Amherst College conferred its highest honor on Rose Olver, the first tenure-track female faculty member of the college in 1962, when they hung her portrait in Johnson's Chapel, Jan.22.

Olver becomes the first women to receive this honor.

The portrait showcases Olver wearing a red academic gown and holding the faculty stick. It was done by Williamsburg artist Sarah Belchetz-Swenson, who took around eight months to finish the portrait.

President Biddy Martin said that she represents the success of both the faculty and the academic institution.

Around 130 colleagues, friends, administrators, trustees and admirers attended the ceremony.

The ceremony featured a standing ovation by the crowd and a presentation of a bouquet of pink roses by Marie Fowler, secretary and office manager to the dean of the faculty, to Olver.

Describing the college during the 1960s, Olver said that the idea of a portrait of a woman in this hall was unimaginable as the college never used to hire female faculty members.

She also said that she was invited to become a member of faculty club because no rules prohibited women from being its members. However, she was asked to decline the offer as it comprised of only male members.

"Well, I didn't join that year, but I did join the following year," Oliver said.

During her tenure at the university, Olver was the first woman to head the psychology department, and was a committee member that helped the college convert into a coeducation institution and also started the Department of Women's and Gender Studies.

She is also credited with increasing the population of female colleagues and students at the college.

Cullen Murphy '74, chairman of the college's board of trustees, said that although she had a strict composed face, she carried an undercurrent of amusement beneath it.

Olver now joins the list of eminent personalities who have been conferred with this recognition.