Academic News
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New Class Examines the Contributions of Black Women to US Intellectual History
January 10, 2020Professors Tess Chakkalakal and Judith Casselberry co-teach two new courses this academic year, looking at the contributions of a number of prominent black women from the eighteenth century to the present. -
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From Indiana Jones to Afrofuturism: A German Professor’s Story
December 17, 2019The German department caps the fall semester with a visit by professor Priscilla Layne from UNC—Chapel Hill. The daughter of Caribbean immigrants, Layne talks about her childhood in Chicago and her unusual path to academia. -
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Julia Maine ’16 is Bowdoin’s First US-Ireland Alliance Mitchell Scholar
December 04, 2019Bowdoin graduate and ocean scientist Julia Maine secures a prestigious scholarship, which will take her to Ireland next year to study how that country’s aquaculture industry is coping with the effects of climate change. -
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Studying Behavior
November 26, 2019Andre Walcott ’12 is a scientific program management scholar at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) Knight Cancer Institute’s Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center and the first African American graduate of the behavioral neuroscience PhD program at OHSU. -
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David Carroll ’97 and the Fight to Upend Cambridge Analytica's Dark Data Quest
November 25, 2019David Carroll ’97, featured in the 2019 Netflix documentary The Great Hack, took Cambridge Analytica to court in the United Kingdom for violating the UK Data Protection Act, getting entangled in an international intrigue. -
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No Option but North: Kelsey Freeman ’16 Discusses Her Book About Migration
September 27, 2019Kelsey Freeman ’16, author of a forthcoming book about Central American migrants traveling through Mexico to the US, visited campus Thursday to talk about her book, her career, and how her experiences at Bowdoin influenced her path. -
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Bowdoin Professor Secures Federal Funding to Study Gene Behavior
September 26, 2019Natural scientist Jack Bateman wants to understand how genes are turned off and on when they’re crowded together in a tight space. To learn more about this type of genetic behavior, he plans to study the common fruit fly. -
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Bowdoin Theater Professor Acts in Alumna-Directed Play at Portland Stage
September 24, 2019Abigail Killeen is excited to star in The Clean House, by award-winning playwright Sarah Ruhl. That excitement is compounded by the fact that the director is Cait Robinson, whom Killeen first encountered as a student actor. -
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Highlighting the Local Work of McKeen-Environmental Studies Summer Fellows
August 09, 2019Nearly thirty students showcased their summer projects, which included work in the fields of sustainable agriculture and fisheries, environmental conservation, human rights, social services, and the creative arts. -
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AFAM50: Bowdoin to Celebrate Half-Century of Multiculturalism and Scholarship
August 06, 2019Bowdoin is preparing for a major event in November, celebrating fifty years of Africana Studies, the African American Society, and the John Brown Russwurm African American Center. Guest speakers include Geoffrey Canada ’74, H ’07. -
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Embroideries, Facebook, and Virtual Sovereignty: How One Student Is Making History Accessible
July 16, 2019Ariana Smith ’21 has a Gibbons grant from Bowdoin this summer to continue researching the history of the Arctic Museum's collections of Inuit embroideries—and to share this past with the people whose ancestors created them. -
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Public Service: Funded Interns at the Town Office, City Hall, and City Park
July 03, 2019Several students are working in public service in Maine this summer. Two are interning with local governments—one in a rural Maine town, the other in Maine's largest city. A third is working to improve Portland's parks. -
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Using Art and Technology to Help the Community and Change the World
May 22, 2019Students in Erin Johnson's digital and computational class created promotional and documentary media for a local animal shelter, the farmers market, a day shelter for adults, and other nonprofits that serve the community. -
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Professor Margaret Boyle Receives $35,000 Fellowship from Howard Foundation
May 01, 2019The award provides more support for Boyle as she plans her next book, a study of women and health in early modern Spain. Earlier this year she won a Fulbright scholarship to work on the project in Spain next year. -
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Colloquium Explores Memory, Truth and Justice After Conflict
April 27, 2019What does it take to achieve lasting peace? How do countries find justice when victims are counted not in dozens or hundreds, but millions? How do people reconstruct memory the conflict? What does it mean to say, “Never again”? -
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Understanding Socialism in Today’s Political Climate: A Public Radio Discussion
April 18, 2019Government Professor Alyssa Grahame says the financial meltdown of 2008 and the rise in popularity of democratic socialist Bernie Sanders are both factors behind the apparent resurgence of socialism in the US. -
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Public Service Initiative Heads to Washington, DC, for the Second Year
April 10, 2019Students headed to Washington, DC, over the spring break on the second Bowdoin Public Service Initiative. The program is designed to provide students with the opportunity to delve into topics around government and public policy work. -
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Kris Klein Hernandez ’12 Wins Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship
March 25, 2019Kris Klein Hernandez ’12, a fifth-year doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan and a summer faculty instructor for Bowdoin's Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program, has received a prestigious fellowship. -
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‘Nature Behind Barbed Wire:’ The Japanese American Incarceration of WWII
December 18, 2018More than 110,000 Japanese Americans were forced into incarceration camps by the US government during the war. In her latest book, history and environmental studies professor Connie Chiang considers the episode from a new perspective. -
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Behind the Willner's Record-breaking $20M Fundraiser
November 29, 2018Charlotte and Dave Willner, from the class of 2006, raised more than $20 million to help reunite separated families at the Mexican-U.S. border. Dave Willner was on campus to tell the story—and talk about how other fundraisers might go viral. -
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National Teaching Honors for Geologist Rachel Beane
November 19, 2018Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Natural Sciences Rachel Beane, winner of this year's Neil Miner Award, says she wouldn't be the teacher she is without the help and support of her colleagues in the Earth and Oceanographic Science Department. -
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Amherst’s Stavans on Crypto-Jews: “A People Within a People”
November 14, 2018Ilan Stavans, a leading scholar on Jewish culture in the Hispanic world, shares his thoughts on why many Jews kept their faith a secret for centuries. He also voices concerns over the rise in hate crime in recent years, particularly the increase in anti-Semitic behavior. -
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Bowdoin’s Own DVD Explosion! Library to Acquire 6,000 DVDs from Bart D’Alauro '95
November 09, 2018D'Alauro had more than 35,000 DVDs on his hands when his movie rental business folded last year. Now he's found a home for some of them. Library director Marjorie Hassen says the new titles will complement Bowdoin's existing collection and fill gaps in the curriculum covering a range of subjects. -
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International Student Spotlight: Mishal Kazmi ’21
October 31, 2018"I think there are some things everyone takes for granted about the place they grew up in until they're far away from it. It feels like I'm a part of two very different worlds, and there's little chance they'll ever completely meet." -
Nature Moments: Getting to Know Bug Spit
October 31, 2018You never know what you're going to find inside a gob of spit in a meadow. If you're lucky, it might be a young spittlebug. Don't be squeamish about examining their spit, says biology professor Nat Wheelwright. It has some fascinating qualities. -
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Chemistry Students Present Research at National Diversity in STEM Conference
October 29, 2018The National Diversity in STEM Conference, which is the largest multicultural STEM conference in the country, was held in San Antonio this year. Two of the students—Louis Mendez ’19 and Kai’olu DeFries ’19—also received awards for their research presentations. -
Six Women Scientists Receive Prestigious External Grants in Spring Semester
October 25, 2018Sizable grants were awarded to pursue research in the areas of biology, chemistry, oceanography, neuroscience, and anthropology. Dean for Academic Affairs Elizabeth McCormack said it’s been a banner year for the College. -
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Latin American Historian Allen Wells Reflects on Refugee Caravan and Career
October 23, 2018Wells looks back on his forty-plus college teaching career and offers some thoughts on the current Central American refugee crisis. This Friday scholars from around the nation converge on the Bowdoin campus for a Latin American symposium celebrating the career of the Roger Howell, Jr. Professor of History. -
From Audio to Visual: Music Lecturer Showcases Computer-Generated Art
October 18, 2018“I am fascinated by the creative potentials of generative systems and I depend on being surprised by the traces they leave,” says Frank Mauceri. “I am often inspired by musical processes and processes of human interaction.” His work is on display at UMA’s Danforth gallery until November 7. -
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‘Our Environmental Future’ Symposium Emphasizes Collaboration—and Hope
October 12, 2018With the the Roux Center now officially open, a new era of environmental studies at Bowdoin has begun. “We have an opportunity to broaden our existing research and community engagement, to do even more to transcend the disciplinary boundaries of the past,” announced Associate Professor of Government Laura Henry as she kicked off yesterday’s symposium. -
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Lifelong Learning: Bowdoin Extends Its Education to the Community
October 08, 2018This fall, earth and oceanographic science professor Phil Camill is teaching a six-session course, on alternating Monday evenings, about climate change and “weird weather.” The attendees are mostly retired people living in Brunswick and nearby who belong to the Association of Bowdoin Friends. -
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One Year Later, Nature Moments Video Series Calls It a Day
October 01, 2018After twelve months, the weekly Nature Moments video series is calling it a day. In this final installment, biology professor Nat Wheelwright looks back and thanks the team of writers and technicians at Bowdoin College who helped him produce the series. -
Lemur Life: David Anderson ’19 Researches a Madagascar Primate
October 01, 2018As a biology major at Bowdoin, David Anderson ’19 has had the chance to study the behavior of sparrows on Kent Island and crabs at the Schiller Coastal Studies Center. But to satisfy his curiosity about primates, he (obviously) needed to go farther afield than Maine and New Brunswick. -
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Bowdoin’s Khoja-Moolji Discusses New Book on Girls’ Education with Mariya Ilyas ’13
September 26, 2018Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Shenila Khoja-Moolji recently published Forging the Ideal Educated Girl: The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia (University of California Press). The book received an award from the Islamic Humanities project at Brown University. -
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Bringing Government to Bowdoin: Former Chief of Staff Talks to NYT’s Katie Benner ’99
September 24, 2018Students, faculty and locals lined up early Thursday evening in the lobby of Pickard Theater to listen to New York Times writer and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katie Benner ’99 interview President Obama’s fourth and final White House chief of staff, Denis McDonough. -
Nat Wheelwright on Maine Calling as Nature Moments Series Approaches End
September 21, 2018Wheelwright was joined on the radio by fellow biologist Patty Jones, director of the Bowdoin Scientific Station on Kent Island. Jones recently featured on Nature Moments, where she talked about the pollination habits of bees. -
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In ‘Nature,’ Bowdoin Scientist Predicts Arctic Peatland’s Warming Impacts
