Seven Swarthmore students sit in the Language Resource Center, slightly disoriented, with eyes glued to a dark screen. They listen to the sounds of a tour guide talking about African slaves in a former compound, forced to shuffle around in this darkness in chains.
This video is not a typical educational documentary. It is footage shot [...]

By 1862, the campaign to create what would become Swarthmore College was renewed, but there were conflicting ideas on the nature of what was then being referred to as “the boarding school.” Some supporters wanted a grammar school, some looked toward a “normal school”—to supply teachers to local Quaker primary and secondary schools. Benjamin Hallowell [...]

In late March, the College launched a dynamic new website (www.swarthmore.edu). Larger and more dramatic visual imagery and improved site navigation are among the ways in which the new site eclipses the former one, which had been in place for six years. The site was also developed with attentiveness to compliance with the Americans with [...]

After serving on the College’s Board of Managers for the past nine years, Giles “Gil” Kemp ’72 will become its 13th chair in May. The appointment was announced at the Board’s quarterly meeting in late February. Kemp will succeed Barbara Mather ’65, who held the position for eight years.
Kemp—the founder and former president of Home [...]

What makes a good society?” Now there’s a question that many members of the Swarthmore family tackle often. On March 31, 12 speakers addressed the topic at the first TEDxSwarthmore event. One of them was Mary Jean Chan ’12 (kneeling, fourth from left). A political science honors major and English literature minor from Hong Kong, [...]

Christina Paxson ’82, dean of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Hughes Rogers Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, was appointed president-elect of Brown University in March. Paxson, who joined the Princeton faculty in 1986, is an award-winning economist, whose research—focusing on health, economic development, and public policy—has been published widely [...]

The campus community was saddened by the death of Centennial Professor Emerita of Classics Helen North, on Jan. 21. More than just a brilliant scholar and teacher, North cultivated relationships among Swarthmore students for more than 60 years. Gentle and gracious, with a robust and ready sense of humor, she was fiercely and firmly committed [...]

When it comes to the Oscars, it’s not only Hollywood that knows how to do glitz and glamour. While much of the U.S. population sat with eyes glued to the TV on Feb. 26, about 50 students—some in seriously red-carpet-worthy garb—gathered in Upper Tarble to witness on a large screen that most famed night in [...]

Last year, the late Judith Zuk, director of the Scott Arboretum from 1983 to 1990, was honored posthumously when the east entrance to the Scott Amphitheater was dedicated to her. The entrance is now identified by a plaque bearing her name, followed by the words “In memory and appreciation of her vision of the Arboretum [...]

In February, the Board approved the following promotions: From associate to full professorship: Aurora Camacho de Schmidt (modern languages and literatures—Spanish); Eric Jensen (physics and astronomy); and Elizabeth Vallen (biology). From associate professor to associate with continuous tenure:  Jane Gillham (psychology). From assistant professor to associate with continuous tenure: Tariq al-Jamil (religion); Linda Chen (mathematics); [...]