Amherst College

Amherst College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1821 when Williams College president Zephaniah Swift Moore attempted to relocate that institution to the town.阿默斯特学院是一所位于美国马萨诸塞州阿默斯特的私立文理学院，1821年因威廉姆斯学院院长泽法尼亚·斯威夫特·摩尔试图把该校迁往阿默斯特而创办。

It is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution that enrolled 1,914 full-time students in fall 2024 and lets students choose among 42 major programs under an open curriculum with no core or distribution requirements.该校为只招收本科生的四年制学院，2024年秋季有1,914名全日制学生，实行开放课程体系，学生可从42个专业中自选，无须完成核心课程或分布要求。

Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher education in Massachusetts, competes in NCAA Division III as a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference, and belongs to the Five College Consortium with Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.阿默斯特学院是马萨诸塞州第三古老的高等教育机构，以新英格兰小型学院体育联盟成员身份参加NCAA第三级别联赛，并与史密斯学院、曼荷莲学院、罕布什尔学院和马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校同属五校联盟。

History

In 1812 residents of Amherst raised funds for a secondary school, Amherst Academy, which opened in December 1814, was incorporated in 1816 and counted Emily Dickinson, Sylvester Graham and Mary Lyon among its students.1812年阿默斯特居民为创办中学阿默斯特学院学校筹资，该校1814年12月开学，1816年获得法人资格，学生中包括诗人艾米莉·狄金森、饮食改革者西尔维斯特·格雷厄姆和曼荷莲学院创办人玛丽·里昂。
On 18 November 1817 the academy adopted a plan to fund free instruction for indigent young men of promising talent who wished to enter the Christian ministry, a project that soon required far more money than the school could raise.1817年11月18日，该校通过一项计划，为有志于基督教事工的贫困而有才华的青年提供免费教育，这一项目所需资金很快远超学校自身的筹资能力。
The committee overseeing the project concluded that a separate institution was needed, and on 18 August 1818 the Amherst Academy board of trustees accepted that conclusion and began building a new college.负责该项目的委员会认定必须另建一所独立学院，1818年8月18日阿默斯特学院学校董事会接受了这一结论，并着手筹建新学院。
Amherst College was founded in 1821, Zephaniah Swift Moore was elected its first president on 8 May 1821, and the college opened with 47 students, 15 of whom had followed him from Williams College.阿默斯特学院于1821年创办，泽法尼亚·斯威夫特·摩尔于1821年5月8日当选首任院长，学院开学时有47名学生，其中15人随他从威廉姆斯学院转来。
Moore died on 29 June 1823 and was replaced by Heman Humphrey, a Williams College trustee, under whom the college secured its standing in the Connecticut River valley.摩尔于1823年6月29日去世，由威廉姆斯学院董事希曼·汉弗莱接任，学院在康涅狄格河谷的地位由此确立。
The Massachusetts legislature granted Amherst its official charter on 21 February 1825, a date that is reproduced on the college seal.马萨诸塞州议会于1825年2月21日向阿默斯特学院颁发正式特许状，这一日期被刻在校徽上。
Edward Jones became Amherst's first Black graduate in 1826.爱德华·琼斯于1826年成为阿默斯特学院首位黑人毕业生。
Amherst grew quickly, and for two years in the mid-1830s it was the second largest college in the United States, behind Yale College.阿默斯特学院发展迅速，在19世纪30年代中期有两年时间是美国规模第二大的学院，仅次于耶鲁学院。
In 1835 the college tried a parallel course of study that stressed English, French, Spanish, chemistry and economics instead of Greek and Latin, but the experiment did not displace the classical curriculum until the next century.1835年学院试行了一套并行课程，以英语、法语、西班牙语、化学和经济学取代希腊语与拉丁语，但这一实验直到20世纪才真正取代古典课程。
Amherst was founded as a non-sectarian institution for the classical education of indigent young men of piety and talents for the Christian ministry, and its Charity Fund paid the tuition of poorer students as an early form of financial aid.阿默斯特学院以非教派机构的名义创办，目标是为贫困而虔诚、有才华并志向基督教事工的青年提供古典教育，其慈善基金为较贫困学生支付学费，是早期助学形式的雏形。
Although officially non-denominational, the college was religiously conservative and closely tied to Calvinism, expelling students who drank alcohol or played cards, and its turn toward secularism culminated in the 1949 demolition of the college church.学院虽名义上不分教派，实际却宗教保守并与加尔文主义关系紧密，学生饮酒或打牌会被开除，其世俗化转折最终以1949年拆除学院教堂为标志。
