For his longstanding and exceptional devotion to the College, David A. Dickson II ’76, P’13, has received the annual Alumni Service Award, the Bowdoin Alumni Council’s highest honor.
A scholar, educator, and Bowdoin parent, Dickson embodies an ethos of service to the common good and to Bowdoin—work that began during his undergraduate years and continued throughout his career as a professor, administrator, and advocate.
A member of the second generation in a three-generation Bowdoin family that has been distinguished by academic and professional achievement, Dickson speaks with clear-eyed authority about the challenges faced by students and alumni of color at the College and in society at large. Over the years, he has shown his commitment to his alma mater by identifying problems and investing personally in solutions.
As a student, Dickson was active in the African American Society and was a leading advocate for Black interests on campus. He helped foster campus-wide discussions about race and engaged the administration on the recruitment and retention of Black students and faculty.
He later shared his knowledge of the history of the Africana studies department and the complexity of Bowdoin’s campus culture during the department’s fiftieth-anniversary celebration in 2019, helping younger alumni and students understand and appreciate the hard-won progress made in the previous half century.
A government and history major, Dickson graduated summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After earning a PhD in government from Harvard, he taught international relations at Northeastern University, Beloit College, and Rhodes College before joining George Washington University in 2003, where he taught until his retirement in 2019. His research broke new ground on US policy formulation and the intersection of ethnicities and interest groups.
As a member of the Bowdoin Alumni Council’s Minority Affairs Committee, Dickson has offered insights and recommendations, built community, and undertaken important initiatives. A founding member of the Bowdoin College Black Alumni Association (BCBAA), he helped draft the bylaws, served on the Coordinating Council, and co-chaired the committee that produced an action plan to engage alumni, current students, families, and prospective students.
Finally, he has served on reunion committees for the Class of 1976 and represented Bowdoin at the inauguration of the president of George Washington University. His encouragement of his peers and collaborators, his institutional knowledge, and his understanding of Bowdoin’s history have been invaluable to the BCBAA and to the College.
The Bowdoin Alumni Council said it was proud to present the award to Dickson in recognition of “all that he has done to constructively encourage Bowdoin and the College community to represent values of inclusivity, reflection, and intellectual rigor.”
The award, along with others, will be presented during Reunion Weekend (May 28–31, 2026).
