Hampshire College Exchange

by Megan Herr

     Hampshire College was created with the belief that the most meaningful and lasting education is shaped by a student's own interests. Hampshire students create their own academic concentration with the help of a faculty member. By creating their own “major,” Hampshire students can combine seemingly disparate interests, and are able to study the intersections of various fields or emerging fields.

     One of the courses offered at Hampshire College is Bioarchaeology: Forensic Anthropology, which simulated a bioarchaeology site. The Columbus Day weekend was spent digging the site, while the rest of the semester was spent writing and researching the site report. Pictures are shown below of the initial digging of the site. Hampshire courses almost always have teacher assistants (TA’s), but the professor always teaches the course. The TA’s are students who have previously taken the course and are able to share their experiences. One of the TA’s for Bioarchaeology was conducting his Division III, which is equivalent to our majors, on the Archaeology of Violence, and he was able to provide insight to various aspects of archaeology and forensics. At the end of the semester students receive evaluations instead of grades.

     Hampshire was very involved in the local community and environment. Hampshire College has an extensive composting program in their dining hall, and every year they hold a local farmers dinner where the local farmers provide all the food.

     Hampshire College is involved in the 5 College Consortium, which means a student is able to take classes at Smith College, Mt. Holyoke College, Amherst College, or the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Through this consortium, students are able to take a wide variety of classes and access all the other institutes resources.

Hampshire College

Library at Mt. Holyoke

Megan Herr is a Daemen College student who will be graduating in May of 2009 with a degree in Natural Science Individualized Studies.  She is currently involved in Tri-Beta, researching TMJ disorders, and Daemen College's Honors Society.  She participated in a CIEL exchange with Hampshire College where she was able to study bioarchaeology and anthropology. In the future, she plans to attend graduate school for Epidemiology and continuing research.

back to creative nonfiction