Amherst and Williams College played the first college baseball game on 2 July 1859, and in 1860 the college imposed a compulsory physical fitness regimen that it later cited as evidence of the oldest athletics program in the nation.1859年7月2日阿默斯特学院与威廉姆斯学院进行了美国首场校际棒球赛，1860年学院又实行强制体育锻炼制度，后来据此自称拥有全美最古老的体育项目。
Landscape architect Adolph Strauch redesigned the campus grounds in 1865.景观设计师阿道夫·施特劳赫于1865年重新设计了校园。
Amherst records one of the first uses of Latin honors at an American college, dating to 1881, and its academic hoods are purple with a white chevron to signal that the college was born of Williams.阿默斯特学院保留了美国高校最早使用拉丁语毕业荣誉的记录之一，可追溯至1881年，其学位兜帽为紫色配白色山形纹，以示学院源自威廉姆斯。
The college established the Black Studies Department in 1969 and launched the nation's first undergraduate neuroscience program in 1973.学院于1969年设立黑人研究系，1973年又开办全美首个本科神经科学项目。
In October 1974 the faculty voted for coeducation and in November 1974 the trustees agreed to admit women from the 1975-1976 academic year, and nine women already studying through an inter-college exchange were admitted as transfer students in 1975.1974年10月教师投票赞成男女同校，同年11月董事会同意自1975-1976学年起招收女生，1975年九名已通过校际交换项目就读的女生被录取为转学生。
Those nine women became the first female graduates of Amherst in June 1976, during the presidency of John William Ward.这九名女生于1976年6月成为阿默斯特学院首批女毕业生，当时院长为约翰·威廉·沃德。
A Department of Asian Languages and Literatures, later renamed Asian Languages and Civilizations, was established in 1983.亚洲语言与文学系于1983年设立，后更名为亚洲语言与文明系。
On-campus fraternities were abolished in 1984, and the former fraternity buildings, which the college owned, were converted into residence halls.校内兄弟会于1984年被废除，学院拥有的原兄弟会建筑被改作学生宿舍。
The Department of Women's and Gender Studies, later the Department of Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies, was established in 1987, followed by the Department of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought in 1993.妇女与性别研究系于1987年设立，后改称性、妇女与性别研究系，法律、法理与社会思想系则于1993年设立。
In 2012 President Biddy Martin began a community-wide review of sexual misconduct policies after an underground fraternity's T-shirt design drew criticism and Angie Epifano published an essay in The Amherst Student accusing the college of mishandling a sexual assault case.2012年，在一个地下兄弟会的T恤设计引发批评、安吉·埃皮法诺在《阿默斯特学生报》撰文指责校方不当处理性侵案件之后，院长比迪·马丁启动了全校性的性行为不端政策审查。
In May 2014 the board of trustees banned students from joining any underground or off-campus fraternity, and that same month the US Department of Education listed Amherst among 55 colleges under investigation for handling of sexual violence.2014年5月董事会禁止学生加入任何地下或校外兄弟会，同月美国教育部将阿默斯特学院列入因处理性暴力问题而受调查的55所高校名单。
The writings of political science professor Hadley Arkes about homosexuality led to a 2013 dispute over whether the college should speak out when a faculty member disparages community members, and Martin defended the practice of avoiding institutional positions on controversial political matters.政治学教授哈德利·阿克斯关于同性恋的言论在2013年引发争论，焦点在于教师贬损社群成员时学院是否应当表态，马丁则为学院在争议性政治议题上不作机构表态的做法辩护。
In March 2013 the faculty adopted an open-access policy, and in 2021 the college ended its practice of legacy admissions and increased financial aid for low- and middle-income students.2013年3月教师通过开放获取政策，2021年学院终止校友子女优先录取的做法，并增加对中低收入学生的资助。
In May 2014 a wild moose wandered onto campus, prompting a student campaign for a moose mascot that drew more than 900 likes in under two weeks, and in November 2015 the student body and faculty voted to vacate the Lord Jeffery Amherst mascot.2014年5月一头野生驼鹿闯入校园，学生随即发起以驼鹿为吉祥物的运动，不足两周获得900多个点赞，2015年11月师生投票决定废除杰弗里·阿默斯特勋爵吉祥物。
The trustees made the removal official on 26 January 2016, and in April 2017 Amherst announced the mammoth as its new mascot after a ranked-choice election that beat Valley Hawks, Purple and White, Wolves and Fighting Poets.董事会于2016年1月26日正式确认废除旧吉祥物，2017年4月学院在排序复选投票中选定猛犸象为新吉祥物，击败了山谷鹰、紫白、狼和战斗诗人等候选。

