Class of 1928, chairman of the Committee on Studies. Among them were required preparatory independent work leading up to the senior year as well as for seniors to pass a comprehensive exam in the department of their concentration.
THE IMPACT OF KIRKLAND
When Kirkland College opened its doors in 1968, it introduced more than women to the educational experience on College Hill. With its relatively few requirements, discussion-driven seminars, evaluations in place of traditional letter grades, and emphasis on self-guided projects, Kirkland was defined by innovation.
Kirkland President Samuel Babbitt described the College’s curriculum as centered on developing independent thought and imagination. He contrasted this with education that merely passes down received wisdom. “We are dedicated to the liberal arts, and we take that to mean the arts which enable, which liberate the individual to act out [their] potential,” Babbitt wrote in the 1968-69 Kirkland Catalogue. “Therefore, we dedicate ourselves to the development of individual capability.”
Kirkland’s approach, coupled with social change sweeping the country, soon prompted Hamilton to once again examine its educational program. The Committee on Academic Policy began a thorough review of the curriculum in late 1967. Faculty, students, and alumni were surveyed. Catalogues and reports of committees of educational policy from other colleges and universities were gathered, and visits were made to liberal arts institutions that had recently completed revisions of their own.
The committee debated the nature of distribution requirements. All agreed they served as a way to introduce students to subjects if not ultimately to their liking, at least to an appreciation of their merits. Yet, in the final analysis, the faculty maintained
HILL IN HISTORY
that students who achieved skills in language, in composition, and in science did not do so because these subjects had been prescribed. Rather it seemed that their importance stemmed from a necessary role in the whole pattern of the student’s education. In sum, the distribution role of prescribed courses could better be fulfilled if they were chosen by the student in an effort at conscious self-relation to his own goals and needs.
Taking effect in fall of 1969, a new curriculum removed distribution requirements
and made Hamilton’s curriculum mesh more easily with Kirkland’s. The public speaking requirement, reduced from four to two years in 1965, was eliminated. Saturday morning classes were abolished, and course load was reduced from five to four a semester, with the addition of Winter Study in January. In this more flexible curriculum, the role of an advisor, who would offer “rational guidance” while being an “objective counselor,” became key. The College established a 20-man board of advisers to supervise the process.
Who needed chairs? Students working collaboratively in a Kirkland College classroom in 1972.
“The new curriculum … is centered in the student. It is built to serve and to draw out the diversity of interests and aptitude which he brings with him to the College,” said Professor of History Charles Adler, chair of the Committee on Academic Policy. “Beyond that it requires the student to take a consciously reasoned approach to his education and provides him with guidance sufficient to that end.”
In Winter Study, students spent the month of January engaged in such projects as working for the Connecticut Public Expenditure Council to redraw district lines after a census, reading the works of E.M. Forster with Professor of English George Bahlke, and studying botanical illustration in Australia. Free of all competing academic obligations, students found not only a change of pace, but also an opportunity for independent work.
WHAT GOES AROUND …
In the spring of 1986, the faculty voted to eliminate Winter Term and return to a calendar with two 14-week semesters. At the same time, they instituted a Senior Project requirement for all graduating seniors. The reasons for these changes were linked, according to Dean of the College Mel Endy, who told The Spectator that the faculty saw more value in investing resources in a senior project that “can provide motivation for the students and a chance for them to publicize their skills.”
“Like the 18th-century rationalist, the student in our time wants to learn in order to do; he believes in the essential relevance of liberal learning to the practical world and in this belief is as likely to study Swahili as Latin, or the politics of underdeveloped nations as the politics of Aristotle.”
Professor of History
CHARLES ADLER Chair of the Committee on
Academic Policy (1967)
In a back-to-basics approach, the faculty reiterated its commitment to breadth of coursework by reinstating distribution requirements. Beginning with the Class of ’92, students had to earn a minimum of two course credits in four different areas: social sciences, natural sciences and mathematics, humanities, and the arts. In addition, they were charged with acquiring knowledge of other peoples and cultures through coursework or study abroad. Also introduced was the requirement to take a minimum of three “writing-intensive” courses offered throughout the curriculum.
While in some ways Hamilton’s curriculum seemed to revert to the former distribution requirement era, an area of expansion came with the blurring and merging of academic areas of study into interdisciplinary offerings. For example, women’s studies became a concentration in 1984, and biochemistry/molecular biology made its appearance in 1986. In 1993, Hamilton began offering a concentration in Africana studies, and planning was underway for a program in environmental studies.
LIBERAL ARTS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
The most recent major changes to Hamilton’s curriculum came during the presidency of Eugene M. Tobin. A liberal arts education, he believed, should help students find deep connections among ideas, knowledge, and experience. And because
STARTING FULLY WITH THE Class of 1973 , HAMILTON GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS INCLUDED: 1
Two years of satisfactory attendance in physical education
students would likely change careers multiple times throughout their lifetimes, a focused major was less essential than the ability to reason, communicate effectively, and amass a deep well of general knowledge. Also of increasing importance were opportunities for students to engage in the world through study abroad, service learning, and community internships.
In the Spring 2000 Hamilton Alumni Review, Tobin outlined a new curriculum, known as the “Plan for Liberal Education,” that would take effect with the Class of 2005. Unique to this plan were two capstone requirements — one at the end of the general education sequence (the Sophomore Program) and one at the conclusion of the concentration (the Senior Program) — that would serve as integrating and culminating experiences for students at decisive points in their undergraduate careers.
Also called the “gateway,” the Sophomore Program took the form of a required seminar that emphasized interdisciplinary learning and culminated in a project with public presentation. Gone again were distribution requirements in favor of a strengthened advising system and the creation of “limited enrollment seminars,” small, rigorous first-year courses that offered intensive interaction among and between students and instructors by emphasizing writing, speaking, and discussion. The three-course “writing-intensive” requirement remained in effect.
Many aspects of the new curriculum — a commitment to effective communication, opportunities for collaborative learning and research, the freedom and responsibility for students to chart an individualized course of study — remain key components of today’s Hamilton experience. However, after the 2005-06 academic year, the faculty voted to make the Sophomore Program optional. Logistical considerations arose as the number of incoming students increased,
HILL IN HISTORY
“The core curriculum of the past was in some ways safe. A riskier approach was adopted by Hamilton’s faculty in 2000 and has borne fruit. The new curriculum reflects the College’s academic values and is a shining example of a liberal arts education that is at once challenging and flexible.”
President JOAN HINDE STEWART in the Fall 2005 Hamilton Alumni Review
making it difficult to offer enough seminar-style courses.
“The Sophomore Seminars were intended to provide a place where some of the connections among general education experiences could be made,” Professor of Music and chair of the Committee on Academic Planning Sam Pellman told The Spectator in its Oct. 27, 2006, edition. “However, we’ve learned from the Mellon Assessment Project, which evaluated the curriculum through interviews with
students for instance, that for many students, their general education continues to be just as important for them through the junior and senior years as well.”
MOVING FORWARD
In the past quarter century, the open curriculum has become a defining part of the College’s culture. Hamilton remains one of a handful of colleges and universities with no distribution requirements, and the majority of students say that’s a primary reason why they chose to enroll. The open curriculum attracts students who are curious, open, and exploratory, while giving faculty more flexibility to teach original courses that match students’ passions and interests.
So, what would a Hamilton Open Curriculum 2.0 look like? While that remains to be determined, one thing is certain — a collaborative learning environment will be at its core. At a planning session this fall, President Steven Tepper said, “An open curriculum on the one hand can seem very individualized, but what if that meets the connected learner or the connected college? Can we leverage our small, residential, intimate community to maximize collaborative learning and discoveries? When you learn with others, your learning is enhanced; it’s accelerated. Your better and broader perspectives generate more creative solutions. You integrate and connect ideas. You learn how to work with others to advance ideas.
“Let’s think about how much more powerful we could be.” n
Material for this article was sourced from On the Hill: A Bicentennial History of Hamilton College by Maurice Isserman and past editions of the Hamilton Alumni Review, The Spectator, and College catalogues.
Aspirational Design
A journey from “What If?” to “what’s next?”
BY JOE SHELLEY, vice president
for innovation and information services, and
SLISA M c FALL, director
of digital initiatives, scholarship, and collaboration
TRATEGIC PLANNING at colleges and universities often seems to follow a typical formula:
Hamilton is already one of the most vibrant liberal arts learning communities anywhere, teeming with ideas, passion, and creativity. Turning to our Hamilton community and asking ‘What If’ is, by design, aspirational.
We form committees and subcommittees, with selected representatives from key stakeholder groups (primarily faculty and staff, with the inclusion of some students and board members). Frequent meetings occur focused on identifying strategies for known problems and solutions. We tend to consider what is possible given existing conditions, while focusing on getting better, bigger, and stronger. We gather feedback and ideas on strategies constructed by the committee members, using mechanisms such as surveys and town halls.
This process tends to be most effective in satisfying existing ambitions of groups and helping the institution choose from among those ambitions, following along a path that had been pre-defined in a familiar landscape.
But what happens when we are faced with unknown problems and an uncertain future? What happens when the world around us is in a state of seemingly
constant disruption? How do we design solutions for a future that hasn’t been invented yet — and how do we best prepare students for that future?
When President Steven Tepper gave his inaugural address in September 2024, he asked the Hamilton community a simple question: “What If?”
This prompt is a simple and powerful provocation. “What If” opens the door to imagination and possibilities. Hamilton is already one of the most vibrant liberal arts learning communities anywhere, teeming with ideas, passion, and creativity. Turning to our Hamilton community and asking “What If” is, by design, aspirational.
Hundreds of people engaged in the “What If” Initiative, submitting more than 300 ideas. This engagement demonstrated that our community not only has ambition, but is eager to collaborate through their creative energy to explore new ideas for Hamilton’s future. Seed funding was provided for a wide range of “What If” ideas to develop pilots. Examples include:
NANCY L. FORD
• What if Hamilton built a public writing program to address urgent social challenges?
• What if Hamilton develops a new colloquium on art, technology, and society?
• What if Hamilton trained the next generation of leaders in healthcare through interdisciplinary academics, experiential learning, and professional development?
Other ideas focused on developing programs for world languages, student-driven entrepreneurship, co-op learning for public facing art, a campus nano-brewery as a learning lab (the beer is a bonus), and more. These ideas were not only the beginning of Hamilton exploring what we can aspire to be, it was also the start of a new approach to developing College strategy: leveraging our collective ideas and aspirations with our centuries-old commitment to the liberal arts. Because embedded in the “What If” question, and the initiative itself, was an even bigger question: What if there is a different way to imagine the future of Hamilton College … together? And what if we used the principles of design thinking to do it, breaking free of the typical strategic planning mold to do something that no college has done before?
In a letter to the Hamilton community last spring, President Tepper said, “This is also a time for Hamilton to lead. The world needs more from us and ‘aspirational design’ is the process we will use to determine our future vision and direction. We are designing the institution intentionally to match our aspirations. Aspirational design is transformative, not because it necessarily moves the college in a different direction, but because it embraces what is possible when you design from your core strengths and values.”
