Biddy Martin to Step Down as President of Amherst College at the End of the Academic Year

Carolyn “Biddy” Martin, who has served as the nineteenth president of Amherst College since 2011, has announced that she will conclude her tenure next summer, after 11 years leading one of the nation’s most prestigious liberal arts colleges. Following a year of sabbatical, Dr. Martin intends to return to Amherst as a member of the faculty to teach.

“The end of the 2021-22 academic year will be the right time for me to begin my next chapter,” Dr. Martin said. “I look forward to writing, having more time to read, lingering over coffee with friends, playing more, and contributing what I can to the causes that matter to me. It will also be a good time for a new president to assume the role: the College is in excellent financial shape, has a remarkably talented and diverse student body and an outstanding and increasingly diverse faculty and staff, exciting projects in the works, and is making progress toward its goal of inclusiveness and equity. It is an honor to be part of an intellectually curious community that aims high, values critical and independent thought, finds joy in one another’s company, and is committed to current and future generations.”

From 2008 to 2011, Dr. Martin served as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin’s flagship campus in Madison. Previously, she served as professor and provost at Cornell University. She joined the Cornell University faculty in 1985 and served there for more than two decades.

Dr. Martin is a native of Lynchburg, Virginia. She was valedictorian of her high school and was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She earned a master’s degree in German literature at Middlebury College in Vermont and a Ph.D. in German literature from the University of Wisconsin.