With tuition and fees set by the Board of Trustees for the 2012-2013 academic year, Barry Mills conveys the news along with his insights in a letter to parents and families.

To Bowdoin Families,

On Saturday, the Bowdoin Board of Trustees adopted the 2012-13 budget, which includes an increase of 3% in our comprehensive fee. This means an increase of $1,658 in the fee (tuition, room, board and fees) to a total of $56,128.

This represents the second lowest percentage increase in four decades at Bowdoin, and it is one of the smallest percentage increases among our peers. Even so, I recognize—as does everyone at the College—that any increase at all brings an added burden to families struggling to fund a Bowdoin education. We have worked hard to keep our increase at this historically low level, and I want to assure you that we do everything we can to hold down annual costs while striving to maintain and enhance the already immense value of a Bowdoin degree, the experience for our students, and the education we provide.

With increased costs also comes an increased financial commitment by the College to support financial aid. At the same meeting on Saturday, the Board approved a 7% increase in our financial aid budget, which amounts to an additional $2 million for need-based financial aid at Bowdoin. We will continue our practice of “need-blind” admissions next year, which allows us to admit the most talented students from across America without regard to their ability to pay our fees.

In 2008, we converted the loan portion of our financial aid packages to full grants, thereby eliminating the requirement that students borrow for College under our financial aid formulas. And while we understand, given our costs, that many students and their families will continue to borrow to pay for College, I can say with certainty that our students are not graduating with nearly the amount of debt that we have all been hearing about so often in the media these days. On top of that, because our students are so very well prepared and have access to a tremendously active Bowdoin alumni network, the vast majority of our graduates are leaving the College with exciting job opportunities or places in some of the country’s finest graduate and professional schools.

I understand that some among you will wonder why we are not supporting your child at the level you deem appropriate, since our commitment to financial aid is among the most generous at any college or university in the country. In this era of financial uncertainty, and given our cost, more and more people require assistance. Every year when I write this letter, I receive messages and correspondence from families who wish Bowdoin could help more. I understand and I am sympathetic. I also know we are supporting families in a manner and to an extent that is similar to what other excellent need-based aid colleges and universities provide. This does not ameliorate the difficulty some families face in paying our fees. At the very least, I hope you understand that we take very seriously our responsibility to support our students to the extent we are financially able to do so, and that we have increased that support quite significantly over the past number of years.

I am often asked how we can justify costs that are now approaching $60,000 a year. My answer, always, is to admit that what we do here is very expensive and not particularly efficient, because our model of education is based on the intimacy of our College. We are about small classes, faculty who know their students well, and a residential community that is vibrant and active. We are a community of many people who are here to serve this College and its students in an intense intellectual and residential environment of the highest quality.

We could easily and quickly lower our costs, but these adjustments would threaten that quality. We would have fewer faculty members and would offer fewer courses and majors. Our classes would be crowded; our laboratories less well equipped. There would be fewer opportunities to master the arts or to participate in a varsity sport. We could even decide not to care about the quality of our food! All of this, and more, could make Bowdoin less expensive, but it wouldn’t be Bowdoin.

Where does all this money go? The chart below provides a snapshot, with the vast majority of our expenses funding the people who make Bowdoin what it is. And while Bowdoin depends on the revenues generated by tuition and fees, it is important to note that every student—regardless of whether they receive financial aid or not—is subsidized by the College. Tuition and fees, less financial aid, represent only 52% of the total sources of funds received by the College annually. Most of the rest comes from Bowdoin’s endowment and from the generosity of alumni, parents, foundations, and friends who understand, appreciate, and support what we do here. Next year, we calculate that the actual cost of attendance per student will be nearly $91,000, which means the College provides a subsidy in excess of $34,000 to each and every student. I mention this only because it adds important context to the debate over our costs.

