Carolyn Martin

Carolyn Martin
Martin at the 2010 Wisconsin Energy Institute groundbreaking
19th President of Amherst College
Incumbent
Assumed office August 2011
Preceded by	Anthony Marx
Personal details
Born	1951
Education	College of William & Mary Middlebury College UW–Madison
Profession	Higher Education

Carolyn Arthur "Biddy" Martin (born 1951) is an American intellectual, author, and the current President of Amherst College, in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Before becoming president at Amherst, she was Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she assumed office on September 1, 2008, succeeding John D. Wiley. She was the ninth graduate of UW–Madison to serve as its chancellor, and the first alumna to hold that position. She was the university's second female chancellor, after Donna Shalala, and also the university's first openly gay chancellor.

Before becoming chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she was Provost of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York from July 1, 2000 until August 31, 2008. As provost, Martin served as chief academic officer and chief operating officer, providing leadership for deans of Cornell’s 14 colleges and schools, as well as a number of centers and faculty advisory councils. She helped manage the institution’s academic programs, executive budgets, capital budgets and operating plans. Martin worked on Cornell's academic faculty for 15 years prior to her appointment as provost.

Martin grew up in Timberlake, Virginia, just outside Lynchburg. The women in her family shared the name Carolyn, earning nicknames "Buck" (grandmother), "Boolie" (mother), and "Biddy" for Martin. She graduated from Brookville High School in 1969, where she was valedictorian and set the school scoring record for girls' basketball. She received her undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary in 1973, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She earned an M.A. in German Literature from Middlebury College’s program in Mainz, Germany and received her Ph.D. in German Literature in 1983 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (Summa Cum Laude), and joined the faculty at Cornell the same year.