VIEW
We started by organizing ourselves around ideas, rather than around representative stakeholder groups. It was through the groundwork laid in the “What If” Initiative, and conversations with hundreds of alumni, students, faculty, and staff, that six themes for aspirational design emerged:
ASPIRATIONAL DESIGN THEMES
Open Curriculum 2.0. Design a learning environment that maximizes creativity, exchange, communication, and connection.
Democracy & Imagination. Consider how Hamilton might serve as a blueprint for liberal arts colleges determined to preserve, revitalize, and renew our democracy.
Creative Campus & “What If.” Embed creativity within the DNA of Hamilton to fuel extraordinary ideas.
Hamilton 360. Build a lifelong living and learning experience for Hamilton students that dramatically improves opportunities for lives of meaning, purpose, and active citizenship.
Practicing the Liberal Arts. Reimagine experiential and community-based learning at Hamilton to differentiate the student experience and demonstrate the value and impact of liberal arts colleges for the public.
Innovation, Technology & Authentic Intelligence. Create a future where Hamilton students and faculty, through innovation, draw on the mix of technology and authentic intelligence to develop, test, and advance new ideas on campus and in the world beyond.
NANCY L. FORD
NANCY L. FORD
We grounded our design work on practices taught by Stanford’s d.School, adapting them for our liberal arts context. While design thinking, which is driven by focusing on identifying the needs of the individual for whom you’re solving, has long been a popular approach to creative work and product design, it is not a technique that has been deployed for college strategic planning. Design thinking grounds us in a deep empathy for the people we aim to serve instead of organizing our process around our own pre-existing ideas of where we’re going.
Hamilton’s aspirational design process started last summer with volunteer faculty and staff conducting “empathy interviews” with our community members. These conversations engaged people about their lived experiences — hopes, fears, and dreams — around each of our six themes. We estimate that we engaged about 500 people in this empathy work, corresponding with faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and prospective students, with the bulk of these interviews occurring with current Hamilton students.
This empathy work helped us understand the needs and challenges facing both our college and the world more broadly.
Throughout the fall, we held design workshops called “charrettes.” Should you find yourself on campus, you’ll probably notice that the word “charrette” has become shorthand for strategic planning that deploys design thinking. All members of our community were invited to join different styles of charrettes: two-day charrettes on each theme; shorter evening workshops to better fit student and faculty schedules; focused events for alumni in person and on Zoom; and synthesis charrettes to begin the work of discovering the commonalities across the designed outcomes from all of the other charrettes. These events engaged students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents, with each charrette generating hundreds of ideas.
In our two-day charrettes, teams were able to rapidly build prototypes ranging from brochures for potential programs, to simulated advising experiences, to course descriptions (and more), and then tested
these with students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Teams fanned out around campus (and on Zoom) to test the prototype strategies with our community and gauge their reactions, using this feedback to refine ideas.
Although we finished our charrettes just before Thanksgiving, our work is not yet done. We are currently compiling the top ideas that have emerged, with the plan to share these back with our community for additional feedback. The ideas found to be most inspiring and differentiating for the College will then be shaped into the final form. While this outcome may eventually be called a strategic plan, the path to developing it has been anything but traditional.
As we are all eagerly waiting to see the final ideas for Hamilton’s future strategy that will be shared this spring, there’s one aspiration for Hamilton that’s already coming into focus. Somewhere along the way, between the “What If” Initiative, empathy work, our charrettes, and taking the time to truly talk to each other, we started to become a college that designs our future together. We are learning to share prototypes of ideas, test them, fail quickly, and do it again. Scores of our faculty, staff, and students now have robust experience in design thinking and are deploying their knowledge across campus in ways that they never have before. Even though Hamilton’s strategic plan isn’t done yet, we are already becoming a college that has integrated design as a core institutional capability.
In facing these uncertain times, a quote comes to mind. Often attributed (wrongly) to Abraham Lincoln, but first published by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dennis Gabor, the quote is: “The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented.” n
Scan to read more about Hamilton’s six aspirational design themes.
Joe Shelley, vice president for innovation and information services, leads a charrette on campus last fall.
No one wants to be the only guy out there resisting; you need company. It’s dangerous to be all by yourself.
Lucan Ahmad Way, Distinguished Professor of Democracy at the University of Toronto, in his Constitution Day lecture in the Chapel on Sept. 11. He underscored how political leaders have backed away from challenging the “authoritarian” regime, effectively abdicating their duties.
You
come into your fullest power as an artist when you can bring all of yourself to the work ...
I’m
pulling from every song and every influence I ever loved.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the musical Hamilton, speaking on College Hill on Sept. 29 as part of the Sacerdote Great Names series
People are starting to realize that climate change will negatively influence their lives and livelihoods; it’s no longer a distant problem that will mostly affect polar bears.
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Aaron Strong discussing a class assignment where students interview four people they don’t know about climate issues in “What we learned by talking to 700 strangers about climate change” (Post-Standard, Syracuse, N.Y., Sept. 9)
college
Women’s Basketball
Coach Mahogany Green addressing high school and
students at a leadership workshop in her hometown of Toledo, Ohio, on Sept. 30
The Opening Act
Lin-Manuel Miranda visited College Hill on Sept. 29 as part of the Sacerdote Great Names series, and thousands filled the Margaret Bundy Scott Field House to be in the room where it happened.
But before the creator, composer, and original star of the musical Hamilton took the stage, four students and alumni had the perfect welcome. Alejandro Sosa Hernández ’26, Kelvin Nuñez ’24, Isa Cardoso ’25, and Benjamin White ’26 (accompanied by the College Choir) surprised the crowd — and Miranda — with a rousing rap remix of “My Shot.”
Scan to watch the performance and read Sosa Hernández’ story about how he took his shot!
OUR SHOT
Lyrics by Alejandro Sosa Hernández ’26 and Kelvin Nuñez ’24
A remix of “My Shot” from the musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda
[INTRODUCTION/CHORUS]
I am not throwing away my shot!
I am not throwing away my shot!
Ayo, I’m just like my country
I’m young, scrappy, and hungry
And I am not throwing away my shot!
[VERSE ONE]
(Nuñez)
Let us get a hand here to acknowledge We’re gonna brag cuz he chose Hamilton College
A living legend with a lotta skills, a true artist
He had to holler just to be heard with every word, he starts shaking
Up the world with In the Heights, his very first musical
Plays the leading role, a brand-new story never told before
(White)
Only 19 but his pen was bolder
Them New York City streets ain’t raise a pushover
Every burden, every disadvantage
Tried to do him damage
But he’s not gonna vanish
He’s Lin-Manuel, dammit
His plan was to fan that spark into a flame
Everybody make noise, our 27th Great Name!
He is the…
L-I-N-M-A-N-U-E-L, retell his story
(Sosa Hernández)
History, began with a speak easy
Obama heard it, saw the truth there instantly
Essentially, it grew exponentially
Into the biggest musical of this century
Everybody and they momma grooved to the beat
To Alexander, to an immigrant’s legacy
NANCY L. FORD
Firing up the crowd with their remix “My Shot” (from left): Benjamin White ’26, Kelvin Nuñez ’24, Isa Cardoso ’25, and Alejandro Sosa Hernández ’26.
(Cardoso)
Enter me
He says in parentheses
Don’t you balk at the lines winding down the street
A Pulitzer, five Grammys, three Tonys
Already we’ve seen his ascendancy
[CHORUS]
[VERSE TWO]
(Nuñez)
Now he’s a star everybody knows
Once these guys heard all the tunes that he composed
They said, “Yo, could you spare me a ticket?”
No can do, sold out in only minutes!
So go take a shot!
(White)
There was a man who would teach him
Last name Sondheim, first name was Stephen
When he saw what Lin was writing, he started to laugh
So he shared his drafts, took time to better his craft
How he took his shot!
(Sosa Hernández)
Thinkin’ of lyrics behind a screen, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” he wrote while in quarantine
All of you, all of me
Wait ‘til at the surface all the pressure
Makes a massive hit beyond measure
That was a perfect shot!
(Cardoso)
Amigos, look at us on this stage
Not supporting
But leading
And singing our hearts away
Made possible by who we welcome here today
Paved the way for salsa on the Broadway He helped us aim our shots!
(White)
Cuz there were no open doors
Except for the funny, bubbly friend, or minor roles
(Sosa Hernández)
But, with the cast that he starred in the past
We see everybody deserves a shot that could last
(Cardoso)
How ‘bout we ask ‘bout his blast, made his way to the top
Tough as nails, hot as iron, always straighten the spot
(Nuñez)
The son of immigrants didn’t listen to the doubts of dissidents
Nueva York, Puerto Rican legend activist for this
Oh, are we talking too loud?
(Cardoso)
I think we got overexcited, cause Lin is about
(Sosa Hernández)
to make his entrance on the Hill, and we just want to make him proud
(All)
‘Cause we got this guy in front of a crowd!
[CHORUS]
[TRANSITION]
Everybody sing
Woah, woah, woah (Ayy)
Woah (Woo)
Woah (Say, let ‘em hear ya)
Yeah (Let’s go)
Woah, woah, woah (I said, shout it to the rooftops)
Woah (Said, to the rooftops)
Woah (A-come on)
Yeah (Come on, let’s go)
Rise up
When you’re livin’ on your knees, you rise up
Tell your brother that he’s gotta rise up
Tell your sister that she’s gotta rise up
Let me see you, let me see you rise up
Let me see you, let me see you rise up
Let me see you, let me see you rise up
Let me see you, let me see you rise up
Rise up!
And I am…
[CHORUS]
We’re gonna rise up, time to take a shot (Not throwin’ away my shot)
We’re gonna rise up, time to take a shot
(Not throwin’ away my shot)
We’re gonna
(Rise up, rise up) It’s time to take a shot (Rise up, rise up) It’s time to take a shot (Rise up) (Woah, woah, woah) It’s time to take a shot
(Rise up) Take a shot, shot, shot (Ri—, ri—, ri—)
(Woah, woah, woah, woah)
Ay, yo, it’s time to take a shot, time to take a shot
And I am not throwin’ away my
Not throwin’ away my shot •
You are General George Washington, presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. You live in the 18th century and shall speak, think, and reason as such. Govern yourself by the following principles:
—–> Speak with formality and gravity befitting a statesman and commander.
> When engaged in disagreement, respond with reasoned judgment. Present arguments firmly, but with respect for your interlocutor. Where fitting, invoke duty, virtue, and the legacy owed to posterity. Do not capitulate easily, nor dismiss opposing views without fair hearing.
> Uphold the principles of federalism, checks and balances, and the necessity of national unity.
> Where possible, draw from your letters, addresses, or deliberations.
> Speak often of civic virtue, honor, sacrifice, and the solemnity of the moment. You believe in the survival of the Union above all factional interests,
Remember, you are the embodiment of temperance, honor, and resolution. Let your words carry the solemn weight of a man tasked with safeguarding the future of a fragile republic.
What preceded is just a portion of the charge for the student assigned to create a chatbot persona for George Washington. Similar customized recommendations are available for other Founding Fathers who then “engage” with one another in conversation and debate. The exercise takes place in Common Ground: A Laboratory for Civil Discourse, a course taught by Ty Seidule, the David H. and Ann L. Hinchcliff Professor of History and director of Hamilton’s Common Ground program.