Cost of Attendance

In the press today we read about a general perception that colleges and universities have been indifferent to costs over the recent past—that we are not doing our job because we aren’t bringing down these costs. I find this to be a curious response to our economic condition nationally and the state of higher education. For generations, we have supported and taken pride in the higher education system in the United States, a system the rest of the world has long admired. Liberal arts colleges like Bowdoin and our top Ivy and research universities form a gold standard for educating our best and brightest. Yet, today we live in a changed economic environment where the costs of this education are competing for scarce dollars during times of economic uncertainty. I believe every institution in our society—including colleges and universities—must respond thoughtfully to this new reality. It is our collective responsibility to fashion this response in a manner that allows all talented students to get a great education, not just the students from families that can afford the opportunity. So rather than spending social or political capital diminishing our institutions or, even worse, creating doubt about their effectiveness and the value of education, we must as a nation step up to the challenge of deciding how much, given the other demands on our resources, we are willing to spend to support what was and should be one of our highest national priorities: education.

At Bowdoin, I recognize that we must grapple with the issue of cost and expense to families as we seek to maintain the excellence of our College. As a community, we must be willing to make hard choices and to focus quite intently on what we consider to be core to our educational and residential model. Rather than being pessimistic about our future or equivocal about the value of a Bowdoin education, we know in our bones that our College prepares young people for a life of learning, success, and leadership in their communities. It is with this confidence that we will continue to move Bowdoin forward ambitiously into the future.

Everything we do at Bowdoin is guided by three firm principles: We must maintain Bowdoin’s quality as a liberal arts institution dedicated to teaching and learning; we must ensure access and opportunity; and we must remain steadfast in our commitment to the common good. Our future depends on it. Our future also depends on the enduring generosity of those who believe passionately in our mission, and we will continue to do everything possible to earn that support.

As we sprint toward the finish of this academic year and Commencement on May 26^th, I want you to know how very proud I am of your sons and daughters and family members, as well as the members of Bowdoin’s faculty and staff. It has been another year of impressive achievement, and our College has never been stronger. I appreciate your support and your continued involvement in the life of the College, and Karen and I look forward to seeing many of you on campus in the coming year.

Enjoy the summer, and thank you all for your commitment to Bowdoin.

With best wishes,

Sincerely,

Barry Mills

Michael Danahy

Michael Danahy, a lecturer in the department of chemistry, has been awarded the 2012 Sydney B. Karofsky Prize for Junior Faculty. The award was announced at the College’s Honor’s Day ceremony May 9, 2012.

Danahy earned his B.S. from Bates College in 2000, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University. Prior to coming to Bowdoin, he taught at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.

The Karofsky Prize is given by members of the Karofsky family, including Peter S. Karofsky, M.D. ’62, Paul I. Karofsky ’66, and David M. Karofsky ’93, to honor distinction in teaching by untenured members of the faculty. It is among the College’s most prestigious honors and is awarded annually on the basis of student evaluations to “an outstanding Bowdoin teacher who best demonstrates the ability to impart knowledge, inspire enthusiasm, and stimulate intellectual curiosity.”

Read a Q&A with Danahy about his approach to teaching.

Christopher Hill '74

Amid talks between the “P5+1″ (the United Nations Security Council’s five permanent members and Germany) and Iran, which concluded April 14 and are set to resume May 23, career diplomat Christopher Hill writes of the frightening prospects of a nuclear Iran and the importance of exploring carefully a diplomatic course of action.

Hill, formerly the  U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, and currently dean of the Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, shares his insights in his opinion piece “The Diplomacy Option,” his latest commentary for Project Syndicate.

Bowdoin's Buddy Shea '15 makes a nice defensive play in the third inning of Wednesday night's game.

Paul Ruddock with Jill Shaw Ruddock '77 (center) and daughter Isabella in the Museum of Art gallery that bears their name.

Philanthropist and Victoria and Albert Museum Chairman Sir Paul Ruddock (he was knighted earlier this year) is profiled in an article that highlights his passion for medieval art.

The co-founder of Landsdowne Partners, an investment management firm, is married to Lady Jill Shaw Ruddock ’77, who is to receive the Common Good Award at Reunion Convocation June 2, 2012.

The pair, whose generosity provided for a gallery that bears their name in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, also kickstarted the development, as lead donors, of the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries at the V&A.

Four Bowdoin faculty members were elected to emeritus status during the May 11-12, 2012 meeting of the Bowdoin College Board of Trustees. Thomas Cornell was elected Richard E. Steele Artist-in-Residence Emeritus; Jane Knox was elected Professor Russian Emerita; James McCalla was elected Associate Professor of Music Emeritus; and Craig McEwen was elected Daniel B. Fayerweather Professor of Political Economy and Sociology Emeritus.