September 20, 2018A team of scientists that includes Bowdoin professor Phil Camill has just released new findings on a question with significant implications for the future of the planet: how will the Earth’s peatlands, particularly the vast stretches in the Arctic, respond to global warming? Will they serve as carbon sinks or carbon sources? -
National Geographic Society Hires Tracy Wolstencroft ’80, P’15 as CEO
September 19, 2018Tracy Wolstencroft ’80 will take over as president and CEO of National Geographic Society, shepherding the nonprofit into a new era in which it hopes to contribute to a “healthy, more sustainable planet for generations to come.” -
Artist Stephanie Rothenberg Thrilled To Be First Roux Scholar
September 18, 2018Stephanie Rothenberg has a lot to learn, and she’s excited about it. “I’m interested in the Maine coastline, the impact of climate change, and what this is all doing to the livelihood of those who depend on the sea for a living.” She’s sitting behind her desk in Bowdoin’s newest building. -
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Ethics Prize for Obama Honors Bowdoin Grad Paul H. Douglas, Class of 1913
September 13, 2018A US Senator noted for his commitment to fiscal reform and ethics in government, Douglas began his working life as an economics professor at the University of Chicago in 1920, seven years after graduating from Bowdoin. In WW2 he was a decorated Marine, despite being a Quaker. -
2018: A Busy Summer at Bowdoin College
September 12, 2018The summer months are a time for many of us to recharge the batteries, but it doesn’t mean life at Bowdoin grinds to a halt. The campus may be quieter than usual, but there has been no shortage of activity—academic and otherwise—among the Bowdoin community since the school year ended. -
Bowdoin Alumni and Students Jump into the Future of Fishing
September 12, 2018As the field continues to develop and grow, more Bowdoin students and alumni are getting involved, attracted both to the promise of innovative jobs or research, and to doing work that has tangible environmental and social benefits. -
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Dorn’s Book on Education Praised in Top History Journal
September 11, 2018Julie Reuben, a preeminent historian of higher education at Harvard University, has recently published a review of Charles Dorn’s book, For the Common Good: A New History of Higher Education in America, in The Journal of American History. -
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Theater Professor Directs Tribute Play to Late Boston ‘Theater Legend’
September 06, 2018Davis Robinson and the “Beau Jest Moving Theatre” are staging “Larry’s Play” in honor of Larry Coen, the charismatic actor/director who died suddenly earlier this year. It was a play Coen himself had been working on when he died, explains Robinson. -
Arts and Culture: 2018 Fall Preview
September 05, 2018To complement the Bowdoin Arts and Culture Fall 2018 Calendar of Events, here’s a sample of some of the treats on offer in the galleries, museums, concert halls, libraries, theaters, and and lecture halls of the College over the next few months. -
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Wheelwright’s ‘Nature Moments’ Videos Enjoy a ‘Made in Maine’ TV Moment of Their Own
August 30, 2018Nat Wheelwright, Bowdoin’s Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Natural Sciences Emeritus, took a year off from teaching to produce, with a team of filmmakers and ecologists, the video series Nature Moments, to encourage mindfulness and curiosity about one’s own nature discoveries. -
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Bowdoin Historian Highlights Maine’s Debt to Slavery
August 28, 2018In two years, Maine will turn two-hundred years old. Amid the birthday celebrations, Bowdoin’s Brian Purnell, an associate professor of history and Africana studies, asks that we consider the state’s indebtedness to slavery for its origins. -
Jake Stenquist '19: A Scholar, Athlete, Marine, and Rock Drummer
August 27, 2018On May 26, 2018, when most of the Bowdoin community was celebrating the College’s 213th Commencement, rising senior Jake Stenquist was on his way to Marine Officer Candidates School (OCS) at Marine Base Quantico, Virginia, for six weeks of “organized chaos.” -
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Bowdoin’s Brian Purnell Reminds Us of the North’s Racist Past
August 17, 2018While modern racism is often characterized as a primarily Southern scourge, “embodied in tiki torches, Confederate flags and violent outbursts,” the North cannot ignore its own racist roots, or, for that matter, its ties to today’s white supremacy movements, Brian Purnell argues in a new co-authored article in The Conversation. -
Bowdoin Faculty Receive National Humanities Grant for Holocaust Education Seminar
August 16, 2018The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded Bowdoin College nearly $90,000 to offer a seminar next summer for sixteen middle and high school teachers, from across the U.S., on using art objects to enrich their lessons about the Holocaust. -
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Nature Moments: The Songs of Trees
August 07, 2018If you close your eyes on a breezy day, you can identify trees just by the rustle of their leaves. Are they singing to each other? For David G. Haskell, ecologist and author of The Songs of Trees, listening closely to the distinctive voices in a forest “can ignite our curiosity and get our minds into the lives of trees.” -
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Introducing the Geoffrey Canada Scholars
August 06, 2018The Geoffrey Canada Scholars program is just one piece of THRIVE, a new initiative funded by Netflix CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings ’83, to transform the Bowdoin experience for students who are the first in their families to go to college, who come from low-income backgrounds, or who are from groups traditionally underrepresented at the College. -
The Making of a Greek Language App: Diakritikos
August 06, 2018Demonstrating a fusion of two languages, a scholar and his students are combining computer code with classical Greek to create a language-learning app that will help Classics students practice accentuation—a key dimension of ancient Greek. -
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Now Showing: ‘The Heath Hen’ and Other Early Ornithological Films of Alfred Otto Gross
August 03, 2018Rare films documenting ornithological research done in the late 1920s and early 1930s by Bowdoin professor of biology Alfred Otto Gross, including previously unknown footage of the last surviving heath hen, have now been preserved, digitized, and published online thanks to support from the National Film Preservation Foundation. -
The Heath Hen and Other Early Ornithological Films of Alfred Otto Gross
August 03, 2018Rare films documenting ornithological research done in the late 1920s and early 1930s by Bowdoin professor of biology Alfred Otto Gross, including previously unknown footage of the last surviving heath hen, have now been preserved, digitized, and published online thanks to support from the National Film Preservation Foundation -
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Mellon Mays Fellows at Bowdoin Begin Journey to Graduate School
July 30, 2018Each summer, Bowdoin hosts an intensive research program for Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research fellows. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation established its undergraduate fellowship program in 1989 to encourage minority faculty in higher education. Bowdoin set up its Mellon program three years later. -
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Prof. Starobin Cautions about Legal Risks of Local Climate Policy Action
July 30, 2018Shana Starobin’s intention is not to discourage local action, but rather to provide realistic guidance. “We want to be optimistic and hopeful, but the vision from our perspective is to think about the legal risks of local regulation and what could happen,” she said. “Lots of communities want to have autonomy over driving what their futures are going to look like….And while it’s not that they shouldn’t move forward, there is a reality of constraints and regulations.” -
Two ES Students Imagine the City of Tomorrow
July 30, 2018Environmental studies majors Sabrina Hunte ’20 and Sarena Sabine ’19 recently joined other visionary students from across the country to attend the first-ever “Princeton Environmental Ideathon.” In one packed weekend, the attendees collaborated in small teams to imagine ingenious, creative — and feasible — projects to build greener and more sustainable modern cities. -
Reappraising Ovid: Professor Boyd Examines the Roman Poet’s Relationship with Homeric Tradition
July 27, 2018She aims to shed fresh light on the literary connections between Ovid and Homer, who lived nearly a thousand years before the Roman poet, and who may well have been several different people! -
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Isaac’s Journey: Sophomore Launches IT Learning Program for African Immigrants (Like Himself!)
July 27, 2018Four years after arriving alone in Maine from war-torn Congo, Isaac Kabuika ’20 is starting a voluntary program in Lewiston to teach skills computer science to African immigrants like himself. “There’s a serious lack knowledge about computer skills in this community, and it’s a big problem.” -
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Looking for Tiny Minerals in Greece to Explain how Earth Functions
July 27, 2018A small team of Bowdoin researchers have just returned from northern Greece, where they were scouring three of the best sites in the world for clues into a great geological phenomenon that is still not widely understood. -
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Finding a Solution to Maine’s Labor Problem
July 27, 2018Maine faces a worrying shortage of skilled workers, writes economics professor emeritus David Vail. In a commentary piece he coauthored for the Portland Press Herald, he makes some recommendations on how to tap the potential of the thousands of displaced workers who have left the labor force. -
Economics Students Analyze Childhood-Trauma Data for Free Health Clinic
July 27, 2018Oasis Free Clinics was seeking help to compare information it had about some of its patients’ childhood histories — in particular, the traumas they may have experienced in youth — with information collected from a more general population. -
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Rooting Out Gender Inequality with Middle School Boys
July 27, 2018Ben Ray ’20 jumped at the chance to help launch the inaugural CCLIMB (Creating Compassionate Leadership in Maine Boys) group. “I’m an education student and I’m a student of gender and women’s students,” he said. “I believe gender is not talked about enough at schools, and ignoring it is actively causing problems in our society.” -
Bowdoin Scientist Embarks on Major Ocean-Climate Study
July 27, 2018For thirty-seven days this August and September, Bowdoin oceanographer Collin Roesler will live on a 238-foot research vessel in a remote patch of the Gulf of Alaska, 200 miles from shore. With a community of other scientists, she will study the ocean’s army of plankton and bacteria. -
Senior Spends Summer Working for Electoral Reform
July 25, 2018Benjamin Ratner ’19 has lofty goals for his summer internship: he wants to help bring about structural reform to our political system. He working for FairVote, a nonprofit that advocates for ranked choice voting and other measures which he believes will enhance the democratic process. -
The Staying Power of ABBA: Bowdoin’s McMullen on the ‘Tribute Band Factor’
July 25, 2018Music critics hated them, but that didn’t matter. Four-and-a-half decades after they first came to global prominence, the Swedish supergroup ABBA is proving unstoppable. The music professor is quoted in a Smithsonian.com article on the band’s enduring popularity. -
Measured Words: Computation and Writing in Renaissance Italy
July 24, 2018Everyone knows that computers didn’t come along until the second half of the last century, right? Well, maybe not, says professor Arielle Saiber. There were computers in Renaissance Italy, she informs us, but these computers were people! -
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The Poetic Possibilities of Snail Research
June 22, 2018The Bowdoin Marine Science Semester launched four years ago with large ambitions for enriching student’s education with research in the field. Since then, molecular ecologist Sarah Kingston — one of the program’s fulltime faculty — has been hatching excitement among her students about tiny things, from the DNA of blue mussels to the muscular feet of snails. -
Professor’s Tweet about Trump Executive Order Inspires Late-Night Joke
June 22, 2018A recent tweet by Bowdoin government professor Andrew Rudalevige regarding President Trump’s executive order on the detention of immigrant families made a serious point: that the language of the order might render it ineffective. -
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New Initiative Aims to Strengthen Cross-Cultural Teaching
June 18, 2018Being aware of your own cultural background as well as that of your students is critical to more effective teaching and learning—that was the message explored recently by faculty taking part in the first day of the College’s four-day May Institute. -
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Bowdoin’s Mike Franz In Demand and On the Air Regarding Historic and Controversial Election Issues
June 11, 2018A historic democratic experiment before Maine primary voters and an allegation of money laundering facing the Maine Democratic Party prompted news outlets to seek insight from Professor of Government Mike Franz. -
Does Moscow Garbage Crisis Represent the Biggest Threat to Putin?