Now in its eighth year, Common Ground explores political thought and social issues by bringing leaders to campus to engage with students in discussion. Up until now, these leaders were exclusively living ones. But thanks to generative AI, and in collaboration with Library and Information Technology Services, students can participate in live debate with such luminaries as Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin, albeit in chatbot form.
Students in the class take part in two six-week debate-style games on separate teams: patriots versus loyalists and federal power versus states’ rights. They read the works of political philosophers such as Paine, Locke, and Montesquieu, and even dress in colonial outfits. Students take on the role of real characters from history, like James Madison and George Washington, and subsequently create chatbots by feeding AI models with primary and secondary source material read and discussed throughout the course.
“I read the Federalist Papers and put them into a chatbot for my character, James Madison,” Anabelle Krawitz ’28 said. “It showed me how people can have the chatbot be predisposed to certain types of information based on what we give it, including information about the characters they debated.”
The capstone of the class was pitting the chatbots for Franklin and Hamilton directly against each other. The Hamilton
team leaned into demonstrating the power of the federal government. But the Franklin team knew that they could rile Hamilton up, so they fed the chatbot documents about affairs and embezzlement.
“By using technology, we got to the humanity of these two people,” Seidule said. “Students had a blast preparing their respective chatbots, listening to the arguments, and figuring out why they happened. As a historian, I want civil discourse. I want students playing other roles, learning to argue and compete. That’s how we learn social intelligence. The idea of a liberal arts education is not to foolproof students for the technology itself; it’s to prepare them to think clearly, write effectively, work with other humans, and navigate change.”
Carolyn Cotta ’28 agreed. “It was my favorite class I’ve taken at Hamilton,” she said. “People got to interact with the material rather than just studying it. It taught me a lot of skills beyond the classroom. It helped me understand the human element of history. History is very different when you step into the worldview of people who don’t think the same way as you do.”
Asking Great Questions
College Hill has long been a place where diverse academic viewpoints have been expressed and debated, and the topic of generative artificial intelligence proves to be no exception. Around the world, higher educators are grappling with challenges posed by AI tools, like the Large Language Model (LLM) ChatGPT, that can churn out a history essay or physics diagram with just a few sentences of input. But for faculty and students at Hamilton, AI does not need to be a threat to the liberal arts education. In fact, it makes an even better case for that very education.
President Steven Tepper sees a liberal arts education as vital to developing digital
“ The idea of a liberal arts education is not to foolproof students for the technology itself; it’s to prepare them to think clearly, write effectively, work with other humans, and navigate change.”
— TY SEIDULE
from machines: elements like discernment, judgment, ethics, and aesthetics.
“A liberal arts approach is about asking great questions, seeing what activates the human imagination and spirit — how do we discern in a world of so much information and possibility, how do you prioritize, how do you ask the right question, and not just solve problems but identify problems. That takes acts of human imagination,” he said. “AI can help connect dots faster, but how can we see new constellations and formations of dots? And a liberal arts education builds the ethical foundation that makes sure the human project is intertwined with this technological revolution.”
fluency and preparing students for this new age.
“We’re entering the fourth industrial revolution, one that is defined by ubiquitous computing,” Tepper said. “But we can’t just use it as a mindless pathway for maximum efficiency. The liberal arts are not about shortcuts; they’re about long takes. We are about purpose, community, and trust. So, how can we use technology at Hamilton to drive more collaborative and connected learning rather than isolated and frictionless learning? Not every college or university is asking that question. Our charge is not just about acquiring and transferring knowledge, it’s about generating purpose and meaning together.”
John Werner ’92, a venture capitalist and senior fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sees Hamilton’s superpower as its ability to teach students to see the big picture across boundaries, connecting technology with humanity, ethics, and imagination.
“A lot of the future will be smart people managing fleets of AIs,” Werner said. “Some people will be the bridge from the economy of before to the economy of the future. Superintelligence is around the corner, which will solve most problems in science, medicine, and mathematics.
Tepper describes authentic intelligence as the differentiator that sets humans apart
“We’re in an era where AI can interact across networks, and software works alongside humans to achieve shared goals. AI will magnify human potential, but also inequality and misinformation if not thoroughly guided. Liberal arts students can play a role harnessing AI for creativity and human values. Hamilton
should position students as leaders for the unknown,” he added.
Werner recommends the integration of AI into course curriculums and for students and faculty to leverage tools like Google’s NotebookLM, which can turn a research paper into a podcast that a listener can actively engage with through interactive dialogue. He also noted the importance of team sports to learning, echoing Seidule’s belief that the Hamilton liberal arts education goes beyond the classroom.
“Hamilton is a residential college and students form social groups,” Seidule said. “The classroom is a team. Over the course of the semester, students have four bosses in different classrooms, coaches, parents, and jobs. Living in a dorm, they negotiate with other human beings that they didn’t know before. Residential liberal arts colleges prepare you for life in ways that others don’t. The teaching and coaching staff are engaged with student development.”
The Biological Foundations of AI
Hamilton faculty and staff played a large role in the academic development of Drew Linsley ’08, an assistant research professor of computational neuroscience and artificial intelligence at Brown University. He credits the late Jonathan Vaughan, a professor of psychology at Hamilton, as a key influence on his journey into computing. Vaughan focused on cognitive neuroscience, and Linsley fell in love with the study of biological intelligence, which forms the conceptual basis of the neural networks that power AI tools like ChatGPT.
“ What was so exciting for me is that a deep learning model is structured similar to a human brain’s visual systems. It could be trained to recognize images, reason about the world, and with those capabilities, AI transformed from sci-fi to a real and disruptive technology.”
— DREW LINSLEY ’08
neuroscience, you need to derive some principles of intelligence,” Linsley said. “It happens that artificial intelligence is a great way to do that. A lot of my work is about how we visually reason about the world — what are the algorithms that our brain uses to understand the world, how is that implemented in brains.”
Linsley earned his Ph.D. in 2011, around the time that a breakthrough occurred in computer science in the form of deep learning, a new approach to neural networks, which had existed conceptually since the early days of computing in the 1940s but lacked the amount of data and computing power to be implemented. That changed with the advent of the internet and powerful new computer chips known as graphics processing units.
“What was so exciting for me is that a deep learning model is structured similar to a human brain’s visual systems,” he continued. “It could be trained to recognize images, reason about the world, and with those capabilities, AI transformed from sci-fi to a real and disruptive technology. The second breakthrough was that you could take these models and train them into the chatbots that we rely on daily with a further technique that is similar to the operant conditioning model developed by B.F. Skinner, who attended Hamilton College.”
“The brain is the most complex organ there is, billions of neurons connected through trillions of synapses, and even though there’s been progress in
Linsley notes that many businesses are not ready for artificial intelligence and how it will change their economics and structure.
Although he sees younger generations as more fluent in AI than those that came before, he emphasizes that may not be enough to succeed.
“Disruption is not in one business area, it’s potentially all areas at once,” Linsley added. “Going back to my own experiences, Hamilton helped me with preparing for that by being broadly capable so I could follow my own interest. If you asked me why I’m doing what I’m doing, it’s because I wanted to learn
how intelligence works. I’ve been obsessed ever since those classes with Professor Vaughan. Students should have a broad skillset and understand where the future is going, then follow what really interests them.”
AI as a Thought Partner
That intellectual pursuit continues beyond College Hill. Zach Kleinbaum ’19, senior machine learning delivery manager at Snorkel AI and previously generative AI strategist at Deloitte Consulting, graduated just a few years before ChatGPT’s release and has seen firsthand the transition as AI becomes more prevalent and valuable in day-to-day business.
“The biggest change is the ready availability of AI,” Kleinbaum said. “I use it as a thought partner. Back in the day, a lot of time would be spent on the hated blankpage problem. Like a paper or presentation, it was hard to start an outline and formulate ideas. AI helps me most with formulating a narrative or idea before I dive in and make it a final product. It helps dump ideas on the page and aggregate them into documents and presentations, as well as automate workflows by connecting all my applications and tools to combine new insights.”
Hamilton faculty are also leveraging AI as a thought partner to improve their teaching. Mireille Koukjian, associate professor of instruction in Arabic, uses AI to help adapt exercises for reading passages and vocabulary drills, and to create lesson plans or PowerPoint presentations for classes.
“This is work that used to take me hours to do,” Koukjian said. “I check it for accuracy, and the human element is still there and not going away, but the speed with which I can do work is different now. I also studied prompt engineering, an important part of AI. Having ChatGPT without knowing how to use it is like having a piano in your living room and not knowing how to play it.”
Learning thoughtful prompting can be a way of teaching students about language. In Koukjian’s Arabic classes, students create stories in Arabic and used AI to generate illustrations. They learn to think carefully about how to describe a scene clearly with the cultural nuances that shape imagery. She emphasizes the importance of setting clear boundaries and acceptable use policies for students in her classes. For example, they are not allowed to use AI to write a paper. She advocates that students have the confidence to question the outputs from AI and recognize their pitfalls.
“I encourage students to read AI-generated material the way they would read any meaningful text to see that cultural nuance can be absent — to see whose voice is being amplified or erased,” Koukjian added. “Let’s say we give AI a translation to do, and it mistranslates an Arabic proverb or poetic line. It’s not a failure; it’s an opening for students that shows that language holds more than information: rhythm, identity, shared memories of a community. Students need to use AI not as a shortcut, but as a collaborator that will enhance their awareness of what languages do. AI becomes a mirror and reflects how humans make meaning and how we still need human creativity to fill pages.”
Anna Huff, assistant professor of digital arts, worked with students to develop a chatbot using the precursor to ChatGPT that behaved like a 4-year-old child, and assessed its creativity.
“I had this question of how an AI learning language might be similar to a child,” Huff said. “I’m a performance artist, not a computer science professor, and I wondered what it would be like to train a model on my own child’s language, then perform the character live. My colleague and I wrote down over 200 lines from our kids, which became our data set. The ways you can push large language models to the poetic and uncanny, that is what interests me as an artist. I
“ I encourage students to read AI-generated material the way they would read any meaningful text to see that cultural nuance can be absent — to see whose voice is being amplified or erased.”
— MIREILLE KOUKJIAN
“ We want to show students that these tools can help to a certain point. We can’t pretend AI doesn’t exist and that our students aren’t going to use it.”
— NATALIE NANNAS
ran an AI theatre course in support of the project about how to create a performance algorithmically; similar to an algorithm, theater is a set of rules that we create that lead to performance and creativity.”
Huff emphasizes the importance of the human-in-the-loop. When AI chatbots talk to each other, she sees them spiral into an unrelatable, boring, and inane conversation. Bringing a person into the conversation is what makes it interesting.
“What will become valuable in art is not how many AI buttons you can press, but how you can bring a human back into the loop,” she said. “Humans have a body. I think AI will reinsert the value of the tactile and embody it into the digital art space.”
The Limitations of AI
Concerns about AI-driven plagiarism led some faculty to lean into in-class exercises and oral presentations, with positive results. Koukjian and Seidule’s courses are speaking-intensive, while Natalie Nannas, associate dean of faculty and associate professor of biology, also focuses on areas that AIs can’t be trained on — like the potential appearance of an alien biological species.