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Tom Cornell, the Richard E. Steele Professor of Studio Art, arrived at Bowdoin in 1962 to establish a visual arts program with a strong foundation in perceptual drawing and painting. Known in his early career for his drawings and etchings, Cornell has dedicated himself primarily to painting since the 1970s. His work uses the images of nature to explore modern social and environmental ethical concerns.

He has shown his work in nearly 20 solo exhibitions and more than three dozen group exhibitions, including the first group exhibition of American art shown in the Soviet Union.

In 1987, Cornell began his Bathers series, made up of large figurative paintings presenting the human potential for living in harmony with others and with nature. The images in Bathers depict people interacting without being inhibited by the stereotypes of age, gender, class or race. In particular, they show men tenderly caring for young children, a theme rarely found in Western art.

A graduate of Amherst College, Cornell studied for a year at Yale School of Art and Architecture. He has won numerous grants, fellowships and awards for his work, including grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Ford Foundation and Fulbright Institute for International Education; a National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship (currently The National Endowment for the Arts); awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters; and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award. He was elected to the National Academy of Design in the early 1980s.

His Dependency on Nature and the Death of War was recently shown at The Annual: 2012 exhibition at the newly renovated National Academy Museum and School in New York City. As part of the museum’s renovation, Cornell’s name, along with other National Academy members, is carved into the ceiling of the building’s entrance.

Cornell’s work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Harvard and Princeton universities, Cleveland Museum of Art, Archenbach Foundation, National Museum of American Art and the Beinecke Library at Yale University.

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Jane Knox, Professor of Russian and a Maine native, is an expert on Central Asian cinema.

Knox received her B.A. from Wheaton College, and her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. It was at Wheaton where she fell in love with Russian literature, and was driven to study Russian so she could read the works in their original language.

Prior to Bowdoin, she worked as a translator with NASA from 1973 to 1975 during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first joint space mission between the United States and the Soviet Union and the symbolic end to the space race. In July 1975, Knox monitored a communication link between NASA and the Moscow Control Center. Sitting off-camera, she listened to the cosmonauts speaking in space and translated for Walter Cronkite during his broadcasts on CBS Evening News.

Inspired by her adopted deaf son, Knox’s research veered toward linguistics and language acquisition. In the summer of 1980, she was invited to Gallaudet College to take cued speech — a form of manual language that represents the phonemes in spoken language — and adapt it to Russian to help hearing impaired Russian children speak their own language.

Knox has received multiple grants to do research on film as a tool in nation building in the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. In 2006, she received a Fulbright Scholar Award to research the youth of Kazakhstan. She also taught a four-month class, The History of American Cinema, to students in the Department of the History and Theory of Film at the Kazakhstan National Academy of the Arts. In 2009, she received a grant from the International Research Exchange to conduct research on Russian-Kazakh relations in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. In addition, she received funding from the U.S. State Department to make nine short films with Kazakh youth on what it was like growing up in Kazakhstan.

Besides her scholarly pursuits, Knox sang in the Bowdoin Chorus and plays piano. She organized and directed a Bowdoin Russian Chorus and Dance Group, as well as organized film festivals and visits from Russian artists, poets and choruses. She came to Bowdoin in 1976.

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James McCalla this year donated his piano to Bowdoin’s Russwurm African American Center, with the hope that it would be well cared for and played often by students, according to Olufemi Vaughan, director of Bowdoin’s Africana Studies Program. But his generosity doesn’t stop there: McCalla enriched the Africana Studies department and the Bowdoin community with his love and knowledge of jazz, which has been the subject of many of his popular classes.

McCalla’s colleague, A. LeRoy Greason Professor of Music Mary Hunter, said, “Imaginative and compelling teaching has been at the center of Jim’s presence in the department. For many years he offered survey courses in jazz history which were regularly full. … Indeed, it was really  Jim who put jazz on the map here. … He takes a remarkable interest in his students, and keeps up with many after they have graduated.” She also said he regularly offered independent studies in jazz and popular music to students who neither majored not minored in music, but to whom music was an essential part of their lives.

