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Hamilton College

Introduction

No matter when you arrive at Hamilton College, your first drive up College Hill Road will make a significant impression on you. If it’s summertime, you’ll probably be amazed by the number of people you see bustling around. Many students choose to stay on campus during the summer to conduct research with professors, work in one of the offices, or help out with the various camps that Hamilton hosts. If your arrival takes place during the spring or fall, you’ll likely be caught off guard by Hamilton’s breathtaking campus—the tree-lined paths and stone and red brick buildings are especially gorgeous when flowers are blooming and leaves are either sprouting or turning an astonishing blaze of reds, oranges, and yellows. And if it’s wintertime, you’re definitely just praying your car triumphs over the snow and makes it up the hill! But whatever the season, you’ll probably be greeted by at least one passerby on campus, and you may begin to understand exactly what it means to be a part of the community.

Hamilton is a small liberal arts institution set atop a rather large hill in the middle of Central New York. Because of its location, the college almost demands that its students become part of a vibrant and close-knit campus community. At Hamilton, there’s no big city full of distractions to pull you away from the dorms (where you’ll likely live for all four years), and there’s nowhere near enough people on campus to let you even consider being anonymous. At times, particularly during the winter, this situation can be a bit frustrating, to say the least. But, because it absolutely necessitates that students get to know each other and become involved in campus life, it is also precisely this situation that leads to the creation of the unique Hamilton community that many grads yearn for even years after they’ve left the Hill.

History, Tradition, and the Future

As a newcomer walking around Hamilton’s campus, you’d probably notice that the parts of campus you see on your left look quite different from those that you see on your right. This is because College Hill Road once ran between two separate colleges. On the right lies the north side of campus and the origins of today’s College. Founded by Samuel Kirkland in 1793 as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy and chartered as Hamilton College in 1812, the Hamilton of today (which was once all male) is the third-oldest college in New York State. On the left lies the south side of campus, which used to be Kirkland College, an independent, experimental, all-female college that was founded by Hamilton in 1968. The two schools merged in 1978, but the vastly different architecture—stone and red brick vs. poured concrete— makes their history hard to forget.

Hamilton does not encourage its students to forget its long history. The college has worked hard to preserve and promote the ideals of both Hamilton and Kirkland Colleges. From the Hamilton side comes the current emphasis on developing writing and speaking skills, and a strong association with science, social science, and government service. From the Kirkland side comes a keen interest in the arts, a more liberal view of what a college education should include, and a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary studies. In many ways, Kirkland complemented Hamilton very well, and students today benefit from a greater diversity of academic offerings due to Hamilton’s continuous incorporation of both schools’ strengths. Since 2000, the college has invested more than $125 million in new and renovated facilities for science, the social sciences, and fitness. New space for the arts and student activities are planned. One of Hamilton’s biggest assets is its careful blend of tradition and progress—it is truly a college that knows where it has been and eagerly anticipates where it is going.

The Sacerdote Series: Great Names at Hamilton

Once or twice a year, participants in the Sacerdote Great Names Series come to Hamilton to give a speech, participate in a question-and-answer session, meet with selected students, and, generally, teach a class or two.

  • 2008—Jon Stewart, The Daily Show
  • 2006—Aretha Franklin, musician —Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States
  • 2005—Tom Brokaw, NBC News
  • 2004—William Jefferson Clinton, Former President of the United States
  • 2003—Bill Cosby, Comedian, actor, and author
  • 2002—Madeleine Albright, Former Secretary of State (March) —Rudolph Giuliani,Former Mayor of New York City (September)
  • 2001—Jimmy Carter, Former President of the United States
  • 2000—Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Capetown, South Africa
  • 1999—Lady Margaret Thatcher, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
  • 1998—F.W. de Klerk, Former President of South Africa (April) —B.B. King, Musician (October)
  • 1997—Elie Wiesel, Author
  • 1996—Colin Powell, Former Secretary of State (April) —James Carville and Mary Matalin, Political Strategists (October)

Hamilton Students

So, if Hamilton is moving rapidly toward the future, who is going to take it there? The answer: its 1,800 students, 59 percent of whom come from public high schools and 41 percent of whom come from private high schools. Hamilton students originate in 49 U.S. states and 45 countries, and the student body is 5.4 percent international, 3.9 percent African-American, 0.9 percent Native American, 7.1 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, 4.6 percent Hispanic, and 70.4 percent Caucasian.

