06/15/2026
Tomorrow Tuesday June 16 at 7:00pm at the store, local author Amy Mittelman will celebrate the release of her new book, Dames, Dishes, and Degrees: Faculty Wives in America.
In Dames, Dishes, and Degrees: Faculty Wives in America, Amy Mittelman reveals what took place behind ivy-covered walls, tracing the origins and evolution of faculty wives’ clubs across American higher education. These organizations brought together highly educated women whose unpaid labor— from hosting dinners and receptions to mentoring young academic wives— quietly sustained universities while also fostering philanthropy, activism, and political engagement.
Mittelman’s lived experience as the wife of a college professor is the underpinning for Dames, Dishes, and Degrees. A resident of Amherst, she holds a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Massachusetts. She is also the author of Brewing Battles: A History of American Beer (2007).
