2025 in Review: Top News Site Stories

Big — in fact GREAT — Names on campus. Student research with a practical use. Memorable seasons for the Continentals. Check out our most popular stories from 2025.

Great Names Made For Great News!

President Obama Inspires Crowd
President Barack Obama made his first lecture appearance on a college campus since leaving office when he visited Hamilton on April 6 as part of the Sacerdote Great Names series. The Field House was filled to capacity as guests enjoyed hearing the former president talk about everything from life after the White House and AI, to the importance of good communication and peoples’ eroding trust in the government.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of the Broadway hit musical <em>Hamilton</em>, speaks at Hamilton College. — Hamilton Had Its Eyes on Lin-Manuel
As *Hamilton* the musical celebrated its 10th anniversary on Broadway in August, Hamilton the College welcomed playwright and star Lin-Manuel Miranda as its second Great Names guest of the year on Sept. 29.

Benjamin White ‘26, Kelvin Nuñez ‘24, Isa Cardoso ‘25 and Alejandro Sosa Hernández ‘26 — Taking Their Shot
Alejandro Sosa-Hernandez ’25 took pen to paper and fingers to keyboard to write a parody of “My Shot” and then performed it with a few friends for Lin-Manuel Miranda and an audience of 5,000. Oh, and he did all that in just 33 days!

Familiar Faces, New Voices

Collage of faculty who retired in 2025 — Professors, Coaches Share Parting Thoughts …
Eight longtime faculty members with decades of experience retired at the end of the 2024-25 academic year and reflected on their careers and post-Hamilton plans.

New Faculty 2025-26 Group Photo — … While 43 New Faculty Members Join the Ranks
Hamilton welcomed eight tenure-track faculty in biology, geosciences, government, literature and creative writing, philosophy, and women’s and gender studies, plus 35 visitors and teaching fellows.

Young Alumni and New Grads: What They Learned and What’s Next

2025 Commencement procession — Classes that changed them, faculty who influenced them, and personal points of pride. The Class of 2025 reflected on the moments and experiences that shaped their Hamilton experiences.

illustration of map highlighting where 5 students are studying postgrad — With a semester of grad school under their belts, alumni from the Class of 2024 who are pursuing very different areas of study shared thoughts on their first semester of grad school.

Alumni Step Up For Adirondack Adventure

Zack Weller ’23 trains students in water safety on Delta Lake. — When Andrew Jillings, the grand master of outdoor leadership, falls and breaks several bones 10 days before Adirondack Adventure, what happens to the 33 orientation trips? They go on as planned, of course, thanks to the Hamilton alumni who volunteered to help bring that “Big Andrew Energy.”

Student Research + Alumni Expertise = A Better Campus

The snow grooming machine grooms the Nordic ski trail on campus. — A More Efficient Way to Groom Ski Trails
Grisha Hatavets ’25 applied what he learned in a linear optimization math class with his computer programming knowledge to determine a campus cross country trail route that minimizes the amount of fuel and time needed for grooming.

The updated pedestrian bridge on Family Weekend 2025 — A Bridge Back Home
The pedestrian bridge between KJ and Beinecke Village needed replacement. Enter Erich Baumgartner ’93, principal engineer at Thornton Tomasetti, who worked to design a replacement for the popular thoroughfare used every day to connect everyone on campus.

Memorable Seasons on the Ice and Turf

The men’s hockey team celebrates its first NESCAC win after defeating Tufts 3-0 on March 9 at Sage Rink. — The nationally ranked #8 men’s hockey team celebrated its first NESCAC title with a 3-0 win over Tufts on March 9 at Sage Rink. The Continentals set a team record with 21 wins before falling to Curry College 4-1 in the NCAA Division III championship quarterfinal.

Field hockey 11/25 win over SUNY Geneseo — In a thrilling sudden-victory double overtime game Nov. 12 on Goodfriend Field, the 12th-ranked field hockey team earned its first NCAA championship win 2-1 over SUNY Geneseo. This marked the Continentals’ first time hosting an NCAA game.

More Hamilton Stories

The Chapel in the first snowfall of the fall ’25 semester. Photo: Zack Stanek

2025 in Review: National Media Coverage

Hamilton College faculty, staff, and alumni continued to appear in national media outlets and prominent higher education publications in 2025 as thought leaders, providing their expertise on a wide range of topics.