The inauguration of Safa R. Zaki as Bowdoin’s sixteenth president will take place on Saturday, October 14, 2023, at 10:30 a.m., on the Quad, at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.

Both the audience and the stage party will be seated under a very large tent, so the ceremony will continue to be outside in the case of rain. If the call is made to move the ceremony indoors, we will communicate plans to do so here.

The installation ceremony on Saturday begins at 10:30 a.m. The procession will begin on the Quad at 10:15 a.m. and will march from there to the ceremony.

In addition to delegates and other guests invited to campus to celebrate the installation of Safa Zaki as Bowdoin’s sixteenth president, the entire Bowdoin College community is invited to participate in inauguration events, including the luncheon.

Tickets are not required, but please register for the event with the link provided in your invitation.

Yes. Instructions for viewing the ceremony will be posted here at a later date.

The inauguration weekend events begin with a performance by Bowdoin students and some student groups on Thursday evening, October 12, at 8:00 p.m.

On Friday, October 13, at 3:00 p.m., there will be an inaugural panel.

The installation ceremony on Saturday morning will be followed by a community celebration luncheon. After the luncheon, the community is invited to join in an activity to plant flowering bulbs in a raised bed at Whittier Field.

Since the inauguration takes place during Homecoming Weekend, there are also athletic events and other Homecoming activities. As all of these events are finalized, further information will appear here.

Panelists include Rumman Chowdhury, Responsible AI Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; Daniel Lee, Tisch University Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell Tech and former global head of AI for Samsung Research; and Peter Norvig, a fellow at Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute and former director of Google’s core search algorithms group.

Sarah and James Bowdoin Professor of Digital and Computational Studies Eric Chown will moderate.

The stage party, delegates, and representatives from other educational institutions and organizations, members of the board of trustees, and faculty and staff of the College.

The exercises installing a new president constitute the highest level of academic ceremony for a college or university, and those participating in the procession will wear academic regalia. Audience members should dress as they wish and in such a way that they will be comfortable outdoors and in participating in whatever activities they have planned for the day. Other inauguration events and all Homecoming activities are casual.

A reminder: it can be chilly in Maine in October at outdoor events.

There will be a Welcome Center located in Lancaster Lounge, Moulton Union, where guests can get information and materials related to the inauguration activities.

We will communicate directly with delegates as they register. The installation ceremony is Saturday, October 14, 2023. As a delegate, you will take part in the academic procession that precedes the ceremony.

Delegates should plan to arrive by 9:45 a.m. Please wear or bring your academic regalia. The procession will form at 10:00 a.m. Bowdoin staff will be on hand to assist you in lining up in order of the date of the founding of your institution.

The procession begins at 10:15 a.m. and the ceremony at 10:30 a.m. We invite you to join the lunch at Dudley Coe Quad following the ceremony. 

There are several celebratory events over the course of three days and you are warmly invited to them all. Please see the schedule of events for more information. When you arrive on campus, please check in at our Welcome Center, located in Lancaster Lounge, Moulton Union. 

• If you are a member of the current campus community (faculty, staff, or student), use this link to register.
• If you are a member of the alumni community or a parent, use this link to register.
• If you are a delegate, a volunteer leader or trustee, or if you are unsure what group you belong to, contact inauguration@bowdoin.edu for assistance.
  
  

Guest parking is available in the lots on North and South Campus Drive (vehicles may be towed from the circles at the ends of North and South Campus Drive — these circles are fire lanes), behind Druckenmiller Hall, at Farley Field House, at Watson Arena, in the Coffin Street lot, in the Russwurm African American Center lot, in the lot immediately adjacent to Lancaster House (38 College Street), and in the parking lot on Sills Drive.

A large number of parking spaces can be found at Watson Arena located next to Farley Field House. More about parking on campus »

Handicap-accessible parking spaces are designated in all parking areas. A number of handicap-accessible spaces can be found on North Campus Drive and many more are available at Watson Arena, next to Farley Field House. Bowdoin College is committed to making its campus accessible to persons with disabilities. However, not all areas of the campus are fully accessible.

Individuals with special needs should note them on their registration form or contact inauguration@bowdoin.edu.

Golf carts driven by volunteers will be available on Saturday to shuttle any guests who need assistance traveling between the main campus and parking areas.

A list of area accommodations can be found here. We expect a large crowd for the weekend, so we encourage you to make reservations well ahead of time.

Pets are prohibited in campus buildings including all academic, administrative, and student residential buildings. Please note that this does not apply to service animals, which are welcome.

On all outdoor campus property (including athletic fields), pet owners are required to keep animals on a leash, in their immediate control.

Connecting to Bowdoin’s Guest Wireless Access:

1. Choose “BOWDOIN-GUEST” from the list of wireless networks available.
2. Open a web browser. Wait for the guest wireless registration page to open. Refresh your web browser if it does not load.
3. Fill out the information and click “Log In.”