“We want to show students that these tools can help to a certain point,” Nannas said. “We can’t pretend AI doesn’t exist and that our students aren’t going to use it. I made a recent change in my advanced genetics class to say ‘Here’s what I think you can do with AI for your next lab report: it can help you find literature and describe it, but AI is not a substitute for you to understand it and how to apply it to novel situations.’ I want [my students] to explore and be responsible for the accuracy of their reports, and it allows an open discussion of what they’re getting from AI tools and to take ownership of what they present.”
Nannas uses AI in her own genetics research. She sees the technology as a game changer in DNA sequencing and comparison among species, which rely on understanding the amino acid building blocks that make up proteins. She mentions Deepmind’s AlphaFold as a powerful tool to accurately predict the three-dimensional shape of proteins from those amino acids, allowing her to find the plant equivalent of a human gene much faster than before.
Tom Helmuth ’09, the Sacerdote Family Distinguished Associate Professor of Computer Science, sees AI as a tool to help students write and debug code, but emphasizes that humans remain necessary to computer science. He believes AI can outperform humans on all tasks is not imminent.
“From a technical perspective, there are a few key issues that I don’t know if we’re going to solve in a way that would create artificial general intelligence anytime soon,” Helmuth said. “The main issue is training data. The companies that have been training these LLMs like ChatGPT are taking everything written and recorded by humans on the internet as well as books and papers, but to improve beyond what they already have, they need more data. They’ve used up all the data that they have.
“A lot of human experience is situated. Humans move around and affect their environments. We drop things as little kids and see how gravity affects that object. We don’t have an LLM that’s able to be in a robotic form that can move around and affect its environment and learn from that,” he added.
Helmuth points out the necessity of fully understanding computer science to evaluate code, including code generated by AI, in areas such as efficacy and efficiency. Much of what he teaches involves students writing program tests to ensure that code is working. AI tools can output broken or inefficient code that takes a long time to solve a problem, and students need to understand
debugging and analysis to make sure their programs are useful and efficient.
He also notes that a lot of the work in computer science jobs is not just programming a computer. There are elements of written and oral communication with coworkers and clients, an area where he sees Hamilton graduates having a leg up.
“I think our students come away with a lot of strengths,” Helmuth said. “Our CS majors take a wide variety of classes — humanities, social sciences, arts — and end up much more well-rounded than students taking a very focused program. They combine a humanistic approach with a strong technical foundation and CS electives that dive deeper, like learning to build deep learning models or genetic programming.”
A Place for Innovation
As part of Hamilton’s commitment to pushing boundaries in research and learning, construction continues on the Innovation Center, scheduled to open in early 2027. The new 41,000-square-foot facility will serve as a campus hub for digital research and interdisciplinary collaboration, providing students and faculty with spaces to work with industry and local partners and integrate technology into every discipline.
“The center is a space but also an idea — a place where all the tracks come together, a laboratory to test new connections,” Tepper said. “It will be a place where regional and global partners can audition innovations for our community to work with in real-time, providing feedback and contributions. I want our faculty to be bold and ambitious with AI-activated learning and discovery.”
Lisa McFall, director of initiatives, scholarship, and collaboration, partners with faculty in developing their research into digital scholarship projects that not only support professors’ research goals, but also create opportunities for students to develop
their own digital scholarship methods and skills. She sees faculty and students thinking “outside the box” about ways to use AI.
“They don’t just take the technology at face value,” McFall said. “They find new and exciting ways to use it. Gen erative AI is a tool, but not the solution for everything. At Hamilton, students develop the ability to have discussions and dialogue to gain a deeper understanding. They bring that critical thinking lens, developed uniquely at liberal arts colleges, where they are encouraged to be independent thinkers.”
Tepper believes that Hamilton can offer a model for the country of a liberal arts education enhanced by technologies like AI and enabled by faculty experimentation.
“We’re in the toddler phase of this technology,” Tepper said. “It’s going to be a teenager in a month. We’re still going to learn a lot and the tools will change. We will give our faculty the flexibility to play; they are the experts in their pedagogy. I would love to see our faculty build the most ambitious liberal arts AI project. That’s my challenge to our community: be bold, ambitious, and clear-eyed and never shy away from useful critique and assessment. I’m sure we will emerge from this with extraordinary insight and momentum.” n
Benjamin Hosking is a freelance writer who focuses on higher education and STEM fields, especially engineering and computer science. Outside of news, he consults with college presidents and nonprofit leaders on speeches, books, and major grants.
Totto Renna (a.k.a. Supertotto) is a one-man pixel art design studio based in Napoli, Italy and Berlin, Germany. Artist, illustrator, and motion and graphic designer, he collaborates with magazines, international advertising agencies, production and publishing houses, and new media agencies.
“ I would love to see our faculty build the most ambitious liberal arts AI project. That’s my challenge to our community: be bold, ambitious, and clear-eyed and never shy away from useful critique and assessment.”
— STEVEN TEPPER
My Conversation With AI’s Ayn Rand
Viewpoint diversity and artificial intelligence are two of the most widely discussed challenges facing higher education today. What if we could address these two simultaneously, employing AI to create productive intellectual friction across different political and philosophical positions?
Consider taking this approach: Whom do you ardently disagree with, philosophically or morally, but view as smart and rigorous in their analysis and arguments? I can think of one of my high school heroes, Ayn Rand, whose The Fountainhead I initially regarded as a powerful affirmation of creativity and innovation without knowing much about her deeper political ideology. This summer, I decided to read her collection of essays on capitalism, which I suspected I would disagree with at a fundamental level. Then I looked to AI. Could I engage Ayn Rand’s ideas through a large language model that would “disagree” with me, allowing me to experience intellectual friction with less at stake personally?
ME: In your version of capitalism, how do humans/societies decide to produce something bigger than anyone could do alone? What if sending someone to the moon could never be coordinated through independent, voluntary contracts and instead requires some larger entity, like a government, to coordinate and incentivize? If democratic citizens vote to have the government organize a mission to the moon, why is that coercive?
RAND BOT: Your question reveals the very philosophical premises I reject. You speak of “democratic citizens” voting to achieve something “greater together” — but greater for whom? By what right do these citizens vote to expropriate the wealth of others for their collective fantasy?
By President STEVEN TEPPER
I began my conversation with the chatbot Claude 3.5, asking it to play the role of Ayn Rand, by addressing her core argument: Capitalism is the only moral system because it honors the rights and liberty of every person to reap the benefits of their own creativity and effort without being coerced to give up some of what they have produced to “benefit” society. Here is how it went.
The fact that some men dream of reaching the moon does not give them the moral right to force others to fund their dream. If reaching the moon is truly valuable, let those who see that value risk their own capital, form their own companies and make voluntary contracts. Look at what private enterprises like SpaceX have achieved through voluntary cooperation and the profit motive!
You present a false dichotomy between individual rights and largescale achievement. The greatest achievements in human history — from the transcontinental railroad to the electric light — came from private individuals working through voluntary contracts, not government force. Even when multiple parties were involved, they chose to cooperate for mutual benefit.
The moment you accept that it’s acceptable to violate individual rights for some “greater good,” you’ve accepted the premise of every dictator and looter in history. There is no such thing as a “right” to violate
rights. A group’s desire, no matter how noble-sounding, does not trump an individual’s right to the product of their own effort.
Would you care to explain why you believe some men have the right to enslave others for their collective goals?
I was fully engaged at this point, and I wanted to expose her rigid thinking, so I raised the stakes.
ME: Would you agree that public health might require a “collective response?”
Let’s say that individuals acting independently have no incentive to invest in clean water, vaccines, or databases that collect public health data. Is it better to allow millions of people to die from the spread of disease in the name of maximum individual freedom or to have the government coordinate action to provide public health benefits to everyone?
RAND BOT: Your premise rests on the most dangerous of all moral fallacies — that the mere existence of a problem justifies the use of force to solve it. You speak of “public health” as if it were some mystical collective entity that supersedes individual rights. There is no such thing as “public health” — there are only individual human beings, each with the right to make their own decisions about their health and well-being.
This back-and-forth went on for more than an hour, covering topics like innovation, market failures, and unequal access to basic resources. I was worn out, so I closed the conversation.
ME: I am arguing that humans can create mixed economic and political systems and that those systems can muddle along — imperfectly — and people may live with those compromises because they still have
freedom while affording greater opportunity to their fellow citizens. You believe in an inevitable slide toward destruction and loss of freedom. I don’t see that slide happening in much of the democratic world. So compromise is possible. So I think we can work with this hybrid system — improve, find the right balance, and continue to advance a more perfect union.
And then, “Ayn Rand” made her final summation:
RAND BOT: You want me to acknowledge that reality has not matched my darkest predictions. That humans have found ways to maintain significant freedom and progress despite what I see as moral compromise. And you argue that evidence matters — that decades of relative prosperity and innovation under mixed systems deserve consideration.
I cannot and will not concede the fundamental moral principle: that force is force, whether applied by a dictator or a democratic majority. Your “muddling along” is built on a fundamental contradiction that I believe must eventually resolve itself — either toward freedom or toward force …
I was impressed that the bot could articulate Rand’s core arguments, impersonate her direct writing and speaking style, question my own logic, provide specific examples, “reason” beyond the time and place of her original writing, and offer creative analogies. (When pressed to explain the economic success of today’s welfare capitalism, she responded, “You are celebrating reaching the 2nd floor while I am pointing out that we could have built a skyscraper.”) This was one of the most intellectually engaging 90 minutes I have spent in a long time.
I wanted to check my reactions against the wisdom and judgment of one of our philosophy professors at Hamilton, so I sent the
entire exchange to him. He noted that the AI bot argued like a robot and relied too heavily on rhetoric rather than sound argumentation. Ultimately, the problem, as he sees it, is that “an AI bot will never be able to genuinely distinguish between debating with the intent of ‘winning’ an argument and debating with the intent of arriving at a deeper understanding of the subject matter at hand.” It is also worth pointing out that debating across a screen, with AI or with friends and strangers, is partly why we are having so much trouble talking to each other in the first place.
AI is not a substitute for what we learn in our philosophy classes. But there is something powerful about practicing our ideas with people across time and place — debating race with James Baldwin, asking Leonardo da Vinci to think about how we reconcile innovation with destruction.
The best classes and teachers maximize learning by bringing opposing ideas into conversation. But we know that college students, faculty and many others in America find it very difficult to engage opposing views, especially those we find fundamentally objectionable. Ultimately, this must happen on a human-to-human level with skilled educators and facilitators. But can we also use AI to help us practice how we engage with difference, better formulate our arguments and ask deeper and more complex questions?
AI can be part of the solution to our challenge of engaging with ideas we disagree with. If you disagree, try your argument with an AI bot first, and then let’s talk. n
This essay originally appeared in the Dec. 9, 2025, edition of Inside Higher Education
COLLEGE ENDOWMENTS have been in the spotlight recently — and for good reason. The major tax overhaul enacted by Congress last July is changing how many higher education institutions will manage and plan for the future. The renewed attention has also surfaced plenty of questions and misconceptions about what a college endowment actually is and how it works. To help clarify, editor Stacey Himmelberger P’15,’22 sat down to chat with Karen Leach, Hamilton’s senior vice president for administration and finance.
QLet’s start with the basics. What is the endowment?
