All News

Award-winning author and journalist Christopher Dickey will deliver the Commencement address at Hamilton College on Sunday, May 25, at 10:30 a.m., in the Margaret Bundy Scott Field House. Dickey will be awarded an honorary degree, along with Deborah Bial, founder and president of the Posse Foundation, and Thomas Schwarz '66, president of Purchase College. Singer and songwriter Rosanne Cash will offer the Baccalaureate sermon on Saturday, May 24, at 3 p.m., in the Scott Field House. She will receive an honorary degree from Hamilton in December.

Hamilton’s annual Class & Charter Day celebration concluded the 2012-13 academic year on Monday, May 13, with a convocation in the Chapel. Students received prizes for academic achievement and teaching awards were given to faculty members.

Hamilton College’s Class & Charter Day celebration, an annual convocation recognizing student and faculty excellence during the preceding academic year, will take place on Monday, May 13, at 4:15 p.m., in the College Chapel.

When Mark Kasdorf ’06 graduated from Hamilton, he didn’t know the first thing about entrepreneurship—the jargon, the strategies, the possibilities. “It was a whole world that wasn’t visible to me,” he said. “I wanted to make the world visible to Hamilton students.” And in 2011, Kasdorf did just that. He organized the first Hamilton Pitch Competition, inviting students, alumni and friends to propose their ideas for new businesses to a panel of judges. On the weekend of March 30 to April 1, the second annual Pitch Competition took place in Kirner-Johnson’s Red Pit.

From 2006 until 2010, Robert Bilheimer ’66 traveled the world to meet with survivors of human trafficking and record their stories.  He filmed on five continents: North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.  During his travels, he also examined the societies and systems in which human trafficking existed, and its impact on the community’s collective well-being.

On July 26, John "Skip" McKoy '66, the director of programmatic initiatives for Fight for Children, was appointed by District Mayor Vincent Gray as chair of the newly formed State Early Childhood Development Coordinating Council. The 21-member council is tasked with improving communication and collaboration to carry out state and federally funded early childhood programs.

Over the course of Reunions ’11 Weekend, speakers at 30 Alumni College events informed the more than 1,000 returning alumni and guests on a wide variety of topics, ranging from urban redevelopment to food allergies to healthcare to sustainable investments. Here are brief reports on six of those sessions.

On Nov. 3, Hamilton's Chapter of FACE AIDS presented A Closer Walk, the first film to depict humankind's confrontation with the global AIDS epidemic, directed by Robert Bilheimer '66. A Closer Walk draws on over 50 interviews with people with HIV/AIDS, orphans, doctors, scientists, researchers, economists, human rights advocates, and government leaders and explores the causes of AIDS, human rights and dignity, and the universal need for action.

Property developer Stephen Steinberg ’66, a generous supporter of the College, is establishing a $1 million endowment to create the Steinberg-Lalli Scholarship Fund. Students with need who are accepted to Hamilton from the Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, the public secondary school in Steinberg’s community, will be given first consideration for support from this fund. Steinberg’s objective is to support Hamilton’s need-blind initiative and encourage students from the Acton and Boxborough area to apply to the college.