Besides jazz and jazz history, McCalla’s areas of specialization include 20^th-century American and French music and opera. He has written two books: Jazz: A Listener’s Guide and 20^th-Century Chamber Music, as well as numerous works of criticism, program notes and articles. He also performs.

McCalla earned his bachelor of arts in French and his bachelor of music in piano performance from the University of Kansas, and his M.M. in music history and literature from New England Conservatory. He has a Ph.D. in music from the University of California, Berkeley. He studied piano with internationally known pianist and teacher Katja Andy.

In 1989, McCalla chaired a session, “Music Since 1945,” at a joint session of the American Musicology Society and the Society for Music Theory at their national conferences in Austin, Texas. In 1991, he participated in the Scholars on Stage program of the Portland Stage Company, contributing his essay, “The Voice of Jazz.”  At Bowdoin, he chaired the Committee for Gay and Lesbian Studies, which in 1999 succeeded in establishing gay and lesbian studies as a minor.

At the community level, McCalla served as a humanities scholar for the Portland Stage Company and a competition judge for the Bay Chamber Concert Society.

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Craig McEwen, Daniel B. Fayerweather Professor of Political Economy and Sociology, is retiring after teaching for 37 years at Bowdoin. McEwen leaves behind a humbling legacy of contributions to Bowdoin that have transformed the college for the good.

Besides teaching, McEwen has served as dean of faculty and dean for academic affairs. In this latter position, which he held for seven years, he was instrumental in developing the McKeen Center for the Common Good, a program that bridges students’ community service with their academic courses and research, as well as encourages public scholarship by faculty. Today, pursuing the common good has become an important component of the Bowdoin student experience.

In 2004, McEwen led a sweeping overhaul of the curriculum, requiring first years to take at least one course each in mathematical, computational or statistical reasoning, the natural sciences and the arts, as well as a course exploring social differences and one focusing on international perspectives.

McEwen earned his B.A. from Oberlin College in 1967, graduating summa cum laude with highest honors in sociology, and received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. His research and commentary on mediation programs, courts and professionalism have been published widely in law reviews, social science journals and professional magazines. He is a national leader in the movement to find alternatives to the formal court system in favor of less costly, more effective mediated solutions.

He co-authored Divorce Lawyers at Work: Varieties of Professionalism in Practice (2001), which won the 2002 C. Herman Pritchett Prize by the American Political Science Association, and Mediation: Law, Policy, Practice (2004), winner of the Book Prize of the Center for Public Resources Legal Program.

McEwen was recognized in 1984 by Esquire magazine as one of “The Best of the New Generation: Men and Women Under Forty Who are Changing America” for his research on the practice of mediation to resolve legal disputes..

He received several grants from the National Science Foundation, and won numerous awards, including ones from the Maine Campus Compact, Maine Civil Liberties Union, Maine Judicial Department, Maine State Bar Association, Center for Public Resources Institute for Dispute Resolution, and New England Regional Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution. He received Bowdoin’s Alumni Award in 1999. The Bowdoin Orient recently wrote a lengthy article about him, crediting him with inspiring generations of students to study sociology. McEwen has inspired many more graduates to take on meaningful work as teachers, attorneys, social workers and activists.

Students in the Latino Education: Family, Culture and Schooling course added another dimension to those concepts in a symposium that brought their research to the public through poster presentations. Students examined key contributors to the achievement gap and, through research and projects, offered solutions that at once support student achievement and parent engagement, and challenge the rhetoric said to be pervasive in what critics have labeled the “whitestream” (white and mainstream) educational climate. Partners and target organizations include: La Vida in Lynn, Mass; Mano en Mano in Milbridge, Maine; and MASA Mex-Ed in the Bronx, N.Y. The symposium was made possible by support from the Latin American Studies Department, Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good, and Office of Academic Affairs.

Daniel Lowinger '12

Things are clicking into place for Danny Lowinger ’12. He’s lined up a marketing job at Lego Systems in Connecticut after making a connection with Michael Moynihan ’89, the toy maker’s vice president of marketing. Lowinger and Bowdoin Career Planning Director Timothy Diehl spoke with ABC News about the importance of networking in an article that reports that job prospects for graduates are the best since the recession.