June 07, 2018Garbage is piling up in landfills around Moscow, writes government professor Laura Henry in “The Conversation,” and the resulting pollution has led to a wave of citizen protests “that potentially poses a greater challenge to Putin’s government than pro-democracy activism.” -
Bowdoin’s Rudalevige Discusses ‘Shades of Nixon’ in Trump’s Pardon Claim
June 06, 2018Claims by President Donald J. Trump that he has the “absolute right” to pardon himself brought to mind, for many, the words of President Nixon, writes Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige in The Washington Post’s political science blog, Monkey Cage. -
Five Professors Appointed to Named Chairs
June 05, 2018Five members of the Bowdoin faculty have been appointed to named chairs in recognition of their contributions to scholarship and teaching at the College. The appointments were made by President Clayton S. Rose on the recommendation of Dean for Academic Affairs Elizabeth F. McCormack and after consulting with senior members of the Committee on Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure. Holders of named chairs are entitled to additional research funds. The appointments are effective July 1, 2018. -
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Common Good Symposium Showcases a “Little Bit of Everything”
May 30, 2018A wealth of projects and programs were showcased at the McKeen Center’s Spring Symposium, Bowdoin and the Common Good, on May 10, 2018. Posters, presentations, photographs, and video were on display in the Morrell Lounge of the Smith Union, representing more than sixty examples of Bowdoin’s commitment to the wider community. -
Student Podcasts Examine Sports Diplomacy, Other Issues, in Korea Studies Course
May 25, 2018Distinguished Lecturer in Government Bradley Babson gave his students considerable leeway when it came to their end-of-year project for his course The Two Koreas and Geopolitics of Northeast Asia (ASNA 2872/GOV 2550). -
Two Seniors — A Filmmaker and a Composer — Collaborate on Short Film
May 24, 2018The film was the result of a year’s worth of work – Nevan Swanson ’18 wrote the script in a screenwriting course in the fall, and shot the film over the course of the year, and the soundtrack of the film became Sam Kyzivat’s senior honors thesis in music composition. -
Keeping Black Kids Safe: Preventing Violence in Chicago Schools
May 22, 2018"I realized after being at Bowdoin that a lot of the experiences I've had are not discussed, or represented, or even recognized on campus," LaShanda Harbin ’18 said. She and her grandmother, who helped raise her, live in Englewood, on the South Side of Chicago. "So I decided to write about it." -
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More Recognition for Bowdoin Art Professor Jackie Brown
May 17, 2018Marvin H. Green Jr. Assistant Professor of Art Jackie Brown has another honor to add to her name. She was recently awarded a Maine Artist Fellowship, one of seven Mainers to be recognized in this way for their efforts across the artistic spectrum. -
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Nature Moments: Packing Leaves into Buds
May 14, 2018How do plants pack their growing leaves inside such small buds? There are four main methods: leaves can be folded, rolled up, coiled, or pleated. The way a particular species packs its leaves has less to do leaf size or shape than with the plant’s evolutionary history, says Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Natural Sciences Nathaniel T. Wheelwright, in this latest Nature Moments video. -
The Story of Bowdoin’s Guest Semester Program is Told around New England and ‘The World’
May 11, 2018In the aftermath of the devastating storms that struck Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, Bowdoin opened its classrooms to students whose education was disrupted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Two students accepted the invitation to enroll in the spring semester, with their tuition, room and board, books, winter clothing costs, and transportation to campus all covered by the College. -
Language Tables: An Informal Way to Practice Linguistic Skills
May 11, 2018If you walk into one of the smaller dining rooms in Thorne Hall at dinner time, there's a good chance you'll hear a language other than English being spoken. Several times a week, different departments typically sponsor a "language table" at which students get the chance to practice their linguistic skills in an informal setting. -
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From Moulton Union to Lincoln Center: Bowdoin Senior Showcases Musical Talent
May 08, 2018Emily Licholai ’18 meets acclaimed American composer Lowell Liebermann after performing one of his pieces for him at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. Accompanying her on piano was Beckwith Artist-in-Residence George Lopez. -
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Pioneering Expert on Brain Injury and Disease Visits Bowdoin
April 30, 2018Lee Goldstein, a leading researcher of neurodegenerative disorders, spoke at Bowdoin recently about his findings into chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and other long-term consequences of repetitive brain trauma in athletes and military personnel. -
National Honors for Bowdoin Students Reflect Growing Distinction of Russian Department
April 26, 2018Two Bowdoin students have received national honors in a prestigious Russian essay contest—an indication of the College’s renewed commitment to the study of Russian, both the language and the culture, says department chair Alyssa Gillespie. -
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Prof. Starobin Cautions about Legal Risks of Local Climate Policy Action
April 24, 2018After President Trump announced his plan to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, several US states and cities began to draw up independent plans to achieve the accord’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing catastrophic climate change. -
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Mohamed Nur ’19 Wins Truman Scholarship for Graduate Studies in Public Service
April 18, 2018“I have seen people who have worked so tirelessly for other people. I have seen their impact on other people’s lives, and the kind of good that can do. This is what I want to spend the rest of my life doing,” Mohamed Nur ’19 -
Senior Digs Into the Psychology of Climate Change Denial
April 18, 2018Over the past year, environmental studies major Riley O’Connell ’18 has been gathering and interpreting data on what could be driving many individuals in the United States to insist that climate change is not real or not harmful. -
Oprah for President? Chryl Laird Assesses the Challenges
April 18, 2018Oprah Winfrey has made it quite clear that she will not run for president in 2020, but this has not stopped many from urging the media tycoon and television personality to reconsider, writes Assistant Professor of Government Chryl Laird in The Conversation. -
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Bowdoin’s Rudalevige: A Year On, Syria Strikes Are Still Illegal
April 16, 2018In 2017, when President Donald Trump ordered US air strikes against Syrian facilities following a chemical attack on civilians, Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige argued that the American action was not legally justified. -
Prof. Erin Johnson Honored for Bringing Community Service to the Classroom
April 13, 2018Erin Johnson, a visiting assistant professor at Bowdoin in the two departments of Visual Arts and Digital and Computational Studies, is being recognized for making public service an integral part of her classes. -
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Rudalevige: Why Some in Congress May Support Presidential Line-Item Veto
April 11, 2018When President Donald J. Trump last month signed the massive omnibus appropriations bill, he did so reluctantly, writes Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige in The Washington Post political science blog The Monkey Cage. -
Robert Morrison Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship to Study Islamic Influence on the Renaissance
April 10, 2018Religion professor says a network of Jewish scholars played a key part in transporting scientific ideas from the Islamic world to Renaissance Europe. The pioneering astronomer Copernicus, for example, owes a significant debt to mathematical theories developed in the Ottoman Empire, says newly appointed Guggenheim Fellow Morrison. -
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Andrew Rudalevige on President Trump’s ‘Surprising Predicament’
April 05, 2018For a US President whose party has a majority in both houses of Congress, President Donald Trump is in a “surprising predicament,” said Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige in a BloombergPolitics article. -
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Russian Folk Musicians Entertain on Campus
March 27, 2018Some of the Bowdoin community were welcomed back from Spring Break by being taken on a musical journey through Russia, courtesy of the folk ensemble Zolotoj Plyos, who demonstrated a variety of musical styles, costumes, songs, dancing, and many different Russian folk instruments. -
Sociology Major Daisy Wislar ’18 Opens Windows onto Disability and Sexuality
March 27, 2018Daisy Wislar's honors project is "groundbreaking," Assistant Professor of Sociology Theo Greene said, for bringing to light the lives of people often overlooked or misunderstood by both academics and the mainstream population. -
Far and Wide: Student Excursions Over the Spring Break
March 22, 2018From Sicily to Silicon Valley, from the Big Apple to the Big Easy, students traveled broadly over spring break on a variety of trips, some of them academic in nature, some cultural, and some service-oriented, but all aimed at enhancing their experience beyond the classroom. -
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Bowdoin Scientist Discovering New Ways to Make Breakthrough Medicines
March 05, 2018Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Benjamin Gorske has won one of the National Science Foundation’s most distinguished research awards, the CAREER grant, given to faculty relatively early in their careers. -
Journalist Jose Antonio Vargas at Bowdoin: Life as an Undocumented Immigrant
March 03, 2018In his relaxed, funny, and chatty way, reporter and activist Jose Antonio Vargas last week conveyed serious messages about immigration, race, and history to students, both in a class session he attended and in an evening lecture. -
Bowdoin Grads Doing Their Part to End Polarization
March 01, 2018Social media is often blamed for worsening some of our most intractable political problems — polarization, a misinformed electorate, a wobbly democracy. But Noah Finberg ’16 believes that social media, when used more thoughtfully, could also help alleviate these issues. -
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Richard Kurin to speak on the Assyrian Reliefs
February 27, 2018Donated by Dr. Henri Byron Haskell, a member of the class of 1855 of the Medical School of Maine at Bowdoin College, the Museum’s Assyrian reliefs have long been a source of fascination for scholars, students, and members of the general public. -
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Nature Moments: Life Under the Ice
February 26, 2018Have you ever wondered what could be living underneath the ice of a frozen pond? With no light or air, and temperatures just above freezing, you’d think life would be impossible, but, as Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Natural Sciences Nathaniel T. Wheelwright explains, certain creatures are thriving under the ice. -
Dr. Jennifer Adams ’90 Describes Impact of Visit to China Thirty Years Ago
February 21, 2018In a short film made for Chinese TV, Adams describes how her fascination with China began at Bowdoin. She is now a doctor of internal medicine in New York City, where she works with the city’s Chinese population. -
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Bowdoin's LaVigne Awarded Research Funds to Lead Study of Gulf of Maine Acidity
February 15, 2018A project led by Assistant Professor of Earth and Oceanographic Science Michèle LaVigne is sharing a near-million dollar award to study Maine’s coastline and ocean. The funds were awarded by the Maine Sea Grant College Program. -
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Three Things Sara Dickey Wants You To Know about Her Latest Book ‘Living Class in Urban India’ — And the Cool Honor It Just Received
February 14, 2018Professor of Anthropology Sara Dickey’s latest book has been honored by the Association for Asian Studies, a global nonprofit open to everyone interested in studying the region. -
The Secret Story of a Terrible Love: A Love Story Masquerading as a Crime Novel
February 14, 2018Prof. Nadia Celis’s research casts a new light on Gabriel García Márquez’s classic crime novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold. She’s planning a collaboration with the Theater and Dance department to tell the story. -
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Rudalevige on Whether President Trump Has the Authority to Extend the DACA
February 08, 2018As the deadline looms for the expiration of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an immigration measure introduced by the Obama administration, a legal dispute is going on over whether President Trump has the authority to extend that deadline, wrote John T. Bennett in Roll Call. -
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Maine Public Radio: North Korea Leader Kim Jong-un Not Acting Irrationally, say Bowdoin Faculty Members
February 06, 2018Despite what many of the headlines are saying, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a rational actor who has behaved in a systematic and strategic way to protect and develop his nation. That was the view of Bowdoin faculty members Rebecca Gibbons and Bradley Babson speaking on Maine Public Radio on February 7, 2018. -
Nature Moments: Why Do Birds Have Different Personalities?
February 05, 2018Have you noticed how different bird species have distinct personalities? Some are shy and skittish, while others are curious and gregarious. Don’t you wish you could get inside the head of a bird to see what makes them tick? -
Viktoria Paulick Keding ’98 to Receive 2018 Common Good Award
February 05, 2018Viktoria Paulick Keding, a member of the Class of 1998, is a pioneer and leader in the field of environmental education, having spearheaded a movement in southwestern Africa to equip residents and their communities with the skills and knowledge to understand, appreciate, benefit from, and conserve their unique natural environment. -
The Heart Hath Its Own Memory: Longfellow Days 2018 to Include Bowdoin’s Welsch
February 02, 2018Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s interest in nostalgia is the focus of the upcoming Longfellow Days in Brunswick—a series of events held annually to honor the life and work of the celebrated poet, a Bowdoin graduate of 1825. -