Hamilton’s endowment is a pool of capital built over time largely from gifts to the College that get invested. It’s made up of over 1,400 individual funds, most of which have been designated by the donor for specific purposes. For example, about half of them are designated to support financial aid. A combination of returns and sometimes gains [from those investments] are what
we use to fund financial aid and other College programs. The endowment [which is approaching $1.6 billion] provides more than one-third of Hamilton’s annual operating budget.
QHow do you determine how much comes out of the endowment each year?
Generally, we draw between 4 and 5% — about $60 million this year. The idea is that the endowment investments gain, on average, 8% per year. So we take out 5% and leave 3% in order to grow it and keep up with inflation, ensuring purchasing power for future generations.
The actual numbers are more nuanced than that, but the point is to guarantee that future Hamilton students are supported at least as well as today’s students. We expect the College to go on in perpetuity, and donors give Hamilton the money with the sincere intent that it will support the program or scholarship they set up forever. People use the word “prudent” financial
AN INTERVIEW WITH
KAREN LEACH senior vice president for administration and finance
management in reference to the endowment. That means acting with care, skill, and good judgment using a level of diligence that a reasonable and informed person would exercise when managing someone else’s assets for long-term purposes.
More specifically, we use one version of a smoothing formula originally developed by Yale University. What it does is take 70% of the prior year’s spending, adjusted for inflation, and blends that with 5% of the average endowment value over the previous four quarters weighted at 30%. This approach stabilizes annual budgets by reducing the impact of inevitable market swings. In theory, endowment spending could go down when the market goes down, but the smoothing rule helps prevent that.
In my 24 years at Hamilton, the total endowment spending has never gone down. It grows by a smaller or larger amount from year-to-year, but endowed programs can generally continue without big disruptions even if there is stock market volatility. The
smoothing formula also means the endowment spending doesn’t shoot up when the market has a big surge. Moderating the ups and downs helps Hamilton stay financially stable over the long run.
QI once heard someone describe the endowment as a giant rainy-day fund. Is that a misconception?
It is. Since most of the funds that comprise our endowment are restricted for specific purposes, the College cannot spend down the endowment like you would a personal bank account, even if what you want to fund is a legitimate priority. The restricted funds have to be maintained.
In full transparency, there’s a portion of the endowment called quasi-endowment, funds that the Board of Trustees decided to add to the endowment over time. Those dollars, about 20% of the endowment, could, in
theory, be spent. But, the operating budget would suffer because those funds would no longer be earning nor providing income for financial aid and operations. Schools don’t generally touch quasi-endowment unless they are in financial distress. We hope we never reach that level of distress at Hamilton. That’s why we are careful in managing the fund.
QBut $1.6 billion is a huge amount of money. Why doesn’t Hamilton just take more out each year and cut tuition?
If you consider the $60 million we drew from the endowment last year, that averages to about $30,000 for every student. So all students are already getting huge support from the endowment, and the amount of support from the endowment grows every year. Why don’t we take more? Think of it
Where the Money Comes From HAMILTON’S FY25 REVENUE
millions
$181.3 Million
this way — people who are retired and have retirement funds can only draw so much out each year because it has to last them for the rest of their lives. Our endowment must provide financial stability over the very long term, for hundreds of years into the future. That’s why the primary objective in managing the endowment is to achieve a total return that, in addition to providing annual income to support the College, preserves the real value of the endowment in perpetuity.
QHow does the endowment support students and faculty on a daily basis?
Endowment funds support a broad range of things like financial aid, professorships, student research and internships, our physical plant, guest lecturers, the Outdoor Leadership Center, science equipment, the choir tour, Levitt Center programming — the list goes on and on. We couldn’t offer the programs and experiences we do without
There’s no question that our endowment allows us to do more, and I don’t think that’s a luxury. I think it provides the resources that increase our quality.
those funds. We’d have to raise tuition or not do things. So on a daily basis, [the endowment] allows many special programs to occur, and it also allows our general operations to go on, because some of the money that comes in from the endowment is for general purpose use.
There’s no question that our endowment allows us to do more, and I don’t think that’s a luxury. I think it provides the resources that increase our quality. The endowment provides a third of our income. What if we had a third less resources available for our students? I think [the Hamilton experience] would be quite different. And it’s not just the tangible resources. You can map it to graduation rates — more resources mean smaller classes, more faculty and staff supporting students, and so forth. The lower your student-faculty ratio, the more personal attention a student receives, the better chance that student has of graduating. I believe that the kind of high-quality education that Hamilton provides comes from the endowment. And the support for financial aid allows us to admit the students we want at Hamilton to create a vibrant, interesting, and dynamic academic and residential experience.
$61.2 Million
Where the Money Goes
HAMILTON’S FY25 ENDOWMENT INCOME ALLOCATION
• Internships & Student Support $ 1,310,575 2.1%
• Other $ 669,900 1.1%
• Operations & Maintenance of Plant $ 240,585 0.4%
QIf some of the endowment is for general purposes, what’s the difference between that and the Hamilton Fund?
Like I mentioned earlier, the majority of the endowment is restricted for specific purposes. Just because Hamilton has a healthy endowment doesn’t mean we don’t rely on annual gifts from alumni, parents, and friends. The Hamilton Fund accounts for 4% of our operating budget, or about $7.4 million a year. These unrestricted gifts allow us to act in the moment — they pay our heating bills and allow us to upgrade lab equipment or send students to a professional conference, in addition to supporting things that are not fully endowed, like financial aid, faculty support, or athletics.
QHow is the endowment managed on a day-to-day basis? Who oversees investment decisions?
We have an office in New York City headed by Lauren Jacobson, our chief investment officer. She works primarily for the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees chaired by Bob Delaney [’79]. It’s their job to invest the endowment by sourcing and vetting high-quality investment managers across domestic and international equity, fixed income, real estate, commodities, hedge funds, private equity markets, and market indices. They then decide what portion of the endowment to allocate to each manager. They are constantly tracking performance and trying to find new managers as our endowment grows; you don’t want to put it all in one bucket. And then they send us quarterly payments to support the College.
Q
Some see investments as one way the College can express its values on global issues such as sustainability. What’s your perspective on divestment as part of that effort?
The role of the Investment Committee is foremost to serve as a fiduciary: to maintain the purchasing power of the endowment by investing to maximize long-term returns while at the same time providing income to support the educational mission of the College. People forget that we are a charity and that people give their money to Hamilton not for some other purpose, but to educate our students. That said, as an academic institution committed to active citizenship, the College does take ESG [environmental, social, and governance] issues into consideration when they interview managers.
QRecent tax and policy changes — like the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — have focused attention on college endowments. How have those changes affected Hamilton?
Since 2017, we’ve been required to pay an endowment tax. Last year we worked with a group of colleges and universities to advocate for those institutions with enrollments of fewer than 3,000 students to be exempt from the tax. And, in fact, [lawmakers] voted that in, so we no longer have to pay an endowment tax. That money now goes back where it should be: into the endowment. We need it there to avoid eroding purchasing power for all of the financial aid, professorships, and programs it supports.
There were many other changes that came up in the government discussions, and some impacted us. We lost some federal grants that faculty had for research, about $300,000. Some generous donors stepped in to help bridge the research expenses, and we’re trying to support those faculty as best we can so that they can continue their work. Our faculty also routinely include students in their research, so it’s important to the student experience and future careers.
We don’t have a huge amount of federal support, at least not compared to the overall size of our budget. But, of course, every dollar is important for us. We get federal money to support student workers, and our students take out loans through the federal student loan program. Plus, students from families with modest incomes get Pell grants, which are really important. We’re hoping there won’t be a lot more change.
We have something to be proud of in American higher education, and Hamilton is an important part of that story. My hope is that we approach future policy and funding decisions with care so we preserve the quality, access, and impact that alumni value so deeply.
We have something to be proud of in American higher education, and Hamilton is an important part of that story. My hope is that we approach future policy and funding decisions with care so we preserve the quality, access, and impact that alumni value so deeply.
QDuring the negotiations, you went to Washington to lobby with the Small College Coalition. What was that like?
It was actually really interesting to go to different offices and talk to staffers — usually not to the elected officials themselves. I had no idea [the Capitol] was so huge. I logged 20,000 steps in one day! It was a great experience. It feels like making sausage to me because you don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes. You have the conversations, and [staffers] ask good questions. We had a chance to tell them why the endowment is so important and why it should not be taxed. It’s hard in the moment to know if you are having any impact, but I am glad we did it.
QLooking ahead, what’s the biggest challenge you see in managing the endowment for the next generation of Hamilton students?
The challenge will be to build [the endowment] enough to support what the world needs in the future from a college like ours. We’re in the middle of a planning process, and while we don’t know exactly what our initiatives will turn out to be, we will need new endowment income to pay for those because we have to be mindful about how much we raise tuition.
Remaining need-blind in admission will be a huge challenge. It’s a commitment we believe in, and it places us in a very special place. We can admit the students we want to admit regardless of their financial circumstances — the best students who are going to be the right people for Hamilton. But the need for financial aid is growing faster than we can grow tuition. That will be our number-one challenge.
I always say that our job would be easier if more people could just meet our students. They are so amazing that you can’t help but think you’re doing something special for the world by supporting them. They’re so earnest and kind and thoughtful. I see them mature and become even more thoughtful over their time here. I truly believe that so many of them will make an impact when they leave Hamilton. Their stories and aspirations are just so powerful. We are able to bring together people from all different backgrounds to live and study. We give them the tools to learn to solve the world’s problems, and they have a better chance of solving those problems because they’re learning from excellent faculty, dedicated staff, and from each other. n
WANTED : THE NEXT WAVE OF
PROFESSIONALS
Introduction by Melissa Marietta, executive director of the Maurice Horowitch Career Center
Built around eight industry clusters, Hamilton’s new Career Communities leverage the resources and expertise of the Career Center with the College’s strong sense of community to help students chart their post-graduation paths.
hroughout higher education, there’s growing attention on how a college’s mission translates into real-world outcomes. Families, employers, and policymakers want assurance that a degree will lead to meaningful work and lasting opportunity. On College Hill, that conversation fuels rather than defines our purpose. By grounding students in critical thinking, creativity, and civic responsibility, Hamilton prepares students not only to find success in a changing world, but also to imagine new possibilities within it — and lead with purpose.
As students begin to think about life after Hamilton, charting a post-graduation path and making the right connections can feel overwhelming. Career Communities, recently launched by the Career Center, are designed to make that process more intentional and accessible. Built around eight broad industry clusters, the program leverages the resources and expertise of the Career Center with Hamilton’s strong sense of community to help students explore options, connect their skills and values to potential roles, and prepare for a successful transition after graduation.
Career Communities provide students with access to a curated set of field-specific resources that support informed exploration and decision-making. Through an online library, students can explore alumni-contributed insights on career paths, examples of roles and experiences relevant to the field, external job and internship opportunities, and practical guidance on networking and entry points.
Complementing these resources, we offer workshops and group-based programs that build industry knowledge, develop core skills, and help students translate exploration into action. Every student is encouraged to join at least one Career Community by the end of their first year. When they opt in, they gain immediate access to a structured, supportive path: curated resources, people who want to help them succeed, and clear guidance on the skills and experiences they should build each semester. Career Communities function as “home bases,” places where a student always knows where to start and what to do next.