Bowdoin seniors held a show Friday night in the Fort Andross Mill in downtown Brunswick for one night only. Their work on display included an interactive experiment designed by a neuroscience/art major, oil portraits, black-and-white ink drawings, pigment prints, installations, shimmering oil paintings on copper plates, and “unconventional materials,” according to one student, whose metallic sculpture snaked around the gallery.

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For the second time in program history, the Bowdoin College baseball team has earned a trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Polar Bears (25-18) have been given an at-large bid to the tournament and will open play Wednesday evening against St. Joseph’s (Maine) in a regional hosted by Eastern Connecticut State University.

Check live stats and watch the game as it’s streamed live. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.

The Bowdoin College Board of Trustees elected ­­four new members and a vice chair, re-elected three members, and approved the election of three trustees to emeritus status during meetings held May 11-13, 2012, on campus.

The board elected Donald A. Goldsmith ’65, P’04, David A. Morales ’97, Mary Hogan Preusse ’90 and David Roux P’14 trustees for a term of five years, effective July 1, 2012. Trustees elected David P. Wheeler ’74, P’07, P’15 vice chair of the board for a three-year term, also effective July 1, succeeding Michele G. Cyr ’76, who completed her term as vice chair.

Donald A. Goldsmith, of New York, N.Y., and a member of the Class of 1965, is a partner at the international law firm Holland & Knight LLP, practicing in the areas of exempt organizations, estate planning, trust and estate administration and dispute resolution. Goldsmith has served as general counsel to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Wallace Foundation and the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), and served on professional advisory councils for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. He is a trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and will be receiving the AFB’s 2012 Helen Keller Achievement Award in June. Prior service to the College includes roles as Reunion Gift Committee chair for his last three reunions; he was also an estate planning seminar host and advisor to the Office of Gift Planning. His son, Jeremy Goldsmith, is a member of the Class of 2004.

David A. Morales, of Lynn, Mass., and a member of the Class of 1997, is Vice-President, Public Policy & Strategic Planning, at Steward Health Care in Boston, New England’s largest integrated health care system and third-largest employer. Morales had previously worked as Massachusetts Commissioner of Health Care Finance and Policy, and as Governor Deval Patrick’s deputy chief of staff and senior advisor. He is co-founder of El Jolgorio de Massachusetts, Inc., serving Latino youth and promoting Latino culture through education, art and civic leadership; and the Puerto Rican Cuatro Project, dedicated to the growth and dissemination of traditional Puerto Rican music and poetry. Morales’ prior service to the College includes membership on the Alumni Council and President’s Visiting Committee, as well as roles as Bowdoin Career Advisory Network (BCAN) advisor and class agent.

Mary Hogan Preusse, of Bronxville, N.Y., and a member of the Class of 1990, is managing director and co-head of Americas Real Estate for APG Asset Management US, the New York subsidiary of the Netherlands-based firm APG. Preusse oversees APG Asset Management’s services relating to listed real estate securities investments in North and South America. She serves on the Executive Board of APG Asset Management US. The Dutch parent company APG provides asset management, pension fund administration, management support and communication services to pension funds in the Netherlands. Preusse has been an active participant in the real estate investment trust (REIT) industry for more than 20 years.  She serves on the Investor Advisory Council of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) and is also a member of NAREIT’s committee on leading sustainability practices. A mathematics major, Preusse’s prior service to Bowdoin includes roles as Alumni Fund director, Bowdoin Alumni Schools Interviewing Committee (BASIC) member, BCAN advisor, class agent and Reunion Gift Committee chair.

David Roux, of Upperville, Va., is a co-founder and senior director of Silver Lake, a global private investment firm. Roux was formerly chairman and CEO of Liberate Technologies, executive vice president at Oracle Corporation and senior vice president at Lotus Development. He is on the boards of Jackson Laboratory, National Audubon Society and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. He is also a member of the DuBois Institute’s National Advisory Board, a trustee at The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and an advisor to the Positive Coaching Alliance. Though earning a bachelor’s and an MBA at Harvard, and a master’s in economics at King’s College, Cambridge University, Roux has many Bowdoin ties that include his father, Donald Roux ’55, brother James Roux ‘81, sister Mary Roux Train ‘91 and daughter Margot Roux ‘14.