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Beyond the Postcard: Sights from the "Peripheral" Caribbean
February 01, 2018From the times of Columbus to our days, when millions of visitors arrive on the islands under the spell of the global tourist industry, imagination has been a defining force behind the representation and the material lives of Caribbean people. -
Black History Month Features Mountaineers, Poets, Scholars, Artists
January 31, 2018About four years ago, a team of African Americans set out to summit North America’s highest peak, the 20,310-foot Denali, in Alaska, with a goal not just of reaching the top, but of making history. They wanted to “build a legacy of inclusion,” and to inspire other people of color to consider the outdoors their place. -
One of a Kind: What May Be Unique about President Trump’s SOTU Address
January 31, 2018President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address in some ways followed the examples set by historical precedent, wrote Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige in The Washington Post political science blog Monkey Cage. -
Maine Siblings Recall Grandfather’s Role in MacMillan’s Crocker Land Expedition
January 30, 2018Hancock residents Mardi Thompson George and her brother Tyler Thompson have been recalling their grandfather, Harrison J. Hunt, the country doctor from Maine who joined Arctic explorer and Bowdoin graduate Donald MacMillan on his ill-fated Crocker Land expedition in 1913. -
In New Yorker Article on Bratz Dolls vs. Barbie, Bowdoin Economist Offers Insight
January 24, 2018In a recent New Yorker article, writer Jill Lepore — a 2015 Bowdoin honorary degree recipient — describes Bratz dolls as having eyes and heads so big and noses so small “that if it weren’t for their Penthouse makeup…and their come-hither clothes…they’d look like emaciated babies….” The popular Bratz are the only dolls to successfully compete with Barbie dolls since Barbie was introduced in 1959. -
For Alternative Winter Break Students, It’s Personal
January 24, 2018Each January, small groups of students spend a week during winter break learning about a social issue in Maine. These Alternative Winter Breaks trips are proposed, planned, and led by student leaders. Other students apply to join the trips. The McKeen Center for the Common Good runs both the Alternative Winter Break and Alternative Spring Break programs. -
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Bowdoin’s Killeen Brings World Stage Premiere of ‘Babette’s Feast’ to Portland
January 23, 2018A stage production of the Oscar-winning 1987 Danish movie Babette’s Feast is enjoying its world premiere this week at Portland Stage Company, writes Meredith Goad in The Portland Press Herald. The production was conceived and developed by Associate Professor of Theater Abigail Killeen and written by playwright Rose Courtney. -
Michael Wolovick ’09 Proposes ‘Radical’ Solution to Curb Sea-level Rise
January 22, 2018Michael Wolovick ’09, a glaciology postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University, is investigating whether it might be possible to geo-engineer a solution to prevent the collapse of massive glaciers— and so fend off catastrophic sea-level rise. -
Victorian Spiritualism: When Ghosts and Objects Collide
January 19, 2018In the mid-nineteenth century there was an upswell of interest in spiritualism, in trying to contact the spirit world, on both sides of the Atlantic. “The trend started in the US, in upstate New York,” said English professor Aviva Briefel, “where, in 1848, a pair of sisters called the Fox sisters claimed to be able to communicate with the dead, who used knocking sounds to indicate their presence.” -
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C-SPAN Airs Professor Dorn’s Talk on Higher Education
January 17, 2018Professor of Education Chuck Dorn recently gave a keynote address on his research into U.S. universities and colleges for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges’s annual conference in Boston. His lecture was broadcast by C-SPAN. -
President Rose Busts Myths Around the Liberal Arts in ‘US News’ Op-Ed
January 17, 2018In an opinion piece for U.S. News & World Report, President Clayton Rose stands up against those who have taken aim at higher education—addressing criticisms and misconceptions that exist around the liberal arts education model, and telling the story of what it does well. -
Bowdoin’s Chryl Laird on Why Black Voter Turnout Dropped in 2016 in Vox
January 17, 2018The turnout of African American voters in the 2016 presidential elections showed a significant decline compared to 2012, writes Assistant Professor of Government Chryl Laird in Vox. Data analysis shows black turnout dropping by 4.7 percent, compared to decline of just 0.4 percent in overall turnout. -
Bowdoin Appoints New Senior Leaders
January 15, 2018The new year kicked off with announcements of two new members to the College’s senior staff—one in the newly created role of senior vice president for inclusion and diversity, the other filling the position of senior vice president and chief information officer. -
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MacEachern Book Studies Origins of Boko Haram
January 12, 2018Scott MacEachern’s latest book—Searching for Boko Haram: A History of Violence in Central Africa (Oxford University Press, 2018)—sheds fresh light on the origins of the Central African Islamic terror group. MacEachern, an anthropology professor with more than three decades of experience researching the archaeology of the Lake Chad Basin, came upon the subject more by circumstance than intention. -
Author Neil Olson ’86 on Being Both a Publisher and a Novelist
January 11, 2018Neil Olson ’86 knows both sides of the publishing business, writes Heather Senison in amNewYork. For more than three decades Olson has worked for a reputable New York literary agency (Donadio & Olson), where he has been a partner since 1996. -
Bowdoin Profile: First-Generation College Student Dylan Bess ’21
January 10, 2018A few days after his high school guidance counselor recommended to Dylan Bess that he consider applying to Bowdoin, an admissions representative from Bowdoin visited his school in St. Louis, Mo. And she spoke his language. -
Bowdoin Profile: First-Generation College Student Kathryn McGinnis ’21
January 10, 2018In her early days at Bowdoin, Kathryn McGinnis ’21 had an experience that is not uncommon for first-year students at a liberal arts college. She arrived at college thinking she would be pre-med. But after taking a microeconomics class, she found a new academic passion. -
Avoiding the Drift to War: What Thucydides Can Teach Us About US-China Relations in the 21st Century
January 10, 2018It may have occurred some two-and-half millennia ago, but there is a lot that the Peloponnesian War can teach twenty-first century policymakers when it comes to managing US-China relations, said Seth Jaffe ’00. -
David Bernstein ’13 Named Fulbright Alumni Ambassador
January 10, 2018The New Year is off to a bright start for David Bernstein ’13. The economics major and anthropology minor has been selected to serve as a Fulbright Alumni Ambassador—one of nineteen former Fulbright scholars honored in such a way across the country. -
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Bowdoin and Government Scientists Collaborate to Measure Photosynthesis
January 03, 2018While on sabbatical last year, Professor of Biology Barry Logan struck up a fruitful working relationship with a Boston University colleague that led to a multi-year project with government scientists to learn more about photosynthesis—the process by which plants use sunlight to grow and produce oxygen. -
Marine Science Students Research Ocean Changes, Microplastics, Invasive Species, and More
January 02, 2018At the conclusion of the fall semester, it is a tradition for the Bowdoin Marine Science Semester students to present their independent research projects at the Schiller Coastal Studies Center. To a gathered group of scientists and students, they explain how they designed their experiments and what they discovered. The ten participants in the program this year pursued a range of inquiries, from how climate change might be changing snails’ eating habits to how much microplastic is being eaten by zooplankton. -
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Lopez Performs Russian Music in Conjunction with Museum’s Soviet Poster Show
December 21, 2017It was a multi-textured evening of Russian culture at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art recently. Beckwith Artist-in-Residence George Lopez performed The Soul of Russia, a concert held in conjunction with the exhibition Constructing the Revolution: Soviet Propaganda Posters from between the World Wars. -
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Nature Moments: A Deer's Day
December 18, 2017Most mammals are only active after dark, so it’s harder to get to know them than, say, birds, which are active and conspicuous during the day. But you can figure out how mammals like white-tailed deer spend their time by noticing subtle signs of their behavior. -
In Demand: Bowdoin’s Irfan Discusses Net Neutrality on Maine Public Radio and CBS 13
December 14, 2017Assistant Professor of Digital and Computational Studies and Computer Science Mohammad Irfan was in demand December 14, 2017, in the wake of the decision by US telecom regulators to repeal so-called net neutrality rules. -
In Demand: Bowdoin’s Irfan Discusses Net Neutrality on Maine Public Radio and CBS 13
December 14, 2017Assistant Professor of Digital and Computational Studies and Computer Science Mohammad Irfan was tapped by Maine Calling and CBS 13 to discuss the decision by US telecom regulators to repeal net neutrality rules. -
Decentralizing the Federal Government ‘Hard To Pull Off’ Says Bowdoin’s Rudalevige
December 14, 2017While the idea of reorganizing the central government to be less focused on Washington, DC, may have “perennial appeal,” said Thomas Brackett Reed Professor Government Andrew Rudalevige, “it is hard to pull off.” -
Bowdoin Marine Science Semester students give final research presentations Friday, December 15
December 13, 2017Bowdoin Marine Science Semester students will gather at the Schiller Coastal Studies Center farmhouse on Friday, December 15 from 2:00-5:00 to give their final research presentations to faculty, staff, students, friends and neighbors. -
Maine Youth Rock Orchestra Performs Arrangements by Sam Kyzivat ’18
December 12, 2017While part of his day was filled with helping to run the Maine Youth Rock Orchestra last summer, the rest of Bowdoin senior Sam Kyzivat’s time was devoted to arranging more than a dozen scores for the orchestra’s young players. -
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Why Nobel Peace Prize Winner ICAN Is Unlikely to Mean Fewer Nukes
December 11, 2017On Sunday, December 10, 2017, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons—ICAN—was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, “for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.” -
Prof. Rebecca Gibbons Discusses Nuclear Proliferation on UK Islamic Radio Station
December 08, 2017Despite the enormous reduction in nuclear weapons made since the end of the Cold War, there are reportedly still close to 16,000 such weapons throughout the world today—a source of increasing frustration for many non-nuclear states, according to Visiting Assistant Professor of Government Rebecca Gibbons. -
It’s OK To Cry: Male Tears in Twelfth-Century China
December 06, 2017Although “modern man” may be more inclined than his predecessor to shed tears in public, crying is something that has traditionally been associated with females in western culture. That was not the case in medieval China however, as Assistant Professor of History and Asian Studies Leah Zuo informed her faculty colleagues in a recent seminar. Her lecture “It’s Okay to Cry: Male Tears in Twelfth-Century China” covers an area Zuo has been researching as part of a wider project. -
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Diya Chopra ’18 Gathers Stories of Young Refugees Who Arrive Alone
December 04, 2017While Diya Chopra ’18 was studying abroad in Spain last spring, she noticed what seemed to be a glaring gap in the daily news coverage about Europe’s refugees. There was scant mention of the teenagers who arrive alone, without parents or other relatives, money, or possessions. -
Nature Moments: Who is the True Forest Heavyweight? You Might Be Surprised
December 04, 2017You may find it hard to believe, but if you took all the moose or deer in a northeastern forest and put them on a scale, they wouldn’t weigh as much as the superabundant but often overlooked red-backed salamander. -
Former Kent Island Directors Publish on Climate Change and Storm Petrels
November 28, 2017Three scientists who have led the Bowdoin College Scientific Station on Kent Island at different times over the last few decades have published a new article in Global Change Biology that looks at how temperature changes affect the reproductive success of Leach’s storm petrels. -
Rudalevige on Why Trump May Want Congress to Pass New AUMF
November 20, 2017There are several reasons why the Trump administration may wish Congress to pass a new updated version of the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), writes Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige in The Washington Post’s political science blog the Monkey Cage. -
'Connections That are True': An In-Class Interview with Poet Mayra Santos-Febres
November 17, 2017Mayra Santos-Febres, Puerto Rican author, poet, novelist, professor of literature, essayist, and literary critic, is also founder and executive director of El Festival de la Palabra, a global literary festival held annually in Puerto Rico. -
Going to War: Bowdoin's Rudalevige on How AUMF Could Be Updated
November 16, 2017Recent US military losses in Niger prompted some in Congress to ask themselves “When did we authorize fighting in Niger?” writes Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige in The Washington Post political science blog, the Monkey Cage. -
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WGME Highlights How Bowdoin's Celis is Making a Difference in Puerto Rico
November 15, 2017Answering a call for help from hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, Nadia Celis—associate professor of Romance languages and literatures and director of the Latin American studies program—is using Bowdoin’s telepresence room to teach college students on the island without leaving campus. -
'How to Make a Dictator Listen to You': Why the Chinese Government Responds to Some Protests
November 14, 2017Assistant Professor of Government and Asian Studies Christopher Heurlin’s latest book examines a curious aspect of Chinese politics—the role that public protests play in political life, particularly regarding economic issues. -
Nature Moments: Why Do Leaves Change Colors?
