Student Affairs
The Bowdoin Campaign recognized the critical importance of the programs, facilities, and initiatives that complement a student’s academic experience, and made a priority of ensuring that the many opportunities for self-discovery available on campus flourish for future generations of students.
The Bowdoin Campaign has enabled the College to support one of its founding principles – the idea that “literary institutions are founded and endowed for the common good, and not for the private advantage of those who resort to them for education” – through the creation of the Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good. The McKeen Center is a resource for students and other members of the Bowdoin community who hope to serve their communities through internships or fellowships, participate in service trips or projects, or design and implement novel solutions to problems in society and the world. It also provides resources for faculty members to incorporate service learning into their classroom teaching.
The Campaign has endowed the Outdoor Leadership Training Program, the popular “Dinner with Six Strangers” initiative and other programs that encourage connections among students, the campus community, faculty, staff, and the surrounding environment. It also provided crucial endowed support for the Career Planning Center, particularly its effort to upgrade technology and recruiting programs so that graduating students will be able to identify and take advantage of the wide variety of academic and professional opportunities available to them after Bowdoin.
The Campaign also provided funding for the construction of the Sidney J. Watson Arena and the Peter Buck Health and Fitness Center, two state-of-the-art facilities that will encourage and promote healthy physical activity among students and members of the Brunswick community, as well as sustained excellence in athletic competition.