Academics

Amherst offers 41 fields of study and more than 850 courses across the sciences, arts, humanities, mathematics and computer science, social sciences, foreign languages, classics and interdisciplinary programs including premedical studies.阿默斯特学院开设41个专业领域和850余门课程，涵盖理科、艺术、人文、数学与计算机科学、社会科学、外语、古典学以及包括医学预科在内的跨学科项目。
Students are not required to study a core curriculum or fulfill distribution requirements, and they may design their own interdisciplinary major, while first-year students may take advanced courses and seniors may take introductory ones.学生无须修读核心课程或满足分布要求，还可自行设计跨学科专业，新生可选修高年级课程，四年级学生也可选修入门课程。
Amherst was the first college to have undergraduate departments in American Studies, in Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought, and in Neuroscience, and it helped pioneer Asian Languages and Civilizations.阿默斯特学院是首个设立美国研究、法律法理与社会思想、神经科学三个本科系的学院，并参与开创了亚洲语言与文明等跨学科项目。
Forty-five percent of Amherst students in the class of 2019 were double majors.2019届阿默斯特学院学生中有45%修读双专业。
The most popular majors among 2021 graduates were mathematics with 40 degrees, econometrics and quantitative economics with 34, and research and experimental psychology with 31.2021届毕业生中最热门的专业是数学（40人）、计量经济学与数量经济学（34人）和研究与实验心理学（31人）。
Political science and government followed with 25 graduates, history with 22, biology with 21, neuroscience with 19 and law, jurisprudence and social thought with 19.其后是政治学与政府（25人）、历史（22人）、生物（21人）、神经科学（19人）以及法律、法理与社会思想（19人）。
The Amherst library is named for the poet Robert Frost, a long-time member of the faculty, and the student-faculty ratio is 7 to 1 with 84 percent of classes enrolling fewer than 30 students.阿默斯特学院图书馆以长期任教于该校的诗人罗伯特·弗罗斯特命名，师生比为7比1，84%的班级人数少于30人。
Amherst College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.阿默斯特学院获新英格兰高等教育委员会认证。
Faculty members have included the poetry critic William H. Pritchard, the Beowulf translator Howell Chickering and the Jewish and Latino studies scholar Ilan Stavans.学院教师包括诗歌评论家威廉·普里查德、《贝奥武夫》译者豪厄尔·奇克林以及犹太与拉丁裔研究学者伊兰·斯塔万斯。
The novelist and legal scholar Lawrence Douglas, the physicist Arthur Zajonc and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Khrushchev biographer William Taubman have also taught at the college.小说家兼法律学者劳伦斯·道格拉斯、物理学家阿瑟·扎永茨以及获普利策奖的赫鲁晓夫传记作者威廉·陶布曼也曾在学院任教。
Other faculty include the African art specialist Rowland Abiodun, the natural law scholar Hadley Arkes, the mathematician Daniel Velleman and the biblical scholar Susan Niditch.其他教师还有非洲艺术专家罗兰·阿比奥顿、自然法学者哈德利·阿克斯、数学家丹尼尔·韦勒曼和圣经学者苏珊·尼迪奇。
Austin Sarat works on law and society, Franklin Odo directed the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lewis Spratlan was professor emeritus of music.奥斯汀·萨拉特研究法律与社会，弗兰克林·小田曾执掌史密森尼亚太裔美国人中心，普利策奖得主作曲家刘易斯·斯普拉特兰为音乐系荣休教授。
Through the Five College Consortium, Amherst students may take an additional 5,300 classes at Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst without paying extra tuition.通过五校联盟，阿默斯特学院学生可在史密斯学院、曼荷莲学院、罕布什尔学院和马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校额外选修5,300门课程，无需另缴学费。
Consortium membership also gives Amherst students access to 8 million library volumes, and the Five College Dance Department is one of the largest in the nation.联盟成员身份还让阿默斯特学院学生可以使用800万册图书馆藏书，五校舞蹈系是全美规模最大的舞蹈系之一。
The joint astronomy department shared the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory, whose work contributed to research that won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics.五校联合天文系共用五校射电天文台，该天文台的工作为1993年诺贝尔物理学奖的研究作出了贡献。
The Five College Coastal and Marine Sciences Program offers an interdisciplinary curriculum to undergraduates across the consortium.五校海岸与海洋科学项目为联盟内本科生提供跨学科课程。
For the class first enrolled in fall 2025, Amherst received 15,819 applications and accepted 1,222 students for a 7.7 percent acceptance rate, and 485 of them enrolled.2025年秋季入学的一届共收到15,819份申请，录取1,222人，录取率为7.7%，最终有485人入学。
Eighty-eight percent of that entering class ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class, the middle 50 percent scored between 1470 and 1540 on the SAT and between 33 and 35 on the ACT, and 21 percent were first-generation college students.该届新生中有88%在高中班级排名前10%，SAT中间50%分数段为1470至1540分，ACT为33至35分，21%为家庭第一代大学生。