Trustees re-elected William A. Chapman ’63 for a term of one year; and John A. Gibbons Jr. ‘64, P’88, P’91, P’96, P’03; and James E. Staley ’79, P’11; each for a term of five years, effective July 1, 2012.

Three board retirees — Gerald C. Chertavian ’87; William S. Janes ‘76, P’09, P’10; Michael P. Lazarus P’09, P’11 — were elected to emeritus status in recognition of devoted service to Bowdoin.

The Board of Trustees elected five staff members to emeritus status as well. Sherrie Bergman was elected Librarian Emerita, Thomas McCabe was elected Head Coach Men’s Lacrosse Emeritus, Mark Nelsen was elected Senior Database Analyst and Programmer Emeritus, Randolph Shaw was elected Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Emeritus, and William Torrey III was elected Senior Vice President for Planning and Development & Secretary of the College Emeritus.

The board also elected Senior Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Kelly K. Kerner Secretary of the College and Assistant to the Treasurer Megan A. Hart Assistant Secretary.

Hundreds of people crowded around the newly completed train platform at Brunswick Station Monday for a ceremony that started with the arrival of a train carrying transportation officials ready to give speeches and ended with a ribbon-cutting. A similar ceremony was held earlier that morning down the line in Freeport. The two communities have not had passenger rail service since 1959. The platforms will serve Amtrak’s Downeaster when service is extended to the towns this fall. Watch WCSH news coverage. Photos by Michele Stapleton.

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Quiet Riot from Bowdoin College on Vimeo.

Last week, John de Villier ’14 sent an email around with the alert: “The Quiet Riot iPod dance party is HAPPENING.” He promised a good time, and he used the enticement, “We’re going to be featured in the library’s monthly newsletter.”

On May 9 around 4:30 p.m., students started to appear in the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library wearing ear buds and headphones. At 4:40 p.m., they simultaneously pushed the buttons on their iPods and began dancing to “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen.

De Villier says he staged the Quiet Riot partly to “re-contextualize” normal activities. “Without sounding too much like a humanities major (I’m not one!), sometimes the programs that are the most fun are the ones that combine or re-contextualize normal, everyday activities in odd ways. Everyone dances and everyone goes to the library, but very few people have done both,” he writes in an email.

De Villier also says it was a way to unwind. “I just thought it would be nice to break up the end-of-semester black hole that is studying during reading period, and this seemed like a good way to do it. I wanted to do something that would be amusing to watch for the people who weren’t participating, and a good release for the people who did participate. Humiliating yourself publicly is a great way to burn off stress.”

He thanks Filipe Camarotti ’14 for helping him organize the Quiet Riot, as well as “everyone who showed up to dance with us so we didn’t look pathetic and ridiculous. And the biggest thanks go to the library and staff for putting up with us. Thanks so much!”

It seems Cynthia McFadden ’78 is everywhere these days. As co-anchor of ABC’s Nightline, she is, of course, a regular fixture on late-night television, but recently she has also been in The New York Times, made a cameo appearance on a hit TV show, and will soon be back in her native Maine to collect an honorary degree from her alma mater.

Weighing in on the importance of meaningful family discussions around the dinner table, McFadden told The New York Times about her practice of talking about the day’s high and low points with her young son.

“I think it’s really powerful for kids to hear their parents say, ‘I had a fight with my boss and had to go to my bathroom to cry,’ ” says McFadden in the article. “It really gives kids at the table permission to talk about the things they’re struggling with.”

And then there’s her recent dramatic turn playing herself on ABC’s primetime hit Revenge. McFadden recounted the adventure later that night on her own program.

Community Matters in Maine alumni Alex Casbara '12, Lindsey Horowitz '12 and Alex Patel '12

Recently selected for summer placements in nonprofits throughout Maine’s midcoast, this year’s Community Matters in Maine fellows gathered recently to hear more about what to expect from the best source: alumni of the program.

The students selected for the program met in Adams Hall with last year’s fellows Dan Peckham ’12 and Amar Patel ’13. In its fifth year, the Community Matters in Maine fellowship, jointly managed by the Environmental Studies Program and the McKeen Center, places students with local organizations not only to provide work experience for students, but also to strengthen partnerships between the college and the community.