November 13, 2017In the latest Nature Moments video, Anne T, and Robert M. Bass Professor of Natural Sciences Nat Wheelwright ponders the fall foliage, and, with the help of plant biologist Barry Logan, asks, “Why is it that leaves change their color in the autumn?” -
Professor Baumgarte Appointed Research Ambassador by German Academic Exchange Service
November 10, 2017The physics professor is among twenty-one North American scholars who have conducted long-term research projects in Germany. As Research Ambassadors, they promote research opportunities in Germany among their American colleagues. -
Closing the Gap: CS Students Teach Girls to Code
November 08, 2017Bolor Jagdagdorj ’19 said she’s heard from many female computer science majors at Bowdoin that they were not introduced to the field until they got to college. She herself was just one of two girls in her first computer science class in high school. “It’s important to get girls interested in computer science and to get rid of that fear — I don’t know if I want to do this, or, I don’t know if I’ll be good at this,” she said. -
Bowdoin STEM Students Present, and Get Inspired, at Diversity Conference
November 07, 2017Three students from Bowdoin — Jorge Gómez ’18, Louis Mendez ’19, and Cindy Rivera ’18 — recently presented their research at The National Diversity in STEM conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is hosted by the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). -
With Trump in Asia, Bowdoin's Babson Cautiously Optimistic on North Korea
November 07, 2017Despite the name-calling and the vitriol that has characterized many of the public exchanges between the US and North Korean leaders, Distinguished Lecturer in Government Bradley Babson has expressed cautious optimism that President Donald Trump’s visit to Asia could lead to an improvement in relations between Washington and Pyongyang. -
In it for the Long Term: Tracking Salamanders Over Time
November 07, 2017Staggered several meters apart, pairs of students hunting for tiny red-backed salamanders pulled up rotting logs and overturned stones in the forest at the Schiller Coastal Studies Center. When they spotted one — sometimes no bigger than a thumb nail — they measured, weighed, and sexed it, and also checked for any deformities. -
Prof. Allen Wells Discusses Changing US-Cuba Relations on Maine Public Radio
November 02, 2017The changing nature of US-Cuba relations was up for discussion recently on Maine Public Radio’s daily call-in program Maine Calling, Among the guests was Roger Howell, Jr., Professor of History Allen Wells, a Latin American specialist who has visited Cuba. -
Japan Elections: Abe Victory A Sign of Moderate and Responsible Government, Says Bowdoin's Laurence
November 01, 2017Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent electoral victory is unlikely to mean any radical changes to Japan’s foreign policy, writes Associate Professor of Government and Asian Studies Henry Laurence in the Maine Sunday Telegram. -
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Monkey Cage Wraps up Rudalevige's 'Founding Principles' Series of Civics Lessons
October 18, 2017The Washington Post‘s political science blog, Monkey Cage, has been running a series of short videos throughout the summer written and presented by Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige. -
No White Gloves: College Archives Give Students Hands-on History, Including the History of Race at Bowdoin
October 13, 2017Librarian Marieke Van Der Steenhoven recently assembled a selection of memos, photographs, pamphlets and other material about the history of African American students at Bowdoin. -
Learn the Right Vocab: Year-Long Seminar Examines Second Language Acquisition
October 12, 2017Lecturer Jamie Rankin of Princeton kicked off the series of events with a lecture underlining how there’s no substitute for knowledge of vocabulary when it comes to learning and teaching a foreign language. -
Historian Laqueur Visits Bowdoin to Discuss the Work of the Dead
October 02, 2017Laqueur has published widely on the cultural history of the body, and is the author of several books, including Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud and The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains. -
Solving an Earth-Sized Puzzle: Bowdoin Goes to Iceland
September 29, 2017Iceland is the ideal location to study the causal relationships and interactions among tectonics, volcanism, glaciation, ecology, and oceanography, says Collin Roesler, who along with three other faculty members from the Earth and Oceanographic Science Department, recently led twenty students on the field seminar of a lifetime. View the story full-size in its own window. -
Rudalevige’s Washington Post Blog Examines Civil Rights and Equality
September 29, 2017“When we think about civil rights, we tend to think about marches and movements and martyrs,” writes Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige in The Washington Post. “But,” he continues,”many kinds of people have pushed us to take a broader view of the Declaration of Independence’s brave claim that ‘all men are created equal.'” -
The Giant Stairs of Bailey Island: An Evolving Outdoor Classroom
September 27, 2017At the narrow end of Bailey’s Island in Harpswell, a series of dark, blocky stones are laid out one on top of another, like a huge staircase leading down to the sea. Known as the Giant Stairs, they’ve long been a favorite destination for Bowdoin scientists and students because they’re a curious anomaly set within the flaky rust-gray metamorphic rock around them. -
Medical Journal Highlights Hailey Blain ’18 for Work on Endocrinology Study
September 26, 2017Hailey Blain ’18 spent the summer of 2016 enrolled in an internship program at the National Institutes of Health working on a cutting-edge study looking at how children can be affected by Cushing’s disease—a condition caused by a hormonal imbalance. Blain, along with her mentor Dr. Maya Lodish, a pediatric endocrinologist, presented the study’s findings at a national conference in Orlando, Florida, earlier this year. -
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Peat Bogs That May Contain Important Climate Change Indicators
September 25, 2017Peat bogs, or peatlands as they are also known, are widespread throughout northern boreal and arctic regions, and they store a significant amount of carbon in the soil. Scientists around the world are actively engaged in determining exactly how much carbon they contain; it’s a question that’s regarded as increasingly relevant as the warming climate threatens to cause more decomposition in these peat bogs, and more carbon to leak into the atmosphere as a result. -
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Middle East Film Series Examines History’s Upheavals Through Human Stories
September 18, 2017This fall, a 12-part film series on the Middle East is part of Idriss Jebari’s plan to bring thought-provoking discussions about the Middle East and its history to campus. Jebari is two months into his time at Bowdoin as the Andrew W. Mellon Post Doctoral Teaching Fellow in Middle East History. In his two years as part of this fellowship, Jebari will teach classes and continue to work on his research toward the publication of his first book. -
Environmental Studies 1101 Field Trip Offers Students an Interdisciplinary Approach to Ecological Restoration
September 17, 2017Each September, Bowdoin’s introductory environmental studies class, Environmental Studies 1101: Our Earth, begins the semester with a daylong visit to Swan Island, an 1,755-acre island preserve in the Kennebec River. -
Bowdoin’s Rudalevige Examines Role of Bureaucracy on Washington Post’s ‘Monkey Cage’ Blog
September 15, 2017Once a piece of legislation has made it onto the statute book, it then has to be put into practice. This issue policy implementation is tackled by Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige in his latest contribution to the Monkey Cage, a political science blog published by The Washington Post. -
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Flood Expert Sam Brody ’92 Profiled in Portland Press Herald
September 14, 2017Sam Brody ’92 has been featured on many media outlets in recent weeks talking about the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey. As director of Texas A&M University’s Center for Beaches and Shores, he’s one of the nation’s leading flood experts. But as he told the Portland Press Herald’s Mary Pols in a recent interview, he had quite a different idea for his future when he arrived at Bowdoin nearly thirty years ago. -
Bowdoin Announces New Initiative to Encourage Public Service
September 12, 2017A new three-component program at Bowdoin College will help students gain insight into the rewards and challenges of serving the common good by working in and through government agencies, political offices and non-governmental organizations engaged in public policy. -
On 125th Anniversary, Prof. Charles Dorn Remembers Man Who Wrote Pledge of Allegiance
September 10, 2017The “Pledge of Allegiance” was born 125 years ago, when it appeared in a magazine article in 1892 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s voyage to America, said Professor of Education and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Charles Dorn. -
Media Blitz: Bowdoin’s Dorn and Book on History of Higher Ed on TV, Radio and in Print
September 08, 2017Charles Dorn, professor of education and associate dean for academic affairs, has been sharing insight gleaned during the research and writing of his new book, For the Common Good: A New History of Higher Education in America (Cornell University Press, 2017). -
Prof. David Thomson '08: History Shows the Dangers of a US Debt Default (Washington Post)
September 08, 2017President Donald Trump’s deal with minority leaders in the House and Senate to raise the debt ceiling will give major leverage to congressional Democrats when budget negotiations resume in the fall, writes David Thomson ’08 in The Washington Post. -
Marine Science Semester Studies Unique Kent Island Environment
September 07, 2017The ten students enrolled in the Bowdoin Marine Science Semester this fall recently traveled to Kent Island, home to the Bowdoin Scientific Station, for their first extended field trip. (Later they will go to Hurricane Island, off the coast of Rockland, Maine, and to Baja California.) -
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For First-Years with a Scientific Orientation, Bowdoin Offers Crash Course
September 01, 2017Like Bowdoin’s other orientation trips, the Bowdoin Science Experience expects its first-year participants to camp out and rough it — to an extent. During their first few days at the College, they all sleep in sleeping bags, crowded onto a floor in a residence hall. -
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To Take or Not to Take? Class of 2021 Attends Academic Fair
August 28, 2017First-years crowded into Morrell Gymnasium August 28, 2017 for the annual academic fair. Faced with dozens of booths manned by faculty members, the class of 2021 had to start thinking about what, for some, is a difficult decision: which classes to take. -
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Rudalevige on Monkey Cage: Who Are the Voters?
August 28, 2017Who votes and who doesn't vote in US elections? What factors influence voter turnout and what factors affect voter choices? These are the questions addressed by Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevigein his latest contribution to the Monkey Cage, a political science blog published by The Washington Post. -
Professor Purnell Looks at NYC's Racist Past (Washington Post)
August 24, 2017Racial injustice has left its mark on every region and state across the nation, and this history cannot be confronted and dismantled simply by taking down sculptures, argues Brian Purnell, who is Bowdoin's Geoffrey Canada associate professor of Africana studies and history. -
Patrick Rael: Washington-Lee Slave Comparison Unfair (Washington Post)
August 23, 2017As a nationwide debate rages over Confederate monuments and whether they should be removed from public places, some critics, including President Donald Trump, have said if we're going to pull down statues of General Robert E. Lee, shouldn't statues of George Washington, and other slave-owning founding fathers also come down? -
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Will Mike Pence Become the 46th US President? (GQ)
August 21, 2017What would a Mike Pence presidency look like? Although the man himself has firmly denied any such intention, there is increasing speculation that the vice-president has designs on the White House, writes GQ's political correspondent Jason Zengerle. -
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Rudalevige on Monkey Cage: Why Are US Elections so Complicated?
August 19, 2017How are congressional and presidential elections organized? Who are the 537 people elected to federal office? Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige asks these questions in the Washington Post political science blog The Monkey Cage. -
Maine Coast Inspires Fellows To Write: Maya Morduch-Toubman ’18
August 17, 2017Two Bowdoin students — Maya Morduch-Toubman ’18 and Aleksia Silverman ’19 — spent this summer exploring parts of Maine's coast, gathering material for writing projects that aim to capture, in different ways, a bit of what it means to live here. -
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Madeline Schuldt ’18 Investigates an Oyster Disease Threatening the Fishery
August 17, 2017Not much is known about MSX, a pathogen that can cause mass die-offs in oyster populations. So when she was a student in the Bowdoin Marine Science Semester in 2015, Madeline Schuldt began to do preliminary research into the prevalence of MSX in Maine's oysters. -
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Professor Bay-Cheng Gets NEH Grant to Teach Digital Technologies in Theater Studies
August 15, 2017Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Professor of Theater and Dance Sarah Bay-Cheng will be heading to the campus of the University of Georgia next June to teach other theater professors how to get the most out of digital technologies. -
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Michael Mascia ’93 Named Board President of Global Conservation Group
August 11, 2017Michael Mascia, the senior director of social science for the nonprofit Conservation International, has been named board president for the Society for Conservation Biology, the field’s pre-eminent professional society. -
Rudalevige in Washington Post: What Did Founding Fathers Think of the Press?
August 10, 2017What role does the news media play in the functioning of the US government? "The principle of a free press is a cornerstone of the Bill of Rights," wrote Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige in the Washington Post political science blog The Monkey Cage. -
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Dorn Essay 'What Is College Good For? (Hint: More Than Just a Job)' in Chronicle of Higher Education
August 02, 2017In an essay published in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Charles Dorn, professor of education and associate dean for academic affairs, shares a personal account of his family's encounters with the question: "What, exactly, is college good for?" -
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Sophie de Bruijn ’18 Jokes Her Way to an Honor’s Project on Comedy and Politics
July 28, 2017Sophie de Bruijn is funny, and at some point she started taking that seriously: performing comedy for audiences rather than just spontaneously amusing family and friends. But this summer she is taking comedy seriously in a new way. -
Former Ambassador Laurence Pope ’67 and Government Professor Barbara Elias Talk International Affairs on ‘Maine Calling’
July 25, 2017Former Ambassador Laurence Pope ’67, a thirty-one-year Foreign Service veteran, and Assistant Professor of Government Barbara Elias Klenner paired up on the Maine Public Radio call-in program Maine Calling to discuss President Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy. -
Professor Starobin on the Legal Risks of Regulating Climate Change at the Local
July 25, 2017Shana Starobin, newly appointed assistant professor of Government and Environmental Studies, has published a new commentary piece in an online symposium on Climate Change and Public Administration in the journal Public Administration Review, a leading venue for scholars and practitioners of public administration. -
Pardon Me: Bowdoin’s Rudalevige on What You Need to Know about Presidential Powers
July 24, 2017President Trump’s recent tweet that “all agree the U.S. President has the complete power to pardon …” has sparked conversation and debate on many fronts. Andrew Rudalevige, Bowdoin’s Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government, dives into the topic for Monkey Cage, the Washington Post‘s political science blog. -
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The Pros and Cons of a Nuclear Weapons Ban (War on the Rocks)
July 17, 2017The prospect of a ban on nuclear weapons is causing division within the global community, writes Visiting Assistant Professor of Government Rebecca Gibbons in War on the Rocks, a news site specializing in national security and foreign policy issues. -
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Museum of Art Patrons Enjoy First ‘Music in the Museum’ Lunchtime Chamber Concert
July 05, 2017Music-lovers filled the Bowdoin College Museum of Art’s Bowdoin Gallery on Thursday, June 29, 2017, for a lunchtime concert. This was the first of the “Music in the Museum” events being staged as part of the Bowdoin International Music Festival, featuring some of the young, talented musicians who are taking part in the festival. -
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Bowdoin’s Danahy Mentors US International Chemistry Olympiad Team
June 29, 2017Bowdoin College chemistry lecturer Michael Danahy described the four high school students chosen to represent the US in this year’s International Chemistry Olympiad as “one of the strongest groups we have seen,” reports Chemical and Engineering News. -
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Bowdoin International Music Festival at the Museum of Art this Summer
June 26, 2017Talented young musicians from around the world come to Brunswick every summer to take part in the Bowdoin International Music Festival. This gathering provides these musicians with a unique opportunity to learn from world-class artists and hone their individual skills. Each year the Brunswick community eagerly awaits their concerts. -
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UK Politics: May’s Election ‘Gamble’ Explained by Bowdoin’s Henry Laurence
June 14, 2017It was the political gamble that didn’t pay off. Last week’s snap election in the UK was called by Prime Minister Theresa May in April in the hope that it would increase her parliamentary majority and thereby strengthen her negotiating hand going into Brexit negotiations with the European Union next week. -
Has American Higher Ed. Lost Its Way? Bowdoin’s Dorn Delves Into Question in New Book
June 13, 2017Are colleges and universities in crisis today? Is college too expensive and yet still not preparing graduates for real-life careers? Do colleges and universities actually contribute to the common good? Or are they just masked corporations? -
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Professors Comment on Implications of Trump’s Paris Accord Withdrawal
June 09, 2017In 2015, shortly after 195 nations had signed the historic Paris climate accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and attempt to curb climate change, we asked several Bowdoin faculty to weigh in on the significance of the agreement. -
Portraying Appalachia: How the Movies Can Get it Wrong
June 09, 2017Meredith McCarroll grew up outside Asheville, North Carolina, in the heart of the mountainous region known as Appalachia: an area stretching from Pennsylvania to Mississippi, touching thirteen states, and home to an estimated 25 million people. -
Bowdoin’s Rudalevige: James Comey an ‘Adroit Political Actor’ (U.S. News & World Report)
June 09, 2017Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige described James Comey as a “very adroit political actor,” following the former FBI director’s appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee in early June. -
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Aidan Coyle ’17 Makes Green Crab Research Breakthrough
June 02, 2017Small, nimble, and aggressive, European green crabs are ferocious invaders. Since they first arrived on the shores of the United States in the early 1800s, they have been wreaking havoc on marine ecosystems up and down the East Coast. -
Students, Faculty Head to Japan to Study After-Effects of Environmental Crises
June 01, 2017A group of seven students and three faculty from the Department of Asian Studies have arrived in Japan for a have arrived in Japan for a trip supported by a Bowdoin Humanities Initiative grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. -
Bowdoin’s Eileen Johnson Joins Project to Help Coastal Towns Withstand a Rising Sea
June 01, 2017Bowdoin College’s Eileen Johnson will be collaborating with the Rockland-based Island Institute to help Maine’s 120 coastal and island communities cope with battering storm surges and rising sea levels. -
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Morality on Twitter: Collaborative Project Analyzes 1.2m Teacher Posts
May 31, 2017A pioneering research project, involving education and computer science faculty, has now processed more than 1.2 million teacher tweets in an effort to get the true measure of what America’s educators are saying about their jobs. -
Earth and Oceanographic Science Students Iceland-Bound
May 31, 2017Eleven students and four faculty members from the Earth and Oceanographic Science Department left campus Tuesday afternoon bound for Iceland, where they will immerse themselves in field research into the various connections among the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere, and into the variations of the earth's surface. -
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Bowdoin Celebrates 212th Commencement
May 29, 2017Bowdoin College conferred 478 bachelor of arts degrees to the Class of 2017, comprising students from 39 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 20 other countries and territories, during its 212th Commencement ceremony held Saturday, May 27. -
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Art—Some of it Talking—Fills Edwards Center
May 15, 2017At this year’s Spring 2017 Visual Arts Open House, in Edwards Center for Art and Dance, digital creations — like soundscapes and videos — joined the mix of sculptures, drawings, paintings, photographs, and prints on display throughout the building. -
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Slideshow: Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Roux Center for the Environment
May 15, 2017The sun shone over a crowd gathered near the corner of College Street and Harpswell Road Friday evening, May 12, 2017, to witness the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Roux Center for the Environment. Actual site work is to begin in June. -
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Goodbye, Wheelwrights, and Thank You For Everything
May 10, 2017Colleagues and friends surprised Genie and Nat Wheelwright at the end of their final classes this semester with a couple rounds of hearty applause. Both professors will be retiring from long careers at Bowdoin, where they inspired countless students to pay attention to and take care of the world around them, learn Spanish, study abroad, and pursue research. -
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Bowdoin to Commemorate Campus Visit by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
May 05, 2017A new historical plaque at Bowdoin College will commemorate a May 1964 visit to campus by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and, specifically, an informal roundtable discussion with King attended by students, faculty, and staff that is remembered by one participant as “the most vivid conversation of my life.” -
Symposium Shines Spotlight on Gender and Religion in the Russian Revolution
May 04, 2017It’s one hundred years this year since the Russian Revolution, and to help mark the centennial of this seismic event, scholars from across the country are coming to Bowdoin College. The 2017 Kemp Symposium— “Ten Days That Shook The World: Reflections on the Russian Revolution, 100 Years Later”—gets underway Thursday evening, May 4, 2017, and continues all day Friday, May 5. -
Vineet Shende’s New Choral Work Offers a Fresh Take on Being American
May 03, 2017A new choral work by Associate Professor of Music Vineet Shende will premiere at Studzinski Recital Hall at 7:30pm on May 4-5, 2017. “E Pluribus Unum, Non Ex Pluribus Divisum” will be performed by the Bowdoin Chorus and the Mozart Mentors Orchestra, under the direction of Anthony Antolini ’63. Shende said two factors spurred him to write this piece: -
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Spring Dance Concert 2017: A Preview
May 02, 2017This year, the much heralded annual Spring Dance Concert will feature several original pieces, including one by guest artist Rakiya Orange, who graduated from Bowdoin in 2011. The performances are May 4-6, at 7:30 p.m., in Memorial Hall, Pickard Theater. -
Professor Horch on Why Crickets Matter (Not Least Because We Might Be Eating Them One Day)
May 01, 2017A new book co-edited by Hadley Horch, an associate professor of biology and neuroscience at Bowdoin, makes the case that more researchers should focus on the cricket to better understand its unique evolutionary features, such as its ability to regenerate damaged body parts. -
Bowdoin Teacher Scholars Alumna Takes Curriculum Beyond the Classroom
May 01, 2017Caroline Moore is a Bowdoin graduate and now works with Maine’s Island Institute in the Mentoring, Access and Persistence Program, which provides scholarships and support to high-school island students looking towards higher education. -
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'Maine Calling' Broadcasts Bowdoin Environment Expertise to the Masses
April 24, 2017The environment, how it's studied at Bowdoin and how Maine is a living laboratory for that endeavor were aspects of a conversation originating on campus and shared with listeners statewide on Maine Public Radio's interactive call-in program Maine Calling Friday, April 21, 2017. -
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Students Dream Up New Uses for Old Navy Base
April 20, 2017For Katie Morse-Gagne ’19 and Andrew Blunt ’19, the 260 acres of sandplain grassland, vernal pools and stream systems, oak-pine forest and pitch pine heath barren on the former Navy base represent a bounty of possibilities for Bowdoin and the town. -
Edvertising: Jessen on the Growth of Advertising and Marketing in Schools (Have You Heard)
April 20, 2017Sarah Butler Jessen, visiting assistant professor of education, was a guest on the podcast Have You Heard, during which she shared insight into her research into the practice of school marketing -
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National Economics Bureau Profiles Research by Bowdoin Professor Zorina Khan
April 19, 2017The National Bureau of Economic Research has profiled the research of Zorina Khan, professor of economics at Bowdoin, who writes on law and economic history, including intellectual property rights, technological progress in Europe and the United States, antitrust, litigation and legal systems, and corporate governance. She is also a research associate with NBER’s Development of the American Economy Program. -
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Maine Public Radio and Keith Shortall ’82 Bring ‘Maine Calling’ to Campus to Discuss Maine and the Environment
April 17, 2017Join in the conversation as Maine Public Radio brings Maine Calling, its interactive call-in program, to the Bowdoin College campus Friday, April 21, 2017, in Smith Auditorium, Sills Hall. -
Voices in the Classroom: American Civics Education
April 14, 2017Kristin Bishop is a junior at Bowdoin, but she gets to spend her Thursday afternoons in a classroom of fourth graders at Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary. In the class, her role is multifaceted: she hangs out with the kiddos and assistant teaches, but she is also there to observe the school’s civics education. As a Government and Legal Studies major and Education minor, Bishop is fascinated by the intersection of the two subjects, manifested in American civics schooling. -
Textbook Indoctrination: the High School History Version of Black Power
April 13, 2017“What’s the Holocaust?” asked Hayley’s host brother. This question was not a cultural difference Hayley Nicholas was expecting to encounter while abroad in Madurai, India. Horrified and intrigued, she embarked on an independent study about textbook education in India, and gathered that many students had not learned about the extermination of millions of Jews during World War II. -
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New Zealand to Tahiti: Spiro ’18 and Wu ‘18 are Sailing Through the Semester. No, Really.