Campus

The campus lies in the town of Amherst in western Massachusetts and includes 34 residence halls, seven of which are reserved for first-year students.校园位于马萨诸塞州西部的阿默斯特镇，共有34栋宿舍楼，其中七栋专供一年级学生居住。
First-year students are required to live on campus, while sophomores, juniors and seniors may choose themed houses such as the Arts House, Russian House and French House for up to two years.一年级学生必须住校，二至四年级学生可选择艺术之家、俄罗斯之家和法国之家等主题宿舍，最长可住两年。
The college owns and operates the Emily Dickinson Museum, which presents the life and work of the poet, as well as the Inn on Boltwood near the main campus.学院拥有并运营艾米莉·狄金森博物馆，展示这位诗人的生平与作品，同时经营主校区附近的博尔特伍德客栈。
The Beneski Museum of Natural History displays a Columbian mammoth skeleton that Amherst professor Frederic Brewster Loomis excavated in the 1920s in Melbourne, Florida.贝内斯基自然历史博物馆陈列着一具哥伦比亚猛犸象骨架，由阿默斯特学院教授弗雷德里克·布鲁斯特·卢米斯于20世纪20年代在佛罗里达州墨尔本发掘。
A cogeneration plant with a gas turbine supplies electricity and steam heat to the campus, while a computerized lighting monitor and a composting program that sends dining-hall food waste to a Vermont farmer reduce energy use and waste.装有燃气轮机的热电联产设施为校园供电并供热，计算机化照明监控系统以及把食堂厨余送往佛蒙特州农场的堆肥项目则降低了能耗与废弃物。
Landscape architect Adolph Strauch redesigned the grounds in 1865, giving the campus the open lawns and curving paths that still frame its nineteenth-century buildings.景观设计师阿道夫·施特劳赫于1865年重新设计校园，其开阔草坪与蜿蜒小径至今仍环绕着19世纪的建筑。
The Five Colleges are geographically close to one another and are linked by buses that run between the campuses, allowing students to attend classes at any member institution.五所学院彼此相距不远，各校区之间有公交相连，学生可前往任一成员校上课。
The campus occupies a site near 42.38 degrees north latitude and 72.52 degrees west longitude in the Pioneer Valley, the section of the Connecticut River valley where the Five Colleges are clustered.校园位于先锋谷内，地处北纬约42.38度、西经约72.52度，这一康涅狄格河谷地带正是五校集中分布的区域。