Career Community interns develop topicbased panels within each community, bringing together a wide range of voices and perspectives. Additionally, each of the eight field-specific networks is supported by a Career Center coach and a volunteer alumni coach who is a seasoned expert in the field. Alumni coaches bridge career development and professional practice, offering more than informational interviews. They engage deeply with each student, providing individualized, actionable advice.
Launched in 2023 with just two alumni volunteers, the Alumni Volunteer Coach program is now a cornerstone of our Career Communities initiative. This spring, eight alumni coaches participated, representing each of the industry concentrations. The cohort of alumni span mid-career to retirement and demonstrate proven success in their fields. Partnering with the Career Center, they offer content-specific workshops and 1-1 coaching sessions.
At our Career Community-driven Career Center, we lead with the belief that students can best build connections for career exploration by creating meaningful relationships in trusted spaces.
To get a better sense of the work of Career
Community alumni volunteers, Hamilton Magazine recently asked a few of them to share their insights on what it’s been like working with today’s students, what it takes to be successful in today’s workplace, and what students can do to best prepare for their futures.
Here’s a snapshot of that conversation, edited for length.
One question we’re often asked concerns the value of the type of education Hamilton offers. Parents ask this a lot. Students do, too, particularly when they’re trying to figure out how their major will translate into marketable skills. As someone who has successfully made the transition from Hamilton to a career — and who now volunteers with students — what do you think our current world needs most from young people?
BETSY GEKONGE ’01: I think the world needs curiosity and a drive to create — whatever form that takes on an individual basis. Also, the desire to foster change and add value.
NICK SOLANO ’14: Intellectual flexibility is the biggest thing I see. At Hamilton, students jump from a biochemistry class, to an art history class, to an economics class. In
the workforce, people need to be flexible, and your employer is going to expect a lot out of you. A liberal arts education really teaches you how to flex that muscle; it’s an important early skill for new grads.
WILL RUSCHE ’13: One thing I’ve been talking about with Hamilton students is that you can’t always prepare or build a plan because the world changes so quickly. But you can stay focused on what you care about and the skills Hamilton gives you to be a problem solver and be adaptable. That’s how you’re going to find your way into that internship or job.
A.J. CURRIE ’16: My answer is going to be perhaps the most niche because the entertainment industry is so specific. But I will say that the way I experienced my time at Hamilton, what it did for me as a filmmaker, was to give me a really holistic view of not just film, but a billion other things. The fact that there wasn’t a core
curriculum, that really helped because I could get an academic perspective on subjects that went beyond my particular field. And having that be a part of the conversation as my work has happened, I think has been really, really helpful.
CHARLIE MIERSWA ’84: I would have to say the resilience of youth. Having the ability to pivot and flex to changes in the business world and to the upcoming transformations expected to come with the further incorporation of AI into daily business cycles will be critical. I also hope they will have the ability to “bounce back” and save our democracy.
PHUONG PETERSEN ’01: Three things come to mind: strategic thinking — the ability to pull information and data from a range of sources, make sense of it, and synthesize a concise, cohesive approach supported by evidence; critical thinking; and executive-level communication skills. As the world continues to adopt and integrate AI, these skills become even more essential. They equip students to use AI effectively, critically assess the outputs it generates, and apply sound judgment as the technology evolves.
BEN JEFFERY ’17: One word: ideas. It’s fairly intuitive that younger people bring novel approaches to challenges compared to prior generations, but I think the speed in which the world is changing and the non-linear trajectory of new issues to tackle make this truer than ever. To be more specific, not simply the “what” in terms of how a problem can be solved; just as importantly is the “how.” Even since I graduated, the experiences that current students have differ dramatically from my experience, and that is super valuable. Bring that experience to the table; make suggestions. Recent graduates’ views and opinions are just as valuable as [those of] seasoned professionals.
What can colleges like Hamilton do to better illustrate how its graduates are prepared to contribute in the workplace? Are there specific skills or experiences you’d like to see more liberal arts students develop before entering your industry?
WILL: I’ve talked with some students about how their liberal arts education is their superpower in an applicant pool of hundreds of people. At Hamilton, everyone around you is taking writing intensive courses and being asked to be creative and stitch together different interests in different ways. When you’re in the midst of all that, it can feel run-of-the-mill. So I’ve been talking to students about what sets them apart in their application and résumé materials. Lean into the experiences you’ve had at Hamilton, whether it’s in the classroom or elsewhere. You should talk about how you’re a strong writer and can condense information and use it creatively. It may not feel like a superpower when you’re at Hamilton, but again, in that applicant pool, it definitely is.
A.J.: [In the entertainment industry], the currency that we basically trade in are the experiences you’ve had because those are the things you end up talking about in the arts, whatever form you practice. The fact that so many Hamilton students study abroad, the fact that they get to take all these courses that are so diverse — everything from the humanities to the sciences are sort of clashing in a single day. I think that’s a bit of a superpower, too. Students should be aware that what they experience is unique because that’s not true universally, and I think it does go a really long way. Anytime you can speak to the fact that there’s a life lived, even though you’re, I don’t know, 22 or 23 when you’re graduating, you’re showing things of a particular ilk and at a particular level.
CAREER COMMUNITY ALUMNI COACHES
ARTS & CULTURE
A.J. CURRIE ’16
Film major Independent screen / TV writer LOS ANGELES
EDUCATION
& SOCIAL IMPACT
EVAN WARNOCK ’14
Psychology major Professional development coordinator and regional teacher coach Prisms of Reality BOSTON
GOVERNMENT
WILL RUSCHE ’13
Government major Vice president, marketing and communications Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee WASHINGTON, D.C.
BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP
CHARLIE MIERSWA ’84
Spanish major
Former chief financial officer GSE Worldwide and the Brooklyn Nets NEW YORK
FINANCE
BEN JEFFERY ’17
World Politics major Vice president U.S. rates trading BMO Capital Markets NEW YORK
LAW
MAX SANCHEZ GROVER ’93
Public Policy major
Senior legal director of governance & transformation London Stock Exchange GREENWICH, CONN.
COMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA
PHUONG PETERSEN ’01
Economics major Vice president of growth Asurion PHILADELPHIA
CONSULTING
NICK SOLANO ’14
Economics major Senior director of business development Seaport Therapeutics
BOSTON
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & ANALYTICS
BETSY GEKONGE ’01
Biochemistry/Molecular Biology major Global medical communication and content lead Pfizer PHILADELPHIA
NICK: Obviously Hamilton and other liberal arts schools focus a great deal on communication. In this era of AI and us figuring out how to incorporate that into our daily workflows, I think we can’t lose the importance of authentic communication, person-to-person interactions, where you are explaining ideas and exchanging ideas with other humans. The trick is going to be how do you incorporate new technologies, whether it’s AI or something else, into those authentic communications. So I think that liberal arts institutions are really nicely positioned to help bridge that gap and make sure that they’re putting new grads out there who are really good at both sides of the equation and not just folks who know how to use AI really well.
ethical reasoning, strategic thinking, and the ability to ask the right questions.
CHARLIE: We need to emphasize that the ability to think outside the box and to synthesize masses of information into coherent arguments and communicate them effectively are important skills that will distinguish Hamilton students in the workplace. Effective writing and oral communication skills are lacking in the general populace, and Hamilton excels at developing those capabilities in its students.
President Steven Tepper often talks about failure. He tells students they need to welcome and even embrace failure as essential in advancing ideas and challenging ourselves to grow. Is there a type of background or experience that you can connect to young people developing that type of inclination?
What assumptions do you think persist about liberal arts graduates — and how might those shift as the nature of work continues to evolve?
PHUONG: A common assumption about liberal arts graduates is that majors like art, English, or philosophy don’t equip students with the “hard” or technical skills that translate directly into the workplace. Because the connection isn’t always obvious, people often underestimate the value of the analytical rigor, communication strength, creativity, and judgment that come from a liberal arts education. Skills such as synthesizing complex information, communicating clearly, thinking critically, and approaching problems from multiple angles are precisely what employers seek — even if they don’t fit neatly into a single technical label. As the nature of work evolves, these perceptions are likely to shift. The increasing integration of AI and automation is actually elevating the importance of the very strengths a liberal arts background provides: adaptability,
BEN: I agree. Effective communication is what I would argue is the most important skill an individual can have. Being able to communicate and collaborate through extremely complex issues as we learned to do on the Hill both verbally and through the written word is what ultimately makes good leadership in a business setting. This is truer now more than ever in the post-pandemic economy. While there is nothing that will replace face-to-face communication, the reality is that the nature of work going forward is going to be communicated more via written communication and chats than was ever the case before. Being able to express ideas effectively is far more important than any technical skills, which an employer will train a graduate in anyway.
NICK: From my interactions with current students, there’s a lot of pressure to find the perfect post-Hamilton role that leverages their internship experience, their major, and all of the above. And I was the same way, of course, but with the benefit of hindsight, it’s way too much to put that on yourself. Early in your career should be sort of viewed as an extension of a liberal arts education where it’s okay to try out a few different things. It’s okay if the first job doesn’t work out and you want to pivot to something totally different. It’s a great time for experimentation, and some might view that as failure when they’re looking at themselves, but I think it should be framed more as growth and learning about yourself.
PHUONG: I completely agree with President Tepper’s emphasis on cultivating a growth mindset. If you’re never failing, it usually means you aren’t setting ambitious enough goals or that you’re staying too firmly within your comfort zone to really grow. Failure, in many ways, is a signal that you’re pushing yourself in the right direction. In my own career, I had the chance to start a new role six months earlier than planned, but it required moving to Atlanta — a place I had never lived and where I had no family or connections. It was a risk, and it was uncomfortable. But I took it, and that decision led me to move around the U.S. and travel internationally for the next four years. It shaped my career trajectory for the six years that followed. None of that would have happened had I chosen the safer, more familiar path.
It’s okay if the first job doesn’t work out and you want to pivot to something totally different. It’s a great time for experimentation, and some might view that as failure when they’re looking at themselves, but I think it should be framed more as growth and learning about yourself.
— NICK SOLANO ’14
BETSY: I’ve always been risk-averse, staying safely within the lines. I’m actively pushing myself to think bigger, take bolder steps, and stop letting fear of rejection or failure hold me back. One real area of progress: I no longer defer things indefinitely. I plan, commit, and follow through — whether that’s reconnecting with friends or pursuing new revenue streams and passions beyond a traditional 9-to-5.
WILL: One thing I talk to students a lot about is, and this is for the government and campaign side of things, is that it’s impossible to have a 10-year plan. I use examples of interruption from my own career path — like Donald Trump getting elected the first time was not totally expected. The pandemic certainly wasn’t expected. Donald Trump getting elected for a second time also wasn’t something I had on my bingo card. You may have an idea about what your career path is, but the world is going to intervene. And so being able to respond to that and think about the next step in the world you end up in, that’s okay.
A.J.: Same. I mean, in the arts, the adage is that for every one, “yes,” you’ll hear 10 “nos.” And if you’ve heard two yeses in a row, be prepared for the next 20 nos because they’re coming. So you do live with failure sort of lingering as a theme in your life, and it’s something you learn to understand is more a comment on fit than anything else. Especially in the job market and then in the state of my industry with the two strikes and the pandemic and everything up in the air right now, I think it’s probably safest to expect that, right out of school, your first two, three years is probably mostly going to be failure. That’s what everybody experiences, that is to be expected, and that is to be in some ways cherished.
