Campaign Makes New Faculty Hires Possible

Story posted May 02, 2008

Four faculty members were recently hired for new positions funded through The Bowdoin Campaign. These additions deepen our curriculum and diversify the expertise of our faculty. They also move the College toward its goal of a 9:1 student/faculty ratio.

Nadia Celis, formerly of Rutgers, joined the Department of Romance Languages teaching courses in Latin American and Latino literatures and cultures. She is currently studying the representation of female bodies and subjectivities in women writers from the Hispanic Caribbean, and the movement of these writers to the United States.

Three additional faculty members will occupy their new positions this fall.

Roger Bechtel, who will teach in the Department of Theater and Dance, comes from Miami University of Ohio. A gifted actor, director, and scholar, his work crosses traditional boundaries of theater and movement. Bechtel is the author of Past Performance: American Theater and Historical Imagination.

A position teaching Islamic and Judaic studies in the Department of Religion will be filled by Robert Morrison of Whitman College. He has extensive experience in the Middle East, having researched and worked in Damascus, Istanbul, and Cairo. Morrison is fluent in Arabic and has published a highly regarded book titled Islam and Science. He will also hold a supervisory role in the introduction of the study of Arabic at Bowdoin.

Erika Albaugh joins Bowdoin in the Department of Government and Legal Studies. She is an Africanist who works on comparative politics in the developing world. This will bring a new area of study with international breadth to the department. Albaugh will join three other Africanists on the Bowdoin faculty, providing increased strength in this area.

“These are exceptional hires for Bowdoin,” says Dean for Academic Affairs Cristle Collins Judd. “These extraordinary teachers and scholars will bring added breadth and depth to our curricular offerings and provide increased support for independent student research.”

To date, the College has raised funds for eight new faculty positions, including these four, leaving four more to be funded for a total of twelve by June 2009. These remaining positions are necessary to meet our goals of further internationalizing our curriculum, strengthening the sciences, supporting the arts, and reducing the student/faculty ratio.

« Back | Go to Campus News | Go to Academic Spotlight