Reputation

Amherst College was placed in the 901-1000 band of the 2026 Academic Ranking of World Universities, known as the Shanghai Ranking.在2026年软科世界大学学术排名中，阿默斯特学院位列第901-1000名区间。
The college did not enter the 2027 QS World University Rankings.阿默斯特学院未进入2027年QS世界大学排名。
Amherst did not enter the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.阿默斯特学院未进入2027年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名。
Amherst was not included in the 2026-2027 U.S. News global universities list.阿默斯特学院未进入2026-2027年度U.S. News全球大学榜单。
Since U.S. News began ranking colleges in 1987, Amherst has been ranked first among American liberal arts colleges ten times, and it placed second in 2022 behind Williams College.自《美国新闻与世界报道》1987年开始发布高校排名以来，阿默斯特学院十次位居全美文理学院第一，2022年则排在威廉姆斯学院之后位列第二。
The Wall Street Journal and College Pulse ranked Amherst as the best liberal arts college and eighth best college or university overall in the United States in their 2024 rankings.《华尔街日报》与College Pulse在2024年榜单中将阿默斯特学院评为全美最佳文理学院，并在所有高校中位列第八。
The Wall Street Journal had already named Amherst the best liberal arts college in the country in 2022.《华尔街日报》早在2022年就把阿默斯特学院评为全美最佳文理学院。
Forbes ranked Amherst 24th among all American colleges and universities in its 2024-25 list and 16th in 2021.福布斯2024-25年度榜单将阿默斯特学院列为全美高校第24名，2021年则列为第16名。
Kiplinger's Personal Finance placed Amherst 11th among best-value liberal arts colleges in the United States in 2016.《吉普林个人理财》在2016年把阿默斯特学院列为全美最具价值文理学院第11名。
Amherst ranked sixth in the 2021 Washington Monthly liberal arts college rankings, which weigh social mobility, research and promotion of public service.在2021年《华盛顿月刊》文理学院排名中，阿默斯特学院位列第六，该榜单衡量社会流动性、科研与公共服务推动三项指标。
U.S. News classifies Amherst as the most selective of American liberal arts colleges, and the Carnegie Foundation lists it among institutions whose entering students rank roughly in the top fifth nationally.《美国新闻与世界报道》将阿默斯特学院列为全美最具选择性的文理学院，卡内基基金会则把它归入新生成绩约居全国前五分之一的高校之列。