Unique to the program is the opportunity for the fellows to meet as a group over the course of the summer to hear about each others’ experiences. In addition to these regular meetings, students go on two site visits to broaden their knowledge about the range of organizations engaged in social service and environmental work in Maine. “By having students gather over the course of the summer and talk about their experiences, they are able to see the connections between organizations. For example, our students who work with organizations like the Brunswick Topsham Land Trust and Preble Street begin to understand how both organizations are addressing issues such as food security,” says Eileen Johnson, Program Manager of Environmental Studies.

Having a program in place for many years allows the fellows to pass along their wisdom and suggestions. At this inaugural gathering, Peckham and Patel shared their perspectives on last summer. Peckham, who worked with the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust, encouraged this year’s students to “ask questions, take on as much as you can, and you’ll get more out of the experiences.”

Patel attributes the opportunity to work with a Bowdoin alumnus through his fellowship at the Maine Center for Economic Policy as giving him insight on future career opportunities. “Until this summer, I hadn’t considered how pursuing a law degree might open up other opportunities, such as applying legal knowledge to economic development.” He encouraged students to talk with as many people as possible in their organizations to learn different career paths.

Both students continued to build upon their experiences after the summer ended. Patel developed an independent study with William D. Shipman Professor of Economics John Fitzgerald on the topic of local economies. “The idea came from a conversation very early on in the summer — on a topic that they didn’t have staffing to address at that point so I offered to take on the project.” That project evolved into a full-semester independent study.

Peckham built upon his fellowship project — the development of a strategic conservation plan for Kennebec Estuary Land Trust — as a community-based project for the fall class, “Introduction to GIS.” At the end of the semester, he continued on his own time to work with the land trust, helping it move forward with its strategic conservation plan. He attributed this experience as a significant dimension of his job search. “In my interview and resume, I was able to talk about my experience in project management and stakeholder engagement. Although my current job with a consulting firm is not necessarily related to last summer’s experience, it provided me with critical experience that I could apply to my job search.”

Students also composed a letter to next year’s fellow. “Sometimes it has to do with the best place to get a sandwich, but consistently, the students encourage next year’s fellows to meet as many people, learn as much as they can,” says Susie Dorn, director of the McKeen Center. Students receive their letters from last year’s fellows on the first day of their fellowship. “It’s become a nice tradition of the program,” she says.

Beyond the fellowship, Patel and Peckham also encourage students to explore Maine. “Maine is an awesome place to spend the summer,” says Patel. “Get out and explore. I kayaked for the first time in my life last summer because I had the chance to be here.” Peckham hiked Mt. Katahdin. However, Peckham admitted that he didn’t follow all of the advice of last summer’s fellowship alumni. “When I was in your shoes last year, the previous summer’s fellow told us we had to check out the farmer’s market. I never got a chance to do that, but you should be sure to!”

Bowdoin’s Amnesty International Club recently hosted its annual fundraiser in the form of a dodgeball tournament called, “Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive and Defend Human Rights!”

Every year, Bowdoin’s Amnesty International Club organizes a fundraiser to send money to Amnesty International to support its work fighting human rights abuses around the world. In previous years, the club has organized a “Jamnesty” concert for the fundraiser. This year, however, the club decided to have the Jamnesty as a coffeehouse in one of the college houses. The idea for the dodgeball tournament evolved as the club looked for an energetic event that would draw in groups from all around campus, according to co-president Emily Ausubel ’13.

The event, in Morrell Gym, attracted seven teams and a total of 35 players. The winning team — the men’s track team — walked away with a $50 gift card to Big Top Deli in Brunswick. The tournament raised about $150.

Bowdoin has had an Amnesty International Club for years, but the club has picked up speed in the past three years, starting when co-president Jillian Berkman ’12 took over leadership her sophomore year. Since then, the club has organized various events on campus including Jamnesty concerts, urgent action letter Write-A-Thons, film screenings and invited speakers.

The club has also done a lot of awareness raising through posters, chalking and tabling in the Student Union — one of the primary goals of the club is education. In the past few years the Amnesty club has steadily built up its membership to about 20 students who meet on a weekly basis to discuss current events relating to human rights and to plan awareness-raising campaigns.