Basically, regardless of their backgrounds, Hamilton students have several traits in common and, as such, comprise a unique group. They tend to be fairly conservative people who highly value a strong liberal arts education and a commitment to excellence. They appreciate being seen as individuals, and not just as numbers, in a close-knit and vibrant community. And they have a wry sense of humor about, and a curious appreciation of, their rural surroundings and often less-than-favorable climate. Ultimately, they are intelligent, well-rounded people who tend to look back fondly on their time “on the Hill.”

The bottom line is this: Your Hamilton experience is what you make of it. If you intend to spend your four years shuffling to and from class with your head down, making the occasional trip to the library or dining hall, and staring forlornly out your window at the snow, you’re going to have a miserable and isolating time indeed. But if you’re willing to take some risks, join some groups, go to some parties, and really, truly engage with some professors (inside and outside of class), you’re almost bound to have a rewarding experience. You’ll grow from being an uncertain freshman to a senior who has gained some incredible friends and experiences and loves where you are.

It’s the things that weren’t expected or immediately perceived at Hamilton that were the most important to me. It’s the four-hour-long dinners in the dining halls that no one wanted to be the first to leave
the first walk in Root Glen in the spring
the sentence that your professor casually tosses over her shoulder that makes you adopt academia as your new religion
the omelet that you waited 30 minutes in line for on a Sunday morning because the Omelet God was working that day. It’s the late nights spent chatting with friends, the play you buy tickets to so you can cheer on your friend who you ran lines with for three months
I never imagined myself doing stand-up comedy, working in Admissions, or majoring in a subject that would require me to learn another language and use quantum physics, but four years on the Hill can encourage you to take some bizarre, wonderful, and relatively risk-free challenges that can change your life. —Jane Simmons ’04

Information Summary

Ranks 4th in New York and 32nd overall. See the entire top 2,000 colleges and universities list
Overall Score (about) 98.1
Total Cost On-Campus Attendance $69,990
Admission Success rate N/A
ACT / SAT 75%ile scores 34 / 1510
Student Ratio Students-to-Faculty 10 : 1
Retention (full-time / part-time) 94% / N/A
Enrollment Total (all students) 2,005

Academics

At the heart of Hamilton’s academic mission lie two main goals:

  1. Develop well-rounded, accomplished, critical-thinking individuals who continually thirst for knowledge and who are ready for nearly any challenge the “real world” might throw at them.
  2. Produce students who are able to express themselves clearly and effectively through written and oral communication.

No small challenge. But Hamilton has a long history of accomplishing both of these goals, chiefly through its dedication to the quintessential liberal arts education. At Hamilton, students are encouraged to take a wide variety of courses in a number of disciplines so that they may develop the most balanced, informed perspective on life they can. In so doing, they become better prepared to meet life’s challenges because they are able to examine and analyze almost any issue from a variety of viewpoints, which is far more effective than seeing only one.

Consequently, although Hamilton students select their concentrations (typically one or two subject areas out of about forty options) and their minors (one discipline out of about fortyfive options) during the second semester of their sophomore year, many spend their first couple of semesters—and many semesters beyond that—taking a variety of courses, a good number of which probably seem entirely unrelated to their intended or declared concentrations. An economics concentrator, for example, may take dance or biology classes, and a religious studies major might find himself or herself in a calculus or a French class. The excitement and challenge for most students is figuring out how these seemingly disparate disciplines overlap, and the biggest reward tends to come when they realize they’re using information or perspectives they gained in one area of study to inform or improve upon their work in another.

