In this episode Martha and Indira speak candidly with Biddy Martin, a distinguished humanities scholar and widely respected leader in higher education.

For more than two decades she served on the faculty of German studies and women’s studies at Cornell University. She chaired the Department of German Studies, served as senior associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, and assumed the role of Cornell’s provost in 2000.

After eight years as provost, she was appointed Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2011, she became the first woman and openly lesbian president of Amherst College, one of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States. Serving for 11 years as president, Biddy Martin is the longest serving president of the college in the last 50 years.

Episode Resources

• Martin, B. Femininity played straight: the significance of being lesbian. New York & London, Routledge & CRC Press, 1997.
• Martin, Biddy. Woman and Modernity: The (Life)Styles of Lou Andreas-Salomé. Cornell University Press, New York, 1991.
• Piper, Martha and Samarasekera, Indira. Nerve: Lessons on leadership from two women who went first. Toronto, Ontario ECW Press, 2021.

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