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sign up today—it's free! On This Day1863 — Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Class of 1852, is promoted to full colonel and takes command of the 20th Maine. StorePurchase Bowdoin merchandise online. |  2013 Bowdoin Teacher Scholars Six student teachers were put to the test recently when they presented their teaching portfolios in the Bowdoin Teacher Scholars Program’s annual defense. Each completed a full-time, 14-week teaching practicum in a public high school or middle school earlier this spring. This year’s cohort was composed of three seniors and three recent graduates, each specializing in a particular subject area — Rachel Lopkin ’13 (French), Molly Porcher ’13 (Social Studies), Matthew Bernstein ’13 (Social Studies), Will Holland ’12 (Latin), Kate Reichert ’11 (Social Studies), and Will Cogswell ’11 (English). During their defenses the teacher scholars discussed “one of the principles or practices they’ve come to uphold or embrace” during the process of becoming certified as Highly Qualified Teachers, said Assistant Professor of Education Doris Santoro. Read the full story here. 
Writer, illustrator and middle school teacher Charlotte Agell, a member of the Class of 1981, is the subject of Maine magazine’s “Q+A” feature in the May 2013 issue. In it, Agell talks about growing up in “the part of Sweden that even Swedish people never knew about until the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series,” and of finding her way to Bowdoin.  Photo credit: URI Cheryl Foster ’83, a professor of philosophy and associate director of the Honors Program at University of Rhode Island, has received a Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award. She was just one of seven teachers across the country to receive the award this year, and only one of two university professors to be bestowed with the honor, URI reports. Foster was nominated by a former student who described her as “the woman who I can say without a shred of doubt is the single most influential person in my life — inside the classroom and out.” The student, Rachel Walshe, continued, “Cheryl is more than a teacher. She is an activist; a revolutionary waging class warfare on a system rigged against kids like me [a child of divorced parents raised on public assistance].”  In December, Bowdoin President Barry Mills announced that the College would not divest its endowment of fossil fuels, a decision subsequently supported by Bowdoin Student Government and by the editors of The Bowdoin Orient. Mills and other College officials believe that sustainability—not the largely symbolic act of divestment—is the most effective way for Bowdoin to mitigate the effects of climate change. But with all of the focus on the endowment, it’s easy to miss what Bowdoin is actually doing to improve sustainability on campus. The BDS sat down with Senior Vice President Katy Longley ’76 to learn more about the tangible steps already underway.
Continue reading Longley: Bowdoin Investing $1 Million On New Sustainability Measures  Bowdoin College held its 17th annual Honors Day ceremony yesterday evening to recognize the academic achievements of Bowdoin students and faculty. The ceremony was held at Kanbar Auditorium, Studzinski Recital Hall.
Lecturer in Chemistry Michael Danahy, recipient of the 2012 Sydney B. Karofsky Prize for Junior Faculty, delivered the Honors Day address, “Better Living Through Chemistry?” in which he described the often serendipitous nature of discoveries in chemistry, and both the good (new medicine) and the bad (drug addiction) these discoveries can bring into the world. “As you continue through Bowdoin and one-day leave us, remember that what you do with your intellectual discoveries is in your hands,” Danahy said. “Please strive to apply your knowledge in a positive way and help further the “common good.” Read the full story here.  Cristle Collins Judd A grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation is helping the College launch an ambitious cross-disciplinary initiative encompassing various facets of the humanities. Dean for Academic Affairs Cristle Collins Judd writes of the opportunities that await students in three inaugural course clusters. Continue reading Dean Cristle Collins Judd: How Bowdoin Is Enhancing the Humanities  President Barry Mills '72, educator Geoffrey Canada '74 and investor Stanley Druckenmiller '75 amid their discussion, “Generational Theft: How Entitlement Spending is Stealing Opportunity from America’s Youth,” May 7, 2013, in Pickard Theater, Memorial Hall. President Barry Mills moderated the discussion “Generational Theft: How Entitlement Spending is Stealing Opportunity from America’s Youth,” among educator Geoffrey Canada ’74, investor Stanley Druckenmiller ’75, and members of a packed Pickard Theater audience who posed questions to the duo. Watch the discussion in its entirety: View the Powerpoint presentation used during the discussion: Canada’s and Druckenmiller’s visit to campus follows a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece in which they write of their shared concern that “government spending levels are unsustainable,” Canada and Druckenmiller, though from different backgrounds and with different political beliefs, have united to bring their message to the masses, appearing on CNBC’s Closing Bell and Squawk Box, and MSNBC’s Morning Joe. They warn that failing to reform an entitlement culture, reaffirm long-run objectives, and re-establish a common purpose will mean diminished opportunities for America’s youth.  Illustration credit: Abby McBride A Red-tailed Hawk family in Ithaca, N.Y. has its own reality show thanks to cameras mounted on its nest, which sits at the top of a light pole on the Cornell University campus. This week three eggs hatched into fluffy chicks as thousands of people watched the video stream online, meriting a writeup in the Wall Street Journal. The action will continue over the coming months as the hawk parents bring tasty morsels of food to the nest and care for their growing chicks. Curious viewers can ask questions about what they’re seeing in a live chat stream, which appears alongside the video and is moderated around the clock by knowledgeable nest watchers. Managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Bird Cam site is in its second year of operation. The Lab has other cameras trained on a nest of Great Blue Herons (whose five eggs should be hatching within the next few weeks) and features additional bird cams from partner programs elsewhere in North America. The goings-on at the hawk and heron nests can also be followed, appropriately, on Twitter.  Marjorie Hassen has been named director of the Bowdoin College Library, effective July 29, 2013.
Hassen currently serves as director of teaching, research, and learning services at the libraries of the University of Pennsylvania. She succeeds Sherrie Bergman who retired as Bowdoin’s librarian in 2012 after 20 years of service to the College. The announcement, which follows a national search, was made today by Dean for Academic Affairs Cristle Collins Judd. Continue reading Marjorie Hassen Named Bowdoin College Librarian 
The absence of a centralized or national curriculum, such as those used in the U.K., France and Germany, leaves the U.S. education system open to the influence of business leaders and philanthropists (witness Bill and Melinda Gates). Smithsonian magazine takes a closer look at how what’s taught in the classroom has always been informed by American industry in its special report, “The Business of American Business is Education.” | On This Day in Civil War History…Bowdoin Talks: Lectures, Discussions and Events |