The Open Curriculum

In a continuing effort to help students acquire the most solid education possible, Hamilton recently examined its academic requirements and instituted the Hamilton Plan for Liberal Education. Under this plan, Hamilton did away with distribution requirements and, instead, established an open curriculum. In this way, students have more responsibility, as well as more freedom, in obtaining the education they desire. Hamilton also began strongly encouraging students to participate in a variety of first- and second-year proseminars. These proseminars, which are comprised of no more than sixteen students, introduce students to Hamilton’s culture of close professor-student relationships and emphasize the development of strong writing, speaking, and study skills via these relationships.

Writing Skills

Because one of Hamilton’s primary objectives is to produce students who write well, all students are required to pass at least three writing-intensive classes, each taken during a different semester, during their first two years of study. In these classes, the majority of grades that students accumulate tend to come from writing papers, and students generally have the opportunity to revise most, if not all, of these papers to ensure that they understand the processes and principles behind good writing.

The Writing Center

In the event that students need or want more support in developing their writing skills, they may visit the Nesbitt-Johnston Writing Center. At the Writing Center, students bring in any piece of writing they’re working on—from essays for class to cover letters to senior theses— and meet one-on-one for an hour with a peer tutor. Usually, these conferences focus on grammar, organization, structure, ideas, or the writing process in general, and many students find that their writing improves dramatically over their four years, provided they invest the effort.

The Honor Code

Because Hamilton is a school that takes academics quite seriously, all incoming students must sign the school’s Honor Code, which basically says that students pledge to maintain academic honesty at all times. Students are thereby treated more or less as adults and their honesty is trusted and respected. As a result, professors do not generally feel obligated to police exams and may assign take-home exams that students are on their honor to complete fairly.

Collaborative Atmosphere

At the same time, although the Honor Code is quite serious and academics are rather rigorous, the general academic atmosphere on campus is far more collaborative than it is competitive. Many students hold themselves to high academic standards, so a certain degree of competition is created that way, but few, if any, students engage in the type of cutthroat academics that are rumored to be typical of many academically prestigious institutions. Hamilton students are much more likely to get together at CafĂ© Opus, the campus coffeehouse, for a group study session or to lend each other their notes to study from than they are to steal each others’ class materials. Because of this cooperative atmosphere, many students make some of their best friends by working on group projects or having late night study sessions.

I find my relationships with a lot of my professors to be collaborative. It feels more scholar-to-scholar than teacher-to-student. This relationship keeps me invested in my coursework because I feel like my professors truly value my thoughts. —Ann Horwitz, ’06

And this cooperative atmosphere tends to extend to professor-student relationships as well. In fact, as previously mentioned, close professor-student relationships are one of the hallmarks of a Hamilton education. Most classes have twenty or fewer students, and some have fewer than ten. Students therefore have ample opportunities to engage in their education and almost have no choice but to participate in class. After all, it’s hard to slip through the cracks or fade into the background in a class of fifteen students!

Most Popular Fields of Study

Gallery

Science Centre :: Hamilton College
Chapel :: Hamilton College

Unique Programs

Because Hamilton is so committed to the concept of a liberal arts education, it offers—and strongly encourages—a variety of options to get students off the Hill and out into the world. Three of the most noteworthy are described below:

