Hampshire College

	Expect More
	Hampshire is one of 25 colleges and universities featured in the 2010 Newsweek/Kaplan Guide for serving students’ needs "unusually well."

Hampshire is one of 40 colleges profiled in Colleges That Change Lives for "developing potential, values, initiative, and risk-taking" in students." CTCL says of Hampshire that "no college has students whose intellectual thyroids are more active or whose minds are more passionately engaged."

Hampshire College President Ralph Hexter is a signatory of the American College and Universities Presidents’ Climate Commitment, pledging institutional support for the reduction of greenhouse gases and global warming.

Hampshire is becoming a "language learning community." Students can integrate study of world languages into the topics and questions of most interest to them, while professors incorporate languages into their scholarship and teaching.

The 2010 Best 371 Colleges guide by Princeton Review lists Hampshire among the top 20 gay-friendly colleges, as identified by surveyed students. Campus Pride’s LGBT-Friendly "Campus Climate Index" scores Hampshire at 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Hampshire is one of 45 colleges and universities selected for the Bringing Theory to Practice Project, a national leadership coalition of schools committed to becoming models for what liberal education can offer—and most effectively deliver.

Hampshire and partnering institutions are involved in an assessment of student learning using the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, which provides an analysis of teaching practices, programs, and institutional structures that can best support liberal arts education.

Hampshire was awarded a $120,000 grant in December 2009 from the National Science Foundation for acquisition of a laser ablation chemistry system that will be used in faculty and student research projects. Hampshire professors were pioneers in the early use of this type of system in studying changes in the chemistry of hair and teeth during an individual’s life.

	Programs
	The Civil Liberties and Public Policy (CLPP) program at Hampshire supports youth leadership development projects that educate, mentor, and train new generations of reproductive rights activists and leaders.

Programs

Hampshire creates innovative programs that don’t just combine but transcend traditional academic disciplines: Culture, Brain, and Development (CBD) looks at human behavior and interactions from neurological, biological, environmental, psychological, and cultural frameworks.

Design, Art, and Technology: Innovation Synergy (DART) supports work by student and faculty artists, computer scientists, designers, architects, animators, engineers, inventors, and innovators.

Students interested in architecture and design can do hands-on work through a program Hampshire and the Five College Architecture Program have with the New York Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies (NYIAUS). Professors liken the studio immersion experience at NYIAUS to "an architecture boot camp."

	Green Hampshire
	Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Science Steven R. Roof is co-principal investigator in an international climate change study funded by the National Science Foundation. It involves student summer research examining evidence of climate change above the Arctic Circle. Related video >>

Faculty

Philosophy professor Christoph Cox was awarded a 2009 Arts Writers Grant from the Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation.

Professor Paul Dickson teaches his students fundamental computer science skills as they build video games from scratch on iPhones.

Hampshire College and Assistant Professor of Integrated Science and Humanities Salman Hameed were awarded a $50,000 grant by the Carnegie Corporation of New York to plan and host a fall 2009 international conference on Darwin and evolution in the Muslim world. A team of Hampshire researchers led by Professor Hameed received a $372,500 National Science Foundation grant for a study of the perspectives on evolution held by physicians and medical students in the Muslim world.

Professor of Ecology Charlene D’Avanzo is among scientists and educators collaborating to create the largest ecological project in history. When completed in 2016 the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will provide a research platform for monitoring and responding to the nation’s most pressing environmental challenges. Professor D’Avanzo is also lead investigator on a national research project on improving the teaching of biology. The study is funded through a $340,830 National Science Foundation grant.

Dean of Faculty and Professor of Biological Anthropology Alan Goodman is past president of the American Anthropological Association and co-directs the largest public education project on race. "RACE: Are We So Different?" includes a traveling museum exhibit and the educational website www.understandingRACE.org. Dean Goodman was invited by the Congressional Black Caucus to speak on the opening panel of its Discussion on Race in fall 2009.

A Hampshire-based team led by Professor of Computer Science Lee Spector used evolutionary computation to solve a century-old algebra problem with startling rapidity and efficiency, winning the 2008 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference’s top prize. Research by Spector and his students leads to an intriguing question: Can computerized Darwinian processes help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems? Watch related video >>

	Bit Films
	Media arts and sciences professor Chris Perry created Bit Films to bridge the gap between the animation industry and academia—and to showcase animation projects created at Hampshire.

Professor of Literary Journalism Michael Lesy, author of Wisconsin Death Trip and 12 other books, was a 2006 USA Fellow, a national program that recognizes distinguished working artists. Watch related video >>

Professor of Physics Herb Bernstein is a co-founder of the Anacapa Society, a new national organization of theoretical and computational physicists working in primarily undergraduate institutions.

Professor of Chemistry Dula Amarasiriwardena and a group of his Hampshire students wanted to solve the mystery of what killed the ancient Chinchorro mummies of Chile. By performing laser analysis on hair and teeth samples taken from village residents, they discovered indications that the area’s drinking water contains dangerously high levels of heavy metals, particularly arsenic.

For more than two decades, Professor of Literature and Gender Studies Jill Lewis has used education as a powerful tool in the international fight against the devastating spread of the HIV epidemic. Approaching the issue from cultural and gender-focused perspectives, she has developed and implemented HIV-awareness and -prevention initiatives in parts of North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.

Professor of Peace and World Security Studies (PAWSS) Michael Klare—the author of 13 books on geopolitical topics and a frequent media commentator on issues of energy and stability—was among experts interviewed for a special ABC News environmental documentary, Earth 2100, in summer 2009.

Professor of Russian Literature Polina Barskova was something of a prodigy, releasing her first book of poems at age 15. Today, she is widely recognized as one of the leading Russian poets under age 40. Watch related video >>