Student life

Amherst students come from 48 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 66 countries, and the college hosts more than 200 student groups, with more than a third of the student body on a varsity team.阿默斯特学院学生来自48个州、哥伦比亚特区、波多黎各和66个国家，校内有两百多个学生团体，超过三分之一的学生参加校队。
Ninety-eight percent of students live on campus, 98 percent of freshmen who enrolled in fall 2020 returned for their sophomore year, and 92 percent of the most recent cohort graduated within six years.98%的学生住校，2020年秋季入学的新生中有98%升入二年级，最近一届学生六年内的毕业率为92%。
The median family income of Amherst students is $158,200, with 51 percent coming from the top 10 percent of earners and 24 percent from the bottom 60 percent.阿默斯特学院学生的家庭收入中位数为158,200美元，其中51%来自收入最高的10%家庭，24%来自收入最低的60%家庭。
Fifty-seven percent of the fall 2025 entering class received financial aid, 24 transfer students enrolled alongside them, and all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 70 other countries were represented in the student body.2025年秋季入学新生中有57%获得资助，同期还有24名转学生入学，学生群体覆盖全部50个州、哥伦比亚特区、波多黎各以及另外70个国家。
The comprehensive tuition, room and board fee for 2026-27 was $96,360, about 60 percent of students hold scholarship aid, the average aid package was$ 84,590 and the college spends roughly $140,000 per student each year.2026-27学年学费、住宿与膳食合计为96,360美元，约六成学生获得奖学金资助，人均资助额为84,590美元，学院每名学生每年的支出约为140,000美元。
In July 2007 Amherst announced that grants would replace loans in all financial aid packages from 2008-09, joining Princeton University, Cornell University and Davidson College as the only colleges then eliminating loans from need-based aid.2007年7月阿默斯特学院宣布自2008-09学年起以助学金取代所有资助方案中的贷款，与普林斯顿大学、康奈尔大学和戴维森学院一道成为当时仅有的几所从需求型资助中取消贷款的高校。
In 2008-09 Amherst extended its need-blind admission policy to international applicants, and in 2021 it eliminated preferences for the children of alumni.2008-09学年阿默斯特学院将不考虑支付能力的录取政策扩展至国际申请者，2021年又取消了校友子女优先政策。
One longstanding tradition involves the Sabrina statue, for which even-year and odd-year classes battle for possession and often stage elaborate pranks.学院一项历史悠久的传统围绕萨布丽娜雕像展开，偶数届与奇数届学生争夺雕像所有权，并时常设计精巧的恶作剧。
Community service runs through the Center for Community Engagement, and former president Anthony Marx helped start a secondary school for black students in apartheid South Africa.社区服务由社区参与中心统筹，前院长安东尼·马克斯曾协助在种族隔离时期的南非创办一所黑人中学。

Notable people

Amherst alumni include President Calvin Coolidge and Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone of the United States Supreme Court.阿默斯特学院校友包括美国总统卡尔文·柯立芝和美国最高法院首席大法官哈伦·斯通。
Six Nobel laureates and twenty Rhodes Scholars are counted among the college's alumni, faculty and affiliates.学院的校友、教师与关联人士中有六位诺贝尔奖得主和二十位罗德学者。
The reigning Sovereign Prince of Monaco, two Prime Ministers and one Foreign Minister of Greece, a President of Kenya and a President of El Salvador are also graduates.现任摩纳哥亲王、希腊的两位总理和一位外交部长、肯尼亚总统以及萨尔瓦多总统也是该校毕业生。
Alumni also include three Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, a Poet Laureate of the United States, the legal architect of Brown v. Board of Education and the inventor of the blood bank.校友中还有三位美国众议院议长、一位美国桂冠诗人、布朗诉教育委员会案的法律设计者以及血库的发明者。
There are approximately 23,000 living alumni, about 45 percent of whom give to the college each year, one of the highest alumni participation rates in the country.目前在世校友约23,000人，每年约45%的人向学院捐款，校友参与率位居全美高校前列。
Emily Dickinson studied at Amherst Academy rather than at the college, and the academy also taught Sylvester Graham and Mary Lyon, the founder of Mount Holyoke College.艾米莉·狄金森就读的是阿默斯特学院学校而非学院本身，这所学校还培养过西尔维斯特·格雷厄姆和曼荷莲学院创办人玛丽·里昂。
The poet Robert Frost taught at Amherst for many years, and the college library now bears his name.诗人罗伯特·弗罗斯特曾在阿默斯特学院任教多年，学院图书馆如今以他的名字命名。
Zephaniah Swift Moore left the presidency of Williams College to become Amherst's first president in 1821, and Heman Humphrey, a Williams trustee, succeeded him in 1823.泽法尼亚·斯威夫特·摩尔离开威廉姆斯学院院长职位，于1821年出任阿默斯特学院首任院长，威廉姆斯学院董事希曼·汉弗莱于1823年继任。
Jared Kass started and named the sport of ultimate at Amherst in the mid-1960s, and professor Frederic Brewster Loomis excavated the mammoth skeleton that gave the college its mascot.贾里德·卡斯于20世纪60年代中期在阿默斯特学院创立并命名了极限飞盘运动，弗雷德里克·布鲁斯特·卢米斯教授发掘的猛犸象骨架则成为学院吉祥物的由来。