Study Off-Campus
Approximately forty percent of each junior class studies away from campus, and Hamilton has its own programs in Paris, Madrid, Beijing, New York City, and Washington, D.C. Hamilton also encourages its students to seek out other schools’ programs if they wish to go elsewhere in the world. As Katie McLoughlin, ’05, a government concentrator, notes, “Acquiring permission and processing the paperwork for spending my semesters in Washington, D.C., and Athens, Greece, was one of the easiest things I’ve done at Hamilton. The school is very non-bureaucratic, and there is very little red tape standing between you and your abroad experience.”
Alternative Spring Break
To do something philanthropic with one-half of their two-week spring break, several groups of ten or so Hamilton students take school-owned vans to poverty-stricken areas and work to make a difference for a week. Regardless of whether they are painting churches or volunteering with local Boys and Girls Clubs, almost everyone who participates in these trips comes back raving about the bonding experiences they had, the people they met, and how good helping out felt.
Antarctica
Each year (since 1988), geology professor Eugene Domack takes several students to Antarctica to conduct research funded by the National Science Foundation. Hamilton is the only U.S. college with this type of program.

Admissions

Hamilton is a small liberal arts institution that takes great pride in its commitment to personal instruction and independent research. As such, the size of each entering class is kept relatively small, with a target of fewer than 500 students. At the same time, because Hamilton is growing in notoriety, the number of applications the Admissions Office receives each year keeps increasing, and Hamilton’s acceptance rate has consequently declined

So, how do you get yourself noticed (and accepted!)? When making its decisions, Hamilton’s Admissions Office looks first and foremost for students with a proven record of academic achievement and for those with strong academic potential. In fact, eighty-seven percent of accepted students ranked in the top ten percent of their high school classes. Hamilton also seeks out well-rounded and involved students, so a strong activity resume demonstrating your leadership skills, extracurricular involvement, athletic accomplishments, or community service may make up for a slightly lower GPA. Additionally, it never hurts to showcase your special talents or interests, so if you have tapes of your athletic, theatrical, or dance performances, or if you have samples of your art, photos, poems, stories, or music, feel free to send them along. (Contact the Admissions Office or check the admissions pages on Hamilton’s web site for the preferred format of these submissions.)

In terms of actual admission requirements, Hamilton is like most colleges in that it accepts the Common Application and requires an application fee, which is waived for those who apply online. Also required are a school counselor evaluation, a teacher evaluation, a personal statement, your choice of standardized test scores, and a midyear grade report. Hamilton also asks that students submit a graded sample of their expository writing, such as an analytical essay or a research paper (but not lab reports or creative writing), and that they complete Hamilton’s own supplement to the Common Application. An interview is not required, but is strongly recommended.

Because Hamilton believes that students can demonstrate their academic potential in a variety of ways, it no longer requires that applicants submit scores from the SAT test (though roughly seventy percent of all accepted students have submitted scores, with the middle fifty percent scoring between 1350 and 1500, based on 1600). Instead, Hamilton now simply requires either the SAT, ACT, or three AP/IB, or SAT Subject Test scores: one that reflects quantitative skills, one that reflects verbal and writing skills, and one test of the student’s choice. (The Admissions Office can provide a list of tests that satisfy the quantitative and verbal requirements.) And when in doubt, you can submit a variety of tests and the Admissions Committee will select the best scores from among them.

Financial Aid

Admittedly, Hamilton is an expensive school. Very expensive. Fortunately, though, every year, Hamilton offers financial aid to about fifty percent of its students via scholarships, loans, and campus jobs. Student budgets should take into account expenses such as books, personal needs, and travel, in addition to tuition, room, and board.

Student Financial Aid Details

Ranks 5631st for the average student loan amount.
Secrets to getting the best in New York.

Students

Hamilton students know that mixing work and play is the key to a rich, fulfilling college experience, and it is this universal commitment to balance that makes Hamilton the vibrant community that it is. Although Hamilton students take their studies seriously, most are involved in at least one extracurricular activity that gets them out of the library at crucial times and allows them to meet other students with similar interests.

Some of the best conversations I had at Hamilton took place in my professors’ homes. Professors became more friends than teachers at times like these, and discussing academics, careers, or life in general tended to be easier and more interesting outside the formal atmosphere of classrooms and offices. Meeting a professor’s family is a very pleasant and personal aspect of a small college—and when I discovered that my French professor’s nine-year-old twins spoke French ten times better than I did, it motivated me to work much harder in her class.

