Laurie Gagnon Lachance ’83 was installed as the fifth president of Thomas College in Waterville, Maine, during an inauguration ceremony attended by President Barry Mills and several Bowdoin alumni, and featuring a performance by Bowdoin a cappella group BOKA. Lachance was formerly the head of the Maine Development Foundation, a nonprofit supporting economic growth in the state. She was previously the state economist under three administrations.
(First row, l. to r.) Mike Talbot ’71, Julia Binswanger ’16, Laurie Gagnon Lachance ’83, Barry Mills, Michael Lachance ’13. (Second row, l. to r.) Simon Bordwin ’13, Jun Choi ’15, Sarah Chalfie ’14, Hallie Schaeffer ’16, Kailana Durnan ’13, Emily Cormier ’16, Duke Albanese ’71, Steve Cote ’89, Mary Lanphear House ’93 (Third row, l. to r.) Chris Genco ’15, Nick Walker ’16, Trustee H. Allen Ryan ’64, P’88, Harry Lanphear III ’83, Jac Arbour ’07, Maine Rep. Terry Hayes ’80.
“This is a tale of two college presidents,” Lachance tells the Bowdoin Daily Sun. “Neither applied for the job originally. Both were on the search committee. Both had their names put in nomination. Both got selected. One (Barry) has done a great job. One (Laurie) hopes she does as well as Barry!”
A group of Maine musicians, students, and filmmakers have put Portland on the “Playing for Change” map with a nicely-produced rendition of the song “Be in Love” by Portland’s own Dominic Lavoie. It’s all about raising awareness about the value of music education in the lives of young people.
After living in the United States since she was 8 years old, Ruiqi Li ’13, an economics and math major and an English minor, is close to becoming a U.S. citizen. The final step for Li is to take the Oath of Allegiance, which she plans to do with other new citizens during fall break in October.
Earlier this month, Li passed the naturalization test in Hartford, Conn., which is close to the town of Madison, where she went to middle and high school. Her family left Lanzhou, China, when Li was under a year old so her father could begin a graduate program at McGill University in Montreal.
The world’s first-ever color film, shot in 1902, is being displayed for first time in a century. British photographer Edward Turner invented a new way to add color to a moving image, a method that predated true color filming by 30 years. Conservators at the National Media Museum in Britain spent more than 200 hours restoring the pioneering film.