April 12, 2017Math and physics major Carina Spiro ‘18 and Jacquelyn Wu ’18, a math major, are sailing the South Pacific Ocean in an effort to address and better understand some of the most pressing global questions related to the marine environment. -
Professor Laura Henry Analyzes Next Brexit Step
April 12, 2017Kicking off International Week at Bowdoin, professor Laura Henry gave a talk Monday evening about what to expect now that British Prime Minister Theresa May has officially began the process of splitting the United Kingdom from the European Union. -
Daniel Castro Bonilla ’17 Wins Critical Language Scholarship
April 10, 2017Senior Daniel Castro Bonilla has won a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to study Chinese at the Northeast Normal University in Changchun, China, this summer. Bonilla, an Asian studies major, began to study Chinese in his first year at Bowdoin. -
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Professors Delve into the ‘HerStory’ of Reproductive Rights in the US
April 04, 2017For the final installment of “HerStory,” a month-long examination of “reproductive justice, resistance, and solidarity,” Assistant Professor of Government Maron Sorenson and Associate Professor of History David K. Hecht discussed laws surrounding public health and reproductive laws. -
Network@1800: A Digital Humanities Perspective on European Cultural History
April 03, 2017The symposium Network@1800: New Directions in German and European Cultural Studies brings together twenty-two scholars from across the US, Canada, and Germany to discuss new ways of looking at European cultural history in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It’s being held April 6-8, 2017, with an opening lecture April 5. -
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Campus-wide Media Project Targets Red/Blue News Divide
March 31, 2017An experimental project on campus, starting Saturday, is encouraging students to stray from their comfortable news sites — where they can reliably read articles with a liberal or conservative bent — and to try reading news from the other side. -
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Sarah Kingston: An Evolutionary Look at Spotted and Collared Towhees
March 23, 2017Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Sarah Kingston has a new article in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology that explains how she and her co-authors used gene sequencing technology to understand how two bird species are swapping genes. -
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Alex Reed '10 on Policing the Police
March 14, 2017Alex Reed '10 is in her final year at University of Michigan Law School. She spent last summer as a legal intern with a unit of the US Department of Justice, where she had the opportunity to work with experienced civil rights attorneys on investigations into police misconduct. -
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Bowdoin's LaVigne Named Frontiers of Science Fellow
March 07, 2017When Assistant Professor of Earth and Oceanographic Science Michèle LaVigne travels to an academic conference, like most scholars she typically finds herself surrounded by fellow experts in her field: in this case deep sea oceanography. -
To End Black History Month, Prof. Vete-Congolo Discusses African History in the 'New World'
March 06, 2017For the final installment of Black History Month, Howell House hosted Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures Hanetha Vete-Congolo to discuss the representation of African history in the “so-called” New World. -
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Biographer Peter Logan ’75 Discusses Audubon, 'The Greatest Naturalist'
March 06, 2017Peter B. Logan ’75, the author of a new biography of John James Audubon (1785-1851), visited campus on Thursday and Friday to give a public talk and meet with students, staff, and faculty who are interested in the life of the great naturalist, as well as printmaking and conservation. -
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New Public Health Course Meets Rising Student Demand
February 28, 2017Responding to increasing interest in public health by students—who see it as a potential career, a way to practice the common good, and/or an interesting field of study—Bowdoin is offering a new course this semester called Public Health and the Liberal Arts. -
Professor Chiang Recalls Japanese-American Incarceration Camps
February 27, 2017Associate Professor of History and Environmental Studies Connie Chiang recently spoke at the Center for Multicultural life about the history of Japanese American incarceration in relation to President Trump’s travel ban. -
Writer, Feminist Susan Faludi Discusses New Book, ‘In the Darkroom,’ at Bowdoin
February 18, 2017Currently a research associate in Bowdoin’s Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program, Faludi previously was a Tallman Scholar at Bowdoin, teaching courses such as Writing Women and Is Feminism a Dysfunctional Family? -
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Ambassador Laurence Pope ’67 Warns of 21st Century Security Risks
February 08, 2017Former diplomat Laurence Pope ’67 warned of the dangers of abandoning established international alliances and drifting toward a policy of “America-first”-style isolationism in “American Security in the 21st Century,” a talk he delivered February 6, 2017. -
Ambassador Laurence Pope '67: American Security and the Revenge of Globalization
February 08, 2017Former diplomat Laurence Pope ’67 warned of the dangers of abandoning established international alliances and drifting toward a policy of “America-first”-style isolationism in a talk he delivered February 6, 2017. -
Rare and Vivid 2,000-Year-Old Mummy Mask at Bowdoin Art Museum
February 06, 2017Bowdoin College Museum of Art will display this mask, which was created for a mummy, in its new show, AEGYPTUS: Egypt in the Greco-Roman World. The Feb. 2-July 15 exhibition explores Egypt in the time of the Greeks and Romans. -
Bowdoin Senior Follows 63-year-old Art History Trail to Hiroshima
February 03, 2017The four artists are all elderly now, all still living in Hiroshima. Last summer, a Bowdoin student visited them to talk about drawings they had made as children six decades before in 1953 — about eight years after the US dropped nuclear bombs on their city. -
Jackson '07 Explains How Philanthropy Fits into the World of Investment Banking
February 03, 2017Jackson delivered the keynote address at Building Bridges: Crossing the Divide Through Nonprofit Work, a symposium sponsored by Career Planning. Jackson spoke with Bowdoin News about his work, career path, education. -
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Rael on Abraham Lincoln’s Speech Problem
January 20, 2017At the recent unveiling of the rare and historic photograph of President Abraham Lincoln’s first inauguration at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Professor of History Patrick Rael regaled the standing-room-only crowd with what was going on behind the scenes as President-elect Lincoln prepared to take the oath of office and become the sixteenth President of the United States. -
Women CompSci Majors Talk Gender, Why They Love Their Field, and Jobs
January 18, 2017When a group of female students from Bowdoin traveled this fall to Houston, Texas, for the world’s largest technical conference for women in computing, several returned with a solid offer for a job after graduation. -
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The Algerian Women Writers Who Resisted Tyranny
January 13, 2017Assistant Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures Meryem Belkaid held a lunchtime faculty seminar in November to shine a light on some of the hardships suffered by public intellectuals during the Algerian civil war of the 1990s. -
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Elizabeth F. McCormack Named Dean for Academic Affairs
December 19, 2016Elizabeth F. McCormack has been named dean for academic affairs at Bowdoin College, effective July 1, 2017. McCormack is currently professor of physics at Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Penn. In addition to serving as dean, McCormack will join the Bowdoin faculty as a professor in the Department of Physics, with tenure. Bowdoin Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Jennifer Scanlon, who has been serving as interim dean, will return to the faculty upon McCormack’s arrival. -
Japanese Print Class Sees Rarely Seen Prints
December 19, 2016Students from Alison Miller’s Japanese Print Culture seminar took a day trip to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts on Dec. 9 to see Japanese prints that are not available to wide public viewing. Miller is an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in Art History and Asian Studies at Bowdoin. -
Bowdoin Economist Uses Pollution Satellite Data to Assess China's GDP
December 16, 2016China is notorious among economists for not accurately reporting its aggregate gross domestic product. The problem begins with lower-level officials, who report distorted figures that can create a fuzzy picture of the country’s wealth and the population’s welfare. -
Museum of Art Exhibition Examines Artists' Fascination with the Temptation of Saint Anthony
December 07, 2016Since at least the fifteenth century artists have been fascinated with the story of the temptation of the Egyptian hermit Saint Anthony. An exhibition at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art features twenty works examining the subject from across more than five centuries. -
Liberal and Conservative Columnists Find Common Ground in Campus Discussion
December 06, 2016The issues of free speech and political correctness on campus were front and center on Monday evening, December 5, 2016, as two leading national newspaper columnists—an African American conservative and a white liberal—came to Bowdoin for a head-to-head debate and discussion. In his introduction, President Clayton S. Rose stressed the importance of exposing students to differing viewpoints, and opinions they may not all agree with. -
‘Water is Life’ Panel Discusses Indigenous Lands and Laws
December 05, 2016Students, faculty, staff, and Brunswick residents gathered in Hubbard Hall last week to hear a discussion on indigenous lands and environmental justice. The event provided historical context for and analysis of the large protest that’s been waged against a proposed oil pipeline sited close to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, which straddles North and South Dakota. -
Women Warriors: A New Seminar
December 03, 2016Christian Potholm, Bowdoin’s DeAlva Stanwood Alexander Professor of Government, has been teaching for more than four decades, but says he can’t remember a course in recent years that has stirred such excitement and energy, both among the students and himself. -
Professor Chakkalakal Presents Writer’s Unpopular Perspective on Race
December 02, 2016Associate Professor of Africana Studies and English Tess Chakkalakal recently gave a public talk on campus about Charles Chesnutt’s 1901 novel The Marrow of Tradition, a book she positions as “a — maybe the — great American novel.” Chakkalakal focused on the novel’s treatment of race, which Chesnutt had argued in his essays was a social fiction. His was a controversial stance that helped nudge him into obscurity, but Chakkalakal said his ideas deserve to be resurrected and examined in today’s world. -
Watch: Nature Conservancy CEO Mark Tercek P’17 Urges Compassion
December 01, 2016Mark Tercek, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy, and a Bowdoin parent, was invited to the campus Nov. 24 to give a talk at a Bowdoin Breakfast and to meet with a group of students interested in pursuing environmental careers. -
The Difficulties of Predicting an Election
November 30, 2016One of the lessons learned from the 2016 presidential race is how difficult it is to predict an election. Many forecasters and pollsters ended up with egg on their faces, most notably perhaps, Sam Wang from Princeton University, who ate a bug on live television when he lost a bet that Hillary Clinton would win the election. Wang had given her a ninety five percent chance of victory. -
Cueto Asin Offers Reflections from Fidel Castro’s Ancestral Homeland
November 29, 2016One on Elena Cueto Asin’s areas of interest is the relationship between Spain and Latin America. She’s associate professor or Romance languages and literatures in the Latin American Studies Program, and she found herself in Spain over the weekend, when news came through that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro had died. She offers these reflections: -
Kate Dempsey ’88: Maine's Leading Conservationist Chats with Students
November 28, 2016To demonstrate current thinking in the world of conservation, Kate Dempsey ’88 shared a story with students about a recent trip she took to Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania. Earlier in November, she had traveled with other directors of The Nature Conservancy’s state offices to visit the important site. -
From Grape to Glass: A Conversation with Winemaker Mark Lucci '04
November 21, 2016A lot depends on the taste buds of Mark Lucci ’04. He’s an assistant winemaker at one of the world’s largest wine companies, and one of his responsibilities is the final say on whether a particular batch is good enough to ship. Lucci, who was a chemistry major at Bowdoin, jetted over from Napa Valley recently to talk to students about the wine making process and all that it involves. -
Goldman Sachs' Jeff Goldenberg '77 Discusses Economy, Investment Careers
November 16, 2016Jeff Goldenberg '77 has been with investment bank Goldman Sachs for more than thirty five years, and is now a managing partner at the institution. His official title is director of portfolio strategy within the bank's private wealth management group. -
Bowdoin Historian Questions the ‘Wolves’ the Pilgrims Met
November 16, 2016In the fall of 1620, a pilgrim named John Goodman walked a short ways from Plymouth Colony with his dog, a little Spaniel. On his walk, he encountered two fierce animals that chased his dog. Goodman defended his pet with a stick, and the “wolves” sat back on their tails, “grinning at him a good while” before they went on their way. -
Students Teaching Students Makes For Learning Experience All Around
November 15, 2016Bowdoin students headed toward careers in teaching enjoy a professional development partnership with King Middle School in Portland, a nationally recognized expeditionary learning school with a diverse school community, in which they are placed with veteran King teachers for their field placement. -
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Ty Johnson ’15 Conquers His Fear, Goes Back Home to Help
November 15, 2016When Ty Johnson met with his childhood friend Lakia Hudson at home in Baltimore last year, they spoke about all they were gaining from their schooling. Johnson is a senior at Bowdoin, majoring in government and legal studies, and Hudson is studying education at the Community College of Baltimore County. -
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On The Air: Bowdoin Students and Professor Rudalevige Participate in Election Coverage
November 09, 2016As election results were reported Tuesday night, nearly a dozen Bowdoin students were part of the action on WGME/CBS 13. Invited to participate in the station’s election night watch party, the students had the opportunity to share observations during live coverage. -
Behind the Scenes at the Krazy Kat Production
November 09, 2016f you want to escape from reality for eighty minutes this week, check out the show Krazy Kat, featuring a kaleidoscope of existential characters as they explore the forces of life, love, and the pursuit of bricks against the backdrop of an enchanted desert. -
Economics Students Tackle Free Trade Questions, as Historic Agreements Hang in the Balance
November 08, 2016Assistant Professor of Economics Gonca Senel has been teaching her students about free trade, a topic that’s very much in the news at the moment. As part of her course The Economics of the European Union, Senel asked her students to weigh in on the key issues that policymakers in the US and beyond are dealing with. Below are some of their collective responses, which were submitted ahead of the US presidential election. -
For Suffrage Week, Prof. Martin Talks to Students About Women in Politics
November 07, 2016Last week was Women’s Suffrage Week, and tomorrow voters will decide whether to elect the country’s first female president. In light of this, students organized a few events to note the important role of women in politics. -
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Conservative Commentator D’Souza Discusses Clintons, Corruption, Own Incarceration
November 02, 2016Conservative commentator, author, and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza spoke to a capacity crowd November 1, 2016, in Main Lounge, Moulton Union. His talk,”America: Unchained — What’s so great about America? An evening with Dinesh D’Souza,” was harshly critical of the Democratic party in general and the Clintons in particular. Watch the video here. -
Visiting Artist, Filmmaker Lyès Salem Inspired by French-Algerian Roots