Clubs and Organizations

Other students occupy their time by joining one (or several!) of Hamilton’s approximately 110 clubs and organizations. These groups cover just about any interest under the sun, so there really is something for everybody. These clubs and organizations plan and participate in their own events, and many also hold a variety of social functions—both with alcohol and without—that are open to the entire campus.

In addition, because Hamilton is so small and non-bureaucratic, if a particular interest isn’t already represented by a club or organization, a dedicated student should have no trouble starting a group to reflect that passion. Within the past several years, for example, over two dozen new groups have cropped up. In fact, Hamilton students are so open-minded about extracurriculars that interested students have started up a “varsity streaking team” that actually travels to other colleges and (for better or worse!) has gained national attention. On the other hand, though, because the school is so small, when interest in some of the smaller organizations begins to wane, certain groups may go dormant until someone new revives interest.

Activities are very accessible to everyone on campus. Unlike at larger schools where you can’t work on the newspaper unless you’re a journalism major or you can’t debate unless you’re pre-law, at Hamilton hard work and interest can usually make up for no prior experience. —Alex Sear, ’05

Get Involved

Alex Sear, ’05, a philosophy concentrator, says, “I actually picked Hamilton over other NESCAC schools because the students seemed to have such active social lives with many networks of friends, and the college encouraged them to do so.” And she’s right—in any given year, Hamilton students can choose to participate in around 110 different clubs and organizations.

Entertainment

Because Central New York is not exactly an entertainment mecca, many groups work to bring diversions to campus. The Emerson Gallery, Hamilton’s on-campus art gallery, for example, spices up its regular offerings of primarily American, British, and Native American work by bringing lecturers and special exhibitions, and the Department of Theater and Dance brings a variety of solo performers and ensemble groups. (Note, too, that student exhibitions in art and performances in theater and dance are also quite common, either as part of class requirements or as part of the fun had by some of the more artistic extracurricular groups.) Moreover, a variety of student groups work to bring guest lecturers that pique their own interest and that might not correspond with the offerings of any one particular department.

Movies

If the silver screen is your thing, the Samuel Kirkland Film Society brings both classic and relatively current movies to campus several times a semester and shows them multiple times over the course of a given weekend. Many students enjoy recruiting their friends, popping a bag of popcorn, and going to watch these free films, which are shown movie-theater style in one of the larger lecture halls on campus.

Music

The Campus Activities Board (CAB) generally brings comedians and larger-name musical acts to the Tolles Pavilion, and those coordinating the Acoustic Coffeehouse series ensure that interested students can sip free coffee while taking in the soulful stylings of well-known artists as well as up-and-coming stars. Within the past few years, the likes of Guster, The Kooks, Jason Mraz, Ben Folds, Dar Williams, Dropkick Murphys, Howie Day, Citizen Cops, Jamie Lidell, and Ellis Paul have all graced the Hamilton stage. Music makes its way to the Hill in a variety of ways outside of CAB and Acoustic Coffeehouse events, too. The Music Department brings visiting artists and lecturers, the school runs eight different ensemble groups that perform regularly, and students taking classes in the music department also give the occasional recital. Additionally, Hamilton is home to four student-run a cappella groups that perform several times each semester: Special K (all female), the Hamiltones (coed), Tumbling After (all female), and the Buffers (all male).

Greek Life

Currently, the school recognizes ten fraternities and seven sororities, some of which are national and some of which are local. Unlike at many colleges, though, frats and sororities at Hamilton do not have their own houses, a situation that some students feel is beneficial for Hamilton’s social life because it means that societies do not tend to isolate themselves from the rest of the campus community by having friendships, living arrangements, and social events that revolve entirely around the society. On the other hand, some students do feel that there is a real divide between Greek-affiliated students and Independents. This ongoing debate creates an interesting Greek/non- Greek dynamic on campus at times, and conversations revolving around fraternities and sororities can become quite heated. Regardless, fraternities and sororities do tend to contribute substantially to Hamilton’s social scene by throwing parties, coordinating lectures, and organizing philanthropic events.