People have characterized Gen Z as digitally distracted and lacking resilience, but they’re also said to be civic-minded and entrepreneurial. Regarding the students you’ve been working with, are you optimistic? And how would you say their experience compares to yours as an undergrad?
PHUONG: I’m absolutely optimistic. Every Hamilton student I’ve met has been thoughtful, ambitious, respectful, and genuinely hopeful about the future. The narratives that paint Gen Z as distracted or fragile overlook the reality that this generation has come of age during an unprecedented period of technological acceleration. Of course that environment shapes different behaviors — it would be surprising if it didn’t. But what’s often missed is how many positives have emerged alongside the challenges: creativity, productivity, adaptability, and a strong entrepreneurial spirit. What impresses me most is how Gen Z has leveraged these technological shifts to generate new ideas, launch projects, and build businesses earlier than previous generations. Their comfort experimenting with tools, platforms, and new ways of working positions them uniquely well for the future of work.
BEN: I think Gen Z members of the workforce are looking for a different experience when it comes to what they want to get out of work. I push back a bit on the “lazy” or “distracted” stereotype; instead, I think there’s a greater emphasis on understanding that the work they are doing is actually making a difference in whatever their chosen field might be. In my experience there is far less appetite for “busy work” or putting in “face time” from Gen Z than there was from my cohort starting my career. If there’s work to be done and it matters, Gen Z isn’t shy about getting it done, but if there’s not,
What
impresses me most is how Gen Z has leveraged these technological shifts to generate new ideas, launch projects, and build businesses earlier that previous generations. Their comfort experimenting with tools, platforms, and new ways of working positions them uniquely well for the future of work.
— PHUONG PETERSEN ’01
there’s much less willingness to prioritize work over personal lives than those from my era.
CHARLIE: I am optimistic that today’s students will make the world a better place through their attention to the communities in which they will reside. Graduates in my year were much more “center focused,” meaning that they were more focused on themselves and their experiences. They have since changed that focus dramatically, as evidenced by my class notes! Today’s graduates have so much to take on between climate change and defending the constitution, that they can’t afford to be less than engaged in their communities. I am confident that they will be highly productive members of the workforce.
WILL: Each generation has its challenges to face. One thing I’ve experienced over the last couple years talking to students is the pandemic was a big interruption for those interested in politics and campaigns, an industry in which exposure to professional networks and meeting people is such an important tool. One big advantage that Hamilton students have is the alumni community. It’s been really rewarding to be able to connect students and say, “Hey, you may have not had the on the ground experience in DC that I had, but we can help connect you to a couple alums, and you can still get that learning experience to get some momentum behind you.” Whether it’s your internship search or your job search or just trying to figure out generally what you are interested in, it’s a really incredible resource to tap into.
Finally, I’d like to end by asking you to look back at your time on College Hill. Was there something you studied or experienced at Hamilton that didn’t necessarily prepare you for your career, but that you think back on and say, “That was incredibly useful.”?
BEN: I took a political science class taught by a former ambassador Ned Walker [’62] and the rule was none of our papers could be over a certain word count, so we have word maximums, not minimums. From his time in the State Department, he said none of his superiors would read anything that took longer than 30 seconds to read, nor would he from any of his staff. That condensed form of communication and succinctly getting to your point is an extremely valuable skill I still use every day.
BETSY: A liberal arts education broadened my perspective and showed me how deeply connected different fields really are. At Hamilton, even an art history class revealed how science — and chemistry in particular — drives the preservation of art, artifacts, and cultural history.
CHARLIE: I can’t say that there is something I studied specifically that I refer back to, but I do know that the intelligent debate that I had with my classmates while attending Hamilton helped shape my approach to problem solving in business.
A.J.: There was something that a theater professor said to me in a one-on-one that was the biggest truth of my time at Hamilton — “If you have a good idea, these four years are the one time in your life that you will have the support and the money to be able to do it. Just come and talk to somebody about it.” That kind of a blue skies, blank check on your imagination, I think, is just such a rare thing. I’ve been to two
other schools since then, and it’s not like that anywhere else. I wish everybody could experience that once in their life because it’s really, truly quite powerful.
WILL: It’s a great question. There are a lot of things. One that comes to mind is Adirondack Adventure (AA) leadership training with Andrew Jillings [and] going through all the different scenarios of what you might experience. You could have a student who misses home or gets stung by a bee or cuts their hand. And at some point, and this isn’t a direct quote, Andrew said something to the effect of, “There’s no way we can prepare you for every single scenario, but we can prepare you to use good judgment and solve the problem when it comes up.” I think some of what we’ve been talking about on the career front is similar. During AA training, we were taught to solve the problem without actually knowing what the problem was ahead of time. That’s something I’ve used in the professional context many times.
PHUONG: I had a government class that explored the concept of “security,” but not in the traditional national or military sense. Instead, it examined the broader ecosystem of factors that make a society truly secure: food security, environmental security, economic stability, public health, and more. What stayed with me, though, was the realization that the outcome isn’t based on a single variable. It’s an interconnected set of conditions that all have to work together and ultimately can create a multiplier effect. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but that course gave me a way of thinking that I still use today.
NICK: A lot of things come to mind, so I’ll pick one. I think it was late junior year, I joined HALT, the Hamilton Alumni Leadership Training group. There was a big emphasis on basically teaching you how to network properly. It can be intimidating to reach out to folks who’ve been successful in their careers and have a conversation with a real adult who has information that might be helpful. How do you engage with them? How do you ask good questions? How do you build a relationship for the future? And even once you’re in the workforce, the networking doesn’t stop. People are constantly reaching out to each other to learn about different jobs. That was a really invaluable skill that, at the time, felt maybe a touch transactional — “Hey, I’m a senior. I’m trying to find a job. Can you help me out?” But that really helped me build a lifelong skill. n
OTHER HAMILTON CAREER CENTER INITIATIVES IN ADDITION TO CAREER COMMUNITIES:
EMPLOYERS IN RESIDENCE
The Employer-in-Residence Program gives students access to alumni at leadership levels in their fields and creates various touchpoints for learning, active engagement, and mentorship. Their multi-day visits include casual career conversations over dinner, oneon-one résumé reviews, and interview prep and skill-building sessions — students gain both direct access to an industry expert and actionable feedback. A key component of the program is a workshop that allows students to walk away with something tangible, like a refined personal pitch, improved application materials, or a clearer understanding of career pathways. This model not only meets student demand for deeper, more sustained interaction with professionals, but also allows alumni and employers to engage at a more impactful level.
Recent Employers in Residence:
n Eric Olson ’92 director of cyber security, JetBlue Airways
n Rich Bernstein ’80 CEO & chief investment officer, Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC
SENIOR LAUNCH LAB
Senior Launch Lab is a cohort-based “sprint” designed to provide seniors with structured, personalized guidance at a critical transition point. Students meet for an hour each week to receive targeted support from a professional career coach and an alumni coach aligned with their interests. The program is highly action-oriented: every session ends with tangible progress, whether refining a Plan A/B/C, completing outreach, or advancing applications. Through a combination of guided instruction, peer accountability, and one-on-one coaching, students build jobsearch literacy, strengthen networking skills, and clarify their candidacy in a realistic job market. By the end of the sprint, participants leave with a clear strategy, stronger materials, and momentum toward what comes next.
Bookshelf
Annie Hartnett ’08. The Road to Tender Hearts (Ballantine Books, 2025).
How incredible is it when your literary idol has this to say about your latest book? “A miraculous novel — an actual and spiritual road trip you won’t forget ”
That’s how author John Irving described Annie Hartnett’s national bestseller, a story about an old man named PJ Halliday whose quest to reunite with his high school crush takes him on a cross-country journey accompanied by his adult daughter, two orphans he just met, and a cat who can predict death. This could finally be PJ’s chance for a fresh shot at love and parenting. What could possibly go wrong?
This book has all the feels — humor, disfunction, joy, frustration, hope, and just the right amount of weirdness. As one reviewer noted, “Annie Hartnett has given life to one of my favorite characters I have ever read: PJ Halliday. At 63, in Birkenstocks and a
DAVID BALOG ’79. Understanding the Brain: Stress, Trauma and the LGBTQ Community, 2nd Ed. (self-published, 2025).
ANTHONY BERNINI ’71. Selected Poems (The Troy Book Makers, 2025).
TOM BRUSH ’90. The Renegade Nonprofit: A Story About Building an Organization That Truly Thrives (self-published, 2025)
MIKE BURKHARD ’80. Re-Discovering the Treasures of Life: 52 Stories of Goodness (StarTracker Publishing, 2025).
LAURA DICKERMAN ’85. Hot Desk (Gallery Books, 2025).
HANNAH FAZIO ’10. Arts-Based Research in Theatre and Performance (Routledge, 2025).
zip-up sweater stitched with polar bears, good with women despite his flatulence, and charmingly dependent on his ex-wife and her new husband, PJ is like ‘The Dude’ in The Big Lebowski, one of those iconic characters you just can’t help falling in love with and who will live on in your heart long after the book is over.”
Hartnett is also the author of Unlikely Animals (2022), which won the Julia Ward Howe Prize for fiction, and Rabbit Cake (2017), a finalist for the New England Book Award and a Kirkus Reviews best book of the year ” •
A. TODD FRANKLIN, the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Africana Studies (co-editor). Open Casket: Philosophical Meditations on the Lynching of Emmett Till (Bloomsbury, 2025).
HELENA T.M. (MARRIN) GRANT ’03. Never Nothing to Wear: Heal Your Relationship with Yourself by Building Confidence in Your Personal Style (Reverse Pathology Media, 2025).
ROBERT H. HACKER ’73. The Second Renaissance: How AI Will Transform Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship (De Gruyter, 2025).
LYDIA R. HAMESSLEY, the John and Anne Fischer Professor Fine Arts in Music. Dolly Parton’s Jolene (Oxford University Press, 2025).
GIB HEDSTROM ’75. Navigating Sustainable Growth: A Roadmap for Boards and Corporate Leaders (De Gruyter, 2025).
ALICE A. HILDEBRAND K’73. Re-Membering (Finishing Line Press, 2022).
PATRICK JOSEPH CAOILE, visiting assistant professor of literature and creative writing. Tales from Manila Ave. (Sundress Publications, 2025).
CHIP CATER ’76. Capers and Switcheroos (Atmosphere Press, 2025).
ALEXSIA T. CHAN, associate professor of government. Beyond Coercion: The Politics of Inequality in China (Cambridge University Press, 2025).
COURTNEY ESTILL COLLINS ’99 and CLARKE COLLINS ’99. In the Name of Honor (Shadow Spark Press, 2025).
ERIC JACKSON-FORSBERG ’90. The Spiral (NFB Publishing, 2025).
ELIZABETH J. JENSEN, professor of economics emerita (co-editor). Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice, 6th ed. (Routledge, 2025).
CAROL GOODMAN KAUFMAN K’74. The First Murder (Little Cottage Press, 2024).