October 31, 2016The Francophone Film Festival kicks off at Bowdoin on November 4, 2016, with a screening of L’Oranais, or The Man From Oran, to give it its English subtitle. The 2014 movie is the second feature film from acclaimed French-Algerian actor-director Lyès Salem, the current visiting artist in Francophone studies. -
Two Faculty Debate Gun Control Ballot in Maine
October 31, 2016Quinby House hosted a discussion last week between government professors Jean Yarbrough and Jeffrey Selinger about a referendum on this year’s ballot asking whether Maine should require “background checks before a gun sale or transfer between people who are not licensed firearm dealers.” -
Intermediality: A New Way of Approaching Art History
October 27, 2016What happens when an artist, a painter for example, acquires a photograph, then totally reconfigures that photograph in his or her own oil painting? Is it a new object? Is it appropriation? How do we talk about that and what does it mean? These are questions very much on the mind of Assistant Professor of Art History Dana Byrd... -
Becca Selden ’06 Looks to the Sea to Study Climate Change
October 26, 2016Marine ecologist Becca Selden studies fish populations. But to better understand fish, which are threatened by climate change and harvesting, she also has to understand people. Besides researching the dynamics of ocean ecosystems, she also studies how fishermen in coastal communities are changing along with our changing oceans. -
At Bowdoin, Sen. Susan Collins Talks Trump, Climate Change, Political Polarization, Liberal Arts Colleges
October 26, 2016Susan Collins, a Republican senator known for her bipartisan efforts in Congress, came to Bowdoin October 25, 2016, for a discussion of current issues. In the hour-long event, Collins answered questions from members of a full audience in Pickard Theater, explaining her lack of support for both her party’s presidential nominee and for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. She also spoke about climate change, the future of the Republican Party, political polarization, the Middle East, and other topics. -
Two Government Professors Discuss the Unprecedented 2016 Election
October 26, 2016Before packing into the Helmreich House common room to watch last night’s final presidential debate, students attended a pre-debate panel on the state of the election. The event was sponsored by the McKeen Center for the Common Good, Helmreich House, and the Bowdoin Political Union. -
Whispering Pines: 'Those Who Do the World's Work'
October 21, 2016Earlier this month, as Hurricane Matthew left a path of destruction across Haiti and eastern Cuba and threatened the Atlantic coast of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, US Coast Guard personnel prepared for the worst, tracking the hurricane, warning residents, preparing for search and rescue missions by air and water, and coordinating efforts with local and state officials. -
Refugees, Xenophobia, and Modern Germany Are Focus of Bowdoin Embassy Grant
October 20, 2016Bowdoin College has been awarded a grant sponsored by the German embassy and funded by that country’s foreign ministry. It supports a program that examines aspects of German politics and culture; this year’s theme is “Germany meets the US.” -
Producer Chris Gary Offers Career Advice to Bowdoin Students
October 19, 2016Chris Gary, the former HBO producer who oversaw Game of the Thrones and the upcoming The Young Pope, began his talk at Bowdoin Monday night by looking out at the audience and asking, “What do you want to talk about?” In response to cries such as, “How do I get a job?” Gary discussed his circuitous career path and what it takes to make it in the film industry. -
Professor Ghodsee Speaks on the Re-emergence of Nationalism in Eastern Europe
October 18, 2016The Institute for Advanced Study, where Albert Einstein lived and worked after he fled to the US, recently invited a Bowdoin professor of gender, sexuality, and women’s studies to give a talk about her recent research and latest book, Red Hangover: Legacies of 20th Century Communism. -
The Trial of Galileo: A First-Year History Seminar Re-enactment
October 18, 2016Students in Assistant Professor of History Meghan Roberts’ first-year seminar, Reacting to the Past, spent September immersed in a fraught period, during early modern Europe, when science was rising up to challenge the church’s ultimate authority. -
'This is a Portrait' Exhibition Described as 'Witty, Ironic and Excellent' (Portland Press Herald)
October 16, 2016Freelance writer and art historian Daniel Kany described the Bowdoin College Museum of Art’s current exhibition, This Is a Portrait If I Say So: Identity in American Art, 1912 to Today, as “an excellent launching point for thinking about how art works.” -
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Bowdoin English Faculty Members React to Bob Dylan’s Nobel Literature Prize
October 14, 2016The award of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature to songwriter and troubadour Bob Dylan has sparked a vigorous online debate over “high art” versus “low art,” and whether song lyrics can now be termed as literature. -
First-Years Examine the Supreme Court and Social Change
October 12, 2016The U.S. Supreme Court hands down rulings that affect us all, but does the high court impact social change directly? Maron Sorenson, assistant professor of government, tackles that issue with her students in the first-year seminar The Supreme Court and Social Change. -
Bowdoin Historian Tapped as Finalist For Slavery Book Prize
October 11, 2016Bowdoin Professor of History Patrick Rael has been selected as one of five finalists for the Harriet Tubman Prize, which honors nonfiction books that examine slavery, the slave trade, or anti-slavery movements in the Atlantic World. -
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Big Bowdoin Math Conference Draws Luminaries, Students
October 06, 2016Bowdoin Professor of Mathematics Jennifer Taback says that Bowdoin is known for its strong math department. “If you meet an algebraist of a certain age, there’s a good chance they’ve been to Bowdoin,” she said, referring to well-regarded math summer programs held on campus during the 1960s. Today, math ranks as the third most popular major. -
Bowdoin Economist Finds Globalization Has Not Varied Our Diets
October 05, 2016Although one might assume, after strolling the aisles of a supermarket in the US, that globalization has increased the diversity of our food choices in North America, our diets are actually less varied than those of people living in tropical regions. -
Janet Martin Discusses New Book, 'The Gendered Executive'
October 03, 2016The Gendered Executive: A Comparative Analysis of Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Chief Executives (Temple University Press, 2016) is a collection of thirteen essays examining the impact that female executives have had, and are having, on political life both in the United States and beyond. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Her House, Her Novel: The Most Common Questions
September 29, 2016Cathi Belcher, the docent of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, has begun holding monthly “Tea with Harriet” events, inviting visitors into the newly opened home to see where Stowe wrote her famous anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Belcher has answered some of visitors’ most frequently asked questions. -
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Seven New Tenure-Track Professors Announced
September 28, 2016Seven tenure-track professors were appointed to Bowdoin’s faculty this year to teach and conduct research in a number of fields—computer science; English; gender, sexuality and women’s studies; government; history; Russian; and theater and dance. -
Alumni Ornithologists Gather for Reunion at Annual Conference
September 26, 2016At the recent North American Ornithology Conference in D.C., a few ornithologists gathered for a Bowdoin/Kent Island reunion. The attached photo was taken by Todd Forsgren ’03, whose bird photographs were recently published in National Geographic. -
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A Summer of Science in Druckenmiller Hall
September 19, 2016Throughout the summer, students in white lab coats observed chemical reactions, dissected invertebrate nervous systems, carried out many experiments, and performed high-level calculations to further knowledge in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, neuroscience, and earth and oceanographic science. -
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Bowdoin Economist Critiques US Carbon Markets (Climate Change Economics)
September 08, 2016In a new analysis of US carbon-offset programs that reward farmers for reforesting their farmland, Assistant Professor of Economics Erik Nelson finds that the programs are not enticing enough orchard farmers in Northern California to switch from fruit production to carbon production. These programs are designed to help mitigate climate change. -
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Nancy Jennings and Suzanne Lovett Discuss ‘Practice for Life’ on WCSH’s ‘207
September 07, 2016Associate Professor of Education Emerita Nancy Jennings and Associate Professor of Psychology Suzanne Lovett shared insights from their book, Practice for Life: Making Decisions in College Harvard University Press, 2016), co-authored with two peers from Wellesley College, on the WCSH newsmagazine 207. -
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Where Computer Science Meets Abstract Art
September 03, 2016Two computer science majors are spending the summer learning about two of the twentieth century’s most innovative artists: Wassily Kandinsky and Jackson Pollock. Parker Hayes ’17 and Jeonguk Choi ’18 are working on computer programs that can imitate the work of the two painters. -
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Coastal Studies Fellow Hopes to help Federal Government with Flood Mapping Project
August 31, 2016True to his liberal arts background, junior Angus Gorman’s academic pursuits cover a lot of bases. He’s a computer science and classics major, but over the summer he’s been immersed—if that’s the right word—in the challenges of putting together a reliable coastal flood map. -
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Summer Fellows Do Good in Maine
August 16, 2016This summer, thirty Bowdoin students received fellowships though the McKeen Center and Environmental Studies Program to intern with Maine-based nonprofits in a number of different areas, including coastal resiliency, food security, homelessness, economic development, and land conservation among other topics. -
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Jennings, Lovett Offer ‘Practice for Life: Making Decisions in College’ — Advice, Research and the Value of Liberal Education
August 09, 2016Across the country thousands of recent high school graduates are excitedly—and probably with some nervousness—making plans for their first semester of college. -
Klingle Receives National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar Award
August 09, 2016Associate Professor of History and Environmental Studies Matthew Klingle has been selected to receive a 2016-2017 National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar Award, which will provide funding in support of scholarly research for Sweet Blood: Diabetes and the Nature of Health in America, a forthcoming book geared to a general audience about the history of diabetes from the late nineteenth century to the present. -
Storied Stowe House: Katie Randall ’16 on Finding Passions at Bowdoin and in Its History
August 04, 2016Katie Randall ’16, whose research into the College’s Harriet Beecher Stowe House led to its inclusion in the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom by the National Park Service, writes of the findings—both historical and personal—she discovered along the way. -
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Washington Post: Rudalevige on Trump and the Expanding Power of the Presidency
August 01, 2016Donald Trump’s rhetoric regarding issues such as building — and getting Mexico to pay for — a border wall, or imposing a ban on Muslims entering the US stands out “because his promises are rarely accompanied by details on how he might implement his initiatives,” writes Marc Fisher in The Washington Post. -
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Prof. Jeffrey Selinger Looks Ahead to GOP Convention
July 15, 2016The 2016 Republican National Convention gets underway on July 18, and it’s expected to be a lively few days, to put it mildly. With a number of protest groups expected to turn up to voice their displeasure at presumptive nominee Donald Trump, many are fearful that violence could occur. There’s also an expectation that sparks could fly within the convention itself, with the Republican Party far from unified. College Writer and Multimedia Producer Tom Porter spoke with Associate Professor of Government Jeffrey Selinger. Listen to the interview (audio may take a few seconds to load) -
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Gibbons Students Bridget Went ’17 and Son Ngo ’17: The Beauty of Symmetry
July 14, 2016Computer science and math double major Son Ngo ’17 and computer science and mathematics interdisciplinary major Bridget Went ’17 are working together this summer to help a professor develop software that uses the mathematics of symmetry to create art. -
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Gibbons Student Salomé Lepez Da Silva Duarte ’19: Animating Lab Techniques
July 14, 2016To help students visualize complex neuroscience concepts and lab techniques, Salomé “Sam” Lepez Da Silva Duarte ’19 received a Gibbons grant this summer to create a series of short animated videos for neuroscience students. -
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Tweeting From Greenland: Bowdoin Archaeologist Shares Stories from the Field
June 27, 2016In a recent tweet, archaeologist Genevieve LeMoine shares a photo of a pick-up truck covered with a dusting of early-morning snow. Although it is late June, she is far enough north in Greenland to still be dealing with wintery conditions. -
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Rudalevige on What Might Be ‘New Normal’ Under Trump
June 22, 2016One of the notable aspects of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been what The Christian Science Monitor refers to as “the way the blustery billionaire keeps promising to do things that are likely beyond the limits of presidential authority set by the Constitution of the United States.” -
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Rudalevige on ‘Obama-Clinton’ Tag Team in ‘U.S. News & World Report’
June 20, 2016Tapped to share insight into what U.S. News & World Report calls “the alliance between the president and his would-be successor,” Andrew Rudalevige, Bowdoin’s Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government, weighs-in on what he says may be an unprecedented move by Hillary Clinton. -
Rudalevige Reacts to Latest Presidential Polling
June 17, 2016We’re still more than four months away from election day in the US, and the major parties’ presumptive candidates have yet to be made official, but opinion polls are showing Democrat Hillary Clinton enjoying a six-to-twelve point lead over rival Donald Trump. -
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‘Shrink It or Pink It’: Bowdoin’s Scanlon Talks ‘For Her’ Marketing in ‘Washington Post’
June 10, 2016Jennifer Scanlon, professor of gender and women’s studies and interim dean for academic affairs, was tapped by The Washington Post for her insight on the history of marketing’s attempts to make products attractive to women. -
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Cave Paintings Show Homosexuality Part of African History
June 07, 2016Many African leaders, most notably perhaps Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, believe that homosexuality was a colonial import, and characterize such behavior as inherently “un-African.” But, they are mistaken, observes Patrick Toomey ’17. -
Sex Talk: Invited Scholars Assess Impact of Alfred Kinsey 1916
May 31, 2016The link between the work of renowned sexologist and man of science Alfred Charles Kinsey, Class of 1916, and the raft of lurid and salacious literature that appeared in postwar America, may not be immediately obvious, said Whitney Strub, but there is one. -
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Bowdoin Celebrates Baccalaureate 2016
May 27, 2016Baccalaureate 2016 from Bowdoin College on Vimeo. “Your lives have been shaped by 9/11, the global financial crisis, and the challenges facing our environment, to name just three,” Rose said. With this in mind, he continued, “…I offer for your consideration three ideas: objectivity, faith, and joy.” He explained, “…difficult work will require a combination of, first, being ruthlessly objective about the nature of the challenge and about what is required to make progress. The hardest problems and biggest opportunities are almost certain to be incredibly difficult, and filled with failure and disappointment. Understand and acknowledge this. Do not fool yourself that there is an easy way. However, he continued, “…you cannot lose faith that there is a way to prevail.” -