Parties

In terms of the late night social scene, there are usually a variety of parties—both with and without alcohol—that students can attend. As mentioned before, many different clubs and organizations hold parties, and most of these gatherings tend to be open to the entire campus. They also very often have a theme, and many Hamilton students seize the opportunity to venture out to the local Salvation Army for appropriate (and cheap!) attire for the evening.

Bon Appétit!

You might not think about it much—or you might not have considered it at all—but the quality of the food in the dining halls is a very important aspect of college life. After all, you’re most likely going to be eating this food two or three times a day, at least five or six days a week, for four years. That’s a lot of meals. Fortunately, Hamilton’s food service provider, Bon AppĂ©tit, does a great job of making a variety of fresh and largely healthy dishes for the Hamilton community. Sure, they have some “misses,” but the majority of the time the food is quite good, particularly for college standards. But what’s even more impressive about Bon AppĂ©tit is its connection to the students. If you have a favorite recipe from home that you’re just dying to have on campus, bring it in and Bon AppĂ©tit will look into making it. If you’re sick of seeing only apples, oranges, and bananas as your fruit options, let them know and you might walk in to find kiwis, mangos, plums, and pears the next day. And if you and your friends want to have a picnic in the pavilion, just give Bon AppĂ©tit the meal card numbers of everyone involved and they’ll set you up with hamburger patties for grilling, buns, chips, sodas
the whole shebang. It’s a small detail, but it’s just one more aspect of Hamilton that makes the on-campus community feel a little more like home.

Student Enrollment Demographics

Student Graduation Demographics

Athletics

For about thirty-five percent of the student body, the extracurricular activity of choice is playing on a sports team. Hamilton sponsors twenty-eight varsity sports (fourteen men’s, fourteen women’s), which are affiliated with the NCAA Division III, the New England Small College Athletic Conference, and the Liberty League.

One group that always makes its presence known at sporting events is a rambunctious crowd of students known as the Dawg Pound. This group, which is comprised largely of other athletes, dons ridiculous costumes, amps up Continental spirit, and heckles the opposing team. To be honest, though, despite the Dawg Pound’s enthusiasm and the talent of many of Hamilton’s athletes, Hamilton’s athletic events are generally not that well attended. True, some sports, such as men’s hockey and basketball, tend to be a little more popular than others, and the women’s lacrosse team won the 2008 national championship, but, on the whole, Hamilton is not known for having throngs of people at football or field hockey games. That being said, however, student spirit has seemed to be on the upswing in recent years and the games are free and open to the public.

And even though Hamilton’s organized athletics do not dominate life on campus, approximately sixty percent of students participate in intramurals at one point or another. Hamilton sponsors about fifteen intramural activities and over a dozen club sports each year, and because Hamilton is such a small school, it is relatively easy for anyone to set up an intramural league or pick-up game.

Local Community

Local Bars

Should a curious Hamilton student have the desire to venture off campus for his or her entertainment, though, Don’s Rok and the Village Tavern are the two main watering holes down in the village of Clinton. And, in an effort to keep students safe at night, Hamilton runs free jitneys (twelve-person vans) between the village and the center of campus well into the night so that students are not tempted to drive up and down the Hill.

Local Flavor

Although Hamilton and the surrounding area certainly can’t offer the same variety of restaurants as, say, New York City, Hamilton students have nevertheless found some surprisingly unique and tasty places that are great for a study break, a relaxed Sunday brunch, or a weekend dinner out with family or friends.