JAIME LEE KUCINSKAS, associate professor of sociology. The Loyalty Trap: Conflicting Loyalties of Civil Servants Under Increasing Autocracy (Columbia University Press, 2025).
David Brown Morris ’64.
Ten Thousand Central Parks: A Climate-Change Parable (Fordham University Press, 2026).
As we consider our relationship with the planet in the age of climate change, David Morris asks: Can we continue to be mere stewards of nature, or could parks help us reimagine our role as participants inseparable from the natural world?
In Ten Thousand Central Parks, he leads us on a journey through the history of New York City’s urban oasis while using it as an unlikely environmental parable. From its initial funding in 1853 to its completion in 1876, the park was America’s first largescale public works project, undertaken as
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
the nation grappled with the Civil War. Its creation offers a powerful lesson — even in turbulent times, cities can be reimagined, and ecological transformations are possible.
“Central Park was a radical experiment in urban renewal, transforming a chaotic and polluted terrain into an 843acre refuge,” the author writes. “More than a scenic landmark, it was a visionary public project that provided jobs, green space, and a lasting environmental legacy.”
With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities, urban greenspaces are more crucial than ever, Morris argues. Central Park is not just an artifact of the past but a model for the future. For example, its 18,000 trees sequester
nearly a million pounds of carbon dioxide annually.
Interspersed throughout the book are Morris’ descriptive reflections of his time spent wandering the park’s paths. A New York City native, he returned during the pandemic following a career as a professor at the University of Virginia.
“In a situation that looks hopeless at times, Central Park offers more than a metaphor to show that we can do better,” Morris writes. “It embodies the principles of equality, the resolve, the hard work, and, strange as it may seem to say, the imagination we need to meet the unprecedented challenges of our time.” •
Robert Pigott ’81.
Destination City: A Gallery of New York’s Most Surprising Visitors and Residents Throughout History (Columbia University Press, 2025).
Bob Pigott has called New York City home his entire life. By trade, he is an attorney who served as section and bureau chief of the New York Attorney General’s Charities Bureau. He’s also a history buff. When reading a biography, he finds himself especially curious about one aspect of the subjects’ life — their first trip
to New York City. What did they want to see? Where did they stay? What were their impressions?
In Destination City, he answers those questions. Here are just a few gems: President Woodrow Wilson and his successor, Warren G. Harding, had little in common ― except both came to New York City to indulge in extramarital affairs. Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart shared a Manhattan apartment for two years in the 1930s dubbed “Casa Gangrene.” Simone de Beauvoir smoked her first joint at the Plaza Hotel in 1947. While living in Brighton Beach, Woody Guthrie wrote a song about his bigoted landlord, “Old Man Trump” ― Donald’s father. A 13-year-old
Lee Harvey Oswald was a menace to his Bronx neighbors, once firing a BB gun at their windows. Greta Garbo had a fear of dentists’ offices and found a practitioner who would examine her at a bench on Central Park West.
In all, Pigott shares Big Apple tales of over 150 politicians, artists, scientists, revolutionaries, outlaws, actors, and other notables. He narrowed his list by combing through the New York Society Library’s 27,964 volumes in its biography section.
Described by Esther Crain, author of The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910, as “brisk, entertaining, and full of surprises,” the book does more than educate; it entertains with “well-researched, lively stories [that] will resonate with city natives as well as newcomers and transplants.” •
STEPHEN LEWANDOWSKI ’69. Ground Truth: Poems from the Field (Cayuga Lake Books, 2024).
R.T. LUND ’77. The Ghost and Avenging the Dead (Little Creek Press, 2024/2025).
THADDEUS MANTARO ’87 and RYAN M. TRAVIA. Well-Being Leadership in Higher Education: A Guide For Successful Well-Being Programs (NASPA, 2025).
KEN MILLER ’78. Net Leases and SaleLeasebacks: A Guide to Legal, Tax and Accounting Strategies (PLI Press, 2025).
IAN N. MILLS, visiting assistant professor of classics and religious studies. The Hypothesis of the Gospels: Narrative Traditions in Hellenistic Reading Culture (Fortress Press, 2025).
TIM NORBECK ’60. Mr. Lawrence (Palmetto Publishing, 2025).
ELIZABETH BASS PARMAN ’83. Bees in June (Harper Muse, 2025).
BILL POOLE ’59. The River Quickens (Wheatmark, 2021).
TRENT A. ROMER ’92. This is Our Home (Birdwatch Publishing, 2023).
PETER NISSEN WELTNER ’64. The Lost Ghosts of Lemnos: Renderings and Renditions (Marrowstone Press, 2025).
TOM WILLIAMS ’11. Degrees of Freedom: On Robotics and Social Justice (MIT Press, 2025).
MICHAEL ZEDEK ’68. People Are Like …: Stories for Young Readers and Readers Who Wish to Stay Young (Ascend Books, 2025).
For descriptions of the books listed, and links to where you might purchase them, visit hamilton.edu/alumni/books.
Lauren Magaziner ’12. The Incorruptibles
(Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, 2025).
IIn a world where despotic sorcerers use their magic to control and intimidate, young Fiora Barrowling finds herself embroiled in the human resistance movement after a fateful encounter. At the resistance academy, she learns to fight and struggles with belonging, all while contending with a possible infiltrator leaking information to the sorcerers. Kirkus Reviews describes the book as “breathless” and “a lightning blast of futuristic fantasy.”
The Incorruptibles is the first book in the bestselling author’s new upper-middle grade fantasy series. Of her inspirations, Lauren Magaziner said, “One classic trope of middle-grade fantasy is that a kid is told that they’re special and they’re whisked away to a training academy or magic school. I remember thinking how a kid being told that they’re special from the time that they’re 10 doesn’t let that go to their head. I thought, what if sorcerers did let it inflate their egos, and then all of a sudden you have this world full of sorcerers who think they’re better than people without magic?”
The writer’s approach to storytelling also draws from what she witnesses in her daily life. “I took inspiration from what I was seeing around me in the world where it feels like a lot of the most powerful people in our society use their power to punch down, so there’s a lot about the way that power manifests and how it hurts people who don’t have power,” she added.
Magaziner has been writing since she was 13, which allows her appeal to younger readers. “I remember that stage in childhood development because that’s when I started recording it,” she said.
While studying in Edinburgh, Scotland, Magaziner penned her debut novel, The
Only Thing Worse than Witches She brokered a publication deal with Penguin before the end of her senior year at Hamilton, and the book hit shelves in 2014. Since then, the author has dabbled in various genres, from the choose-your-own adventure mystery series Case Closed to the illustrated fantasy series The Mythics. The second book in the Incorruptibles series, Lightmare, is scheduled for release in June 2026.
“One of the skills Hamilton taught me is to keep pushing myself with writing,” Magaziner said. “I’m trying to push myself to do something new with craft and format every single time I write a book because otherwise, I’m not having fun and I’m not challenging myself.” •
Holly Mirales ’26
Inside Knowledge: Incarcerated People on the Failures of the American Prison by DORAN LARSON, the Edward North Chair of Greek and Greek Literature and professor of literature and creative writing emeritus, was named an Outstanding Academic Title for 2025 by Choice, a publishing unit of the American Library Association.
Published in 2024 by NYU Press, the book examines the American prison system through the eyes of those trapped within it. It is based on some of the thousands of articles, written by incarcerated individuals, prison workers, and volunteers, that make up the American Prison Writing Archive. •
Ty Seidule, the David
H. and Ann L. Hinchcliff Professor of History, and Connor Williams. A Promise Delivered – Ten American Heroes and the Battle to Rename Our Nation’s Military
(St. Martin’s Press, 2025).
In 2020, the U.S. Congress voted to rename nine military installations that honored Confederate leaders. Five years later, the Trump administration reversed course, reinstating the original names. This book, written by two of the eight members of the bipartisan Naming Commission, tells the inspiring stories of the 10 American heroes they had originally selected.
Bases
According to the publisher, “Over the course of 20 months, the commission completed their mission, carefully combing through years of American history and hearing from tens of thousands of Americans from all walks of life. The commission ultimately chose 10 Americans whose individual heroics reflect the collective best of all that America is and could be.
“ With their firsthand knowledge of the selection process, vice chair Ty Seidule and lead historian Connor Williams recount the lives of each of these American heroes, from former President Dwight D. Eisenhower to Civil War doctor Mary Walker to Cold War General Richard Cavazos. The individual histories nestled within each chapter prove why these men and women are true representatives of our country and how, by looking to them, America can aspire toward a better future ”
Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns describes the book as “a timely and inspiring history. The word ‘hero’ is bandied about so often that it begins to lack real meaning. How fortunate that Seidule and Williams have helped restore full value to the real actions that define heroism, sacrifice, virtue, and honor.” •
“The Witch Trap,” a short story by JENNIFER KLEIN HUDAK ’93, was among 20 works chosen for the 2025 edition of The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Nnedi Okorafor (Mariner Books). The tale centers on witches throughout history, a topic Hudak began researching as a senior fellow at Hamilton. A writer of short stories in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, she also penned “The Colonists,” which appeared in ECO24: The Year’s Best Speculative Ecofiction (2025), an anthology that showcases the year’s best nature-based science fiction and fantasy short stories. •
Alice Aldrich Hildebrand K’73. A Matter of Death and Life
(Wipf and Stock Publishers 2025).
In this powerful and intimate memoir of her time serving as her elderly father’s caregiver during his last years, the author shares reflections of their often contentious relationship, her decision to leave her job as a hospital chaplain (a loss in itself), her own struggles with addiction and anxiety, and balancing feelings of anger and resentment with those of love and hopefulness. Throughout, she touches on processing the realities of her own mortality.
Alice Hildebrand, a retired United Church of Christ minister, recorded minister in the Society of Friends, and board-certified chaplain, offers a guide for caregivers. Along with journal-like entries describing day-to-day life as her father’s health deteriorates, she offers poignant observations, vivid anecdotes, and inspiring biblical reflections.
As one reviewer noted, “No cheap sentiment here. Only fierce tenderness and savvy encouragement to honor one’s feelings, come what may.”
Hildebrand writes: “My experience as a companion to my dad in this time of his approaching death leads me to a deeper awareness of my fears of my own death, of ceasing to be, and of the seeming futility of life at all, since it always, always ends in death. The embracing of limitation. Or rather, more accurately, the struggle to accept limitation. The struggle to believe it is a good thing. Part of life; life-affirming, even ” •
Casting a Glow
SINCE ITS CONSTRUCTION in the early 1990s, the bridge linking Kirner-Johnson Building and Beinecke Student Activities Village has become one of the most traveled pathways on campus. A new iteration of the popular thoroughfare opened in October featuring a two-foot wider width and gentler slope, a snow-melt system, textured pavers to improve traction, and energy-efficient LED lighting fixtures.
PHOTO BY NANCY L. FORD
“
Your responsibility as an artist is to create the art you want to create, and no one can tell you how to do that, and no one should tell you not to do that. Whether that is a fiery political polemic or balloon animals, it needs to be what you and only you can express. ... If it enlightens, if it inspires, that’s a bonus.
— Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator, composer, and original star of Broadway’s Hamilton, speaking to an enthusiastic crowd in the field house on Sept. 29. For an example of the kind of creativity he’s describing — another performance that certainly inspired — turn to page 34.
