Bowdoin College Museum of Art news

Jennifer Scanlon, senior vice president and dean for academic affairs, sent the following message on April 14, 2026.

To our community:

Anne Collins Goodyear and Frank Goodyear, co-directors of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) will be stepping down from their positions on June 30, 2026. I am grateful for their service to the College and their stewardship of the BCMA over the past thirteen years. 

Under their leadership, the Goodyears excelled at balancing the museum’s obligations and opportunities to serve our campus with the BCMA’s unique role as a public-facing museum in midcoast Maine. During this period, they placed an active emphasis on academic engagement with our faculty and students. Highlights of this work include an expanded student internship program, opportunities for faculty/student-led exhibitions, a growing number of class visits to the BCMA, and a new student-led art acquisition program. The museum has also hosted a diverse array of public programs and performances, including the highly successful “Music at the Museum” series, and has brought leading artists, musicians, and scholars to campus. All of these initiatives underscore that our art museum serves a vital role in the fabric of our campus community.

Having previously served as curators at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the Goodyears likewise envisioned the BCMA as an engine of new scholarship. Since 2013, they have overseen a dynamic exhibition schedule and have each developed their own exhibitions, often with accompanying catalogues—often in partnership with scholars at Bowdoin and beyond. They have collaborated with leading academic and commercial publishers, and under their leadership they and the museum have been awarded prestigious honors and major grants from national arts agencies, foundations, and corporations.

I want to also acknowledge an aspect of the Goodyears’ tenure at the museum that will have an impact on future generations of students, faculty, and visitors. With the generosity of many supporters and guided by a strategic collecting plan, Anne and Frank helped to secure more than 5,000 new artworks for the BCMA’s collection, including major gifts of contemporary art and photography. They also helped establish the New Media Arts Consortium to jointly purchase and share video and digital artwork with other academic museums in New England, enhancing resources available for our community and others.

I invite you to join me in thanking Anne and Frank for their years of service and in wishing them the very best in what’s ahead.

Jennifer Scanlon
SVP and Dean for Academic Affairs
John S. Osterweis Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies
Bowdoin College