  • The Only CafĂ©: Comfort food prepared in a home-y setting. There’s no set menu; the chef makes what he feels like making that day, from mac ‘n’ cheese to pulled pork pizza.
  • The Phoenician: Family-owned restaurant with authentic Lebanese food.
  • La Petite Maison: Fine, sophisticated French cuisine. Popular on Family Weekend.
  • The Rio Grande (or “Tex Mex,” as it is more commonly known around campus): Moderately priced Mexican food. Perfect for Friday and Saturday night dinners.
  • Nola’s, formerly the Adirondack Coffeehouse: Small cafĂ© and coffeehouse with homemade soups and salads. Located just down the Hill on Park Row in Clinton.
  • Breakfast at Tiffany’s: Known for its hit-the- spot, early morning (think 2 A.M.) eats.
  • Piggy Pat’s Barbecue: Their motto is “Put some South in Yo’ Mouff”
’nuff said. And if you’ve got a craving for Italian or Indian food, just take a drive into Utica and explore the many options the city has to offer.

Alumni

Thanks to their broad liberal arts backgrounds, Hamilton graduates go on to engage in a wide variety of pursuits. In terms of statistics, in recent years, around seventy-two percent of graduating seniors chose to take jobs and about twenty percent chose to enter graduate or professional school immediately after graduation and three percent pursue fellowships (Watson, Fulbright, etc.). About fifty percent entered graduate school within five years of graduation.

The Career Center

One resource that helps prepare students for their post-Hamilton pursuits is the Career Center. Students may make appointments at the Career Center at any point during their time at Hamilton and, in fact, are encouraged to do so as early as their first year of studies. During these appointments, students meet one-on-one with either a career counselor or a Career Center intern, depending on their needs, and they discuss a wide variety of topics, including career assessment materials, graduate school applications, cover letters, interview strategies, finding an internship, and networking to find a job. If students so request, they may schedule a “mock interview” to prepare for either graduate school or professional interviews.

The Career Center also arranges lunches featuring Hamilton alumni who have returned to campus to talk about their current careers, how they have gotten to this point in their careers, and the industry in which they work in general. The lunches not only help prepare students for continuing their education or entering the professional world, but they provide valuable networking experiences as well.

Alumni Relations and the “Hamilton Connection”

These meetings are not the only way that members of the Hamilton community network with each other, however. Hamilton has alumni associations that plan outings and events in many large cities throughout the United States. And because Hamilton is such a tight-knit community, alumni actually attend these events, which is not always the case with alumni of larger colleges and universities. These events are great ways for recent grads to make contact with older, more established alumni, and they provide a venue in which newer alums can network to find a job, make new friends, or learn about the city to which they have just moved.

Other times, older alumni will simply make the effort to connect with more recent grads on their own. When Elizabeth Backer, ’04, a public policy concentrator, began her first day of work at a market research company in Boston, for example, the company’s HR department sent out an e-mail introducing her as a new hire. Within hours, Liz received an e-mail from Andrew Stockwell, ’96, a new colleague who wanted to take Liz out to lunch based purely on their Hamilton connection.

Prominent Grads

  • Elihu Root, 1864, U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of War, Secretary of State, Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
  • James S. Sherman, 1878, Vice- President of the United States
  • William M. Bristol, 1882, cofounder, Bristol-Myers Co.
  • Ezra Pound, 1905, poet
  • B.F. Skinner, 1926, behavioral psychologist
  • Paul Greengard, 1948, 2000 Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine
  • Thomas E. Meehan, 1951, Tony Award-winning playwright (The Producers, Hairspray)
  • Robert Moses, 1956, Leader of the Civil Rights Movement (1960s), currently a pioneer in algebra education (The Algebra Project)
  • Edward S. Walker, Jr., 1962, Professor at Hamilton, Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates
  • A.G. Lafley, 1969, President and CEO, Procter & Gamble
  • Kevin Kennedy, 1970, Managing Director, Goldman, Sachs & Co.
  • Melinda Wagner, 1979, 1999 Pulitzer Prize in Music Composition
  • Mary Bonauto, 1983, Civil Rights Attorney (gay marriage amendment)

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