Thanks to Maine’s U.S. senators, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ just-launched project is on the national radar.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins

On Sept. 7, Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King announced that the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services had awarded a quarter of a million dollars to the Diverse BookFinder, a portfolio of resources for finding diverse children’s picture books.

was disseminated nationally by The Associated Press.

The IMLS National Leadership Grant, the agency’s second grant to the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ project, will support enhancements to the DBF’s and the further development of a tool for analyzing diversity in book collections.

U.S. Sen. Angus King.

“Libraries are repositories of knowledge, providing important educational resources for communities in Maine that help us all learn and grow,� Collins and King said in a joint statement.

The Diverse BookFinder, they added, will help “improve our understanding of the world and prepare students to live and thrive in today’s global society.”

The statement spotlighted the DBF’s educational and developmental value for children. The resource “furthers libraries’ efforts to foster intercultural competence and positive self-image among children and enhance their ability to succeed in our diverse world.�

“We commend ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ for their efforts to advance this educational tool,â€� said Collins and King.

The grant, the senators also noted, will fund training opportunities for Maine librarians through the Maine State Library.

About a year ago, the IMLS gave the DBF a boost with a $20,200 “Sparks! Ignition Grant for Libraries.� Such grants provide early funding to experimental projects that may later be scaled up through the institute’s National Leadership Grant for Libraries. The “Sparks� grant supported the creation of the DBF website and searchable online database.

The IMLS supports libraries and museums nationwide with the goal of promoting innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic involvement.

Collins, Maine’s senior senator, received an honorary degree from ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ in 2017.

“My time is running out and there is so much to do,” Harlem Children’s Zone President Geoffrey Canada told the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Class of 2017 on May 28.

“I wish I could stand before you today and say that my generation is leaving you a country that is better than the one we inherited from our parents,” Canada said. “We haven’t kept my promise to eliminate those places where our children don’t have a chance. America’s children are more imperiled than ever.”

But ultimately, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ 2017 Commencement speaker continued, he’s not worried. “The work we don’t complete that attempts to make this a better country, the next generation will finish it.” And that next generation is you, Canada told the 458 graduating seniors.

Kate Berger ’17 (center) and classmate Sadie James take a selfie with actor and ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ honorand Patrick Dempsey as graduates line up on Alumni Walk. Berger, whose twin sister heard a former vice president speak at Colby College’s graduation last week, commented, “This beats Joe Biden.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen)

Described as the “guiding light of the Harlem Children’s Zone,” a comprehensive community program that has supported the educational aspirations of thousands of families, Canada was one of four honorary degree recipients at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ 151st Commencement.

The others were Wanda Corn ’62, one of the most prominent U.S. art historians; Patrick Dempsey, known for both his acting (Grey’s Anatomy) and his philanthropic work with Lewiston’s Dempsey Center; and Susan Collins, Maine’s senior U.S. senator and a politician celebrated as one of the Senate’s last practitioners of bipartisanship.

Wanda Corn ’62, one of the leading U.S. art historians, was one of four honorary degree recipients at Commencement 2017. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Under sun and blue skies, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ President Clayton Spencer welcomed a huge Commencement crowd on what she called “the most glorious Commencement day I have ever seen, which is fitting for the fabulous Class of 2017.”

Spencer wowed the crowd with a few statistics describing, in various ways, what she described as a remarkably accomplished group. “One in seven of you are the first in your family to graduate from college,” she noted to applause. Thirty-three earned departmental honors. One hundred and ten were double majors, and three were triple majors.

Spencer went on to spotlight the class’s community engagement (80,000 hours’ worth, all told); a stellar athletics record updated just one day before Commencement with the ‘ second NCAA Championship in three years; and the 15 seniors who, along with six alumni, have received 2017 Fulbright fellowships.

“I have had the pleasure of getting to know many of you over the past four years,” the president continued. “And what I am most proud of is not these impressive facts and figures but the human qualities you embody: your creativity, your generosity, your drive for justice, your wackiness, and your joy in, and caring for, one another.”

President Clayton Spencer awards Cormac Walsh ’17 of Biddeford, Maine, a bachelor of science degree in biological chemistry. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Giving the Senior Address was Molly Chisholm, of Boston, a double major in economics and rhetoric. She resurrected a concept from a bygone era and gave it new meaning in the context of the graduating class.

“A few years ago, I heard someone use the phrase ‘the Love Generation,'” she said, “and I was struck by the bold beauty of such simple words. ‘The Love Generation’ — an age of human beings willing to set aside their differences, ready to fill the world with acceptance rather than fear, with love rather than hate.”

She said, “Even though I grew up around people who always believed in making the world a better place, it wasn’t until I arrived at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ that I understood what that truly meant and how it could actually happen.”

Chisholm told two stories — “teaching moments,” in her words — that bookended her ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ experience. One was about a prank played on her, during an AESOP experience, that struck her first as simply “cringe-worthy.” But as her time at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ went on, “it became obvious from that interaction that ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ was a place where kindness was expected.”

Molly Chisholm of Boston gave the senior address. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

In the fall of her senior year, Chisholm ran as the Republican candidate in a mock campaign for the White House, undertaken as part of a rhetoric course. Politically progressive, Chisholm was obliged to advance positions contrary to her own.

Amidst a national political environment that was anything but hopeful, “I saw a glimmer of hope in our mock election. Instead of choosing to shut me down, people often asked me to explain my ideas and reasoning, said Chisholm. “They exhibited the respect and intellectually courageous mindset that is inherent in ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students.

“As ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students, we have had the opportunity to live in a world where respect and kindness are not just something we strive for, but they are the pillars of our community. We graduate today with more than just the knowledge we need to succeed in our future endeavors, but with the power to truly make the world a better place.”

Described as the “guiding light of the Harlem Children’s Zone,â€� Geoffrey Canada gave the keynote address at Commencement 2017. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Seemingly picking up from Chisholm the theme of making things better in the world, Canada showed the graduating class their place in the great cycle of social progress.

He started his talk on a light note. “Some institutions have a reputation so stellar that just saying you received a degree from there makes people think you are really smart. ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College is such an institution.

“And if by some means you have managed to graduate from here and you are not really smart, please try to keep that hidden from the public. Your classmates and alma mater will appreciate it.”

More seriously, Canada described how role models like Rosa Parks, John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. — and Canada’s mother — inspired him to emerge from the impoverished South Bronx and thrive. But not only that: They inspired him to “challenge America to become a better place for its children.”

Gideon Ikpekaogu ’17 of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, leaves the stage after receiving his bachelor’s degree in economics. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

“I have always been deeply moved by the sacrifices that others made to make our country the greatest nation on earth,” Canada said.

“Our country was created, molded, and improved by men and women whose moral compass was not moved by the influence of wealth, prestige, and notoriety. They believed that America stood as a beacon for the world on what true freedom, true democracy meant. These leaders became my role models.”

People like King and the Kennedys, lost to assassins, had “everything to lose — money, fame, loving families,” Canada said. And they “lost it all for the ideals that this country stood for. Who could not feel obligated to continue their work, to ensure their deaths would not be in vain?”

Maine’s senior U.S. senator, Republican Susan Collins, joins ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ President Clayton Spencer in applauding education visionary Jeffrey Canada as he acknowledges applause after his keynote address. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Through the work he has done with the Harlem Children’s Zone, Canada said, “I hope I can set an example that inspires America to save all children.” And it’s up to people like the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Class of 2017 to act on that inspiration.

While Canada’s own achievement through the HCZ has been tremendous, he allowed that by and large, his cohort has fallen short as successors to the “Greatest Generation” that fought World War II. “While my generation has done real good and made real progress, we have also left you a real mess,” from environmental degradation to persistent poverty and social injustice.

And now, because the work of uplifting the world can’t be done all at once, it’s time for Canada’s generation to pass the torch to a younger one — a concept the speaker conveyed movingly with a reading from the “Mountaintop” speech that King made in Memphis the night before he was assassinated.

The Commencement 2017 gathering seen from an upper floor of Coram Library. For the first time in years, bleachers weren’t used for Commencement seating. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Canada told the seniors, “I’m not worried about my promise, because let me tell you what else my role models taught me: The best of America is yet to come.”

Rounding out ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ 151st Commencement was the annual welcome to the Alumni Association, extended by association president Lisa Romeo ’88; and the announcement of the Class of 2017 gift.

Matt Phillips and Susan Leonard, senior gift co-chairs, were pleased to announce that the class had donated $4,805 to college. With 345 members kicking in, the gift drive attained its goal of 75 percent participation.

Just prior to a rocking sendoff propelled by the Atlantic Clarion Steel Band, Multifaith Chaplain Brittany Lonsgdorf offered the customary benediction, which concluded:

“May each dawn be a wellspring of renewal, and may each dusk be a calm pool of contentment. Go forth into uncharted waters and find your sails full and your bright eyes focused on a new horizon.”

Jessica Wilson of Cumberland, Maine, receives a kiss from her proud mother, Julie Hanlon, after receiving a degree in environmental studies. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Geoffrey Canada, a visionary American educator whose work has transformed the lives of thousands of inner-city youth, will deliver the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Commencement address and receive an honorary degree on Sunday, May 28.

For its 151st Commencement, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ will welcome Canada and three fellow honorary degree recipients whose careers and achievements span politics and government, American art history, and entertainment and community philanthropy:

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, Maine’s senior senator whose power and influence derives from extraordinary diligence and steadfast bipartisanship;

Wanda M. Corn ’62, an innovative interpreter of American modern art and its role in our national identity; and

Patrick Dempsey, an actor who has translated Hollywood success into hope and healing in Lewiston, Maine, the city of his birth.

“On a day that celebrates achievement, hope, and promise, we are proud to welcome four individuals who have brought enormous creativity and relentless dedication to their life’s work,â€� said President Clayton Spencer. “We are especially honored to hear from Geoffrey Canada, whose career embodies the very mission of a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ education — the cultivation of intellectual discovery and informed civic action as we prepare leaders committed to the responsible stewardship of the wider world.â€�

Commencement concludes the undergraduate careers of the 460 members of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Class of 2017, who represent 37 U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia, and 33 countries.

+Geoffrey Canada, Doctor of Humane Letters

“When I was in college, I was absolutely focused on only one thing: How could I improve the outcomes for these poor kids that I knew growing up?� educator Geoffrey Canada told an interviewer in 2010. “Every single class I took, I was looking for the answer.�

Raised in a poor neighborhood in the South Bronx, Canada’s answer to this question has made him a leader in education and community development. From his early work with disadvantaged families, he determined that only a comprehensive approach to eradicating poverty could succeed — comprehensive in the services provided and the proportion of the community that is reached.

The Commencement speaker, Geoffrey Canