Biddy Martin is the immediate past president of Amherst College, a position she held for eleven years, from 2011-2022. She was chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 2008 until 2011 and had served as provost of Cornell University for eight years before leaving to lead UW-Madison. She is the author of numerous articles and two books, one on Lou Andreas-Salomé, an influential figure in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century European intellectual circles and the second a collection of essays focused on the development and contradictions in feminist and queer theory.
A graduate of the College of William and Mary, she earned a Masters in the Middlebury Program at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany, and her Ph.D. In German Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Martin spent her teaching and scholarly career at Cornell University where she also served as senior associate dean of Arts and Sciences for four years before becoming provost.
Martin is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a member of the Harvard Corporation, Harvard’s fiduciary board, and a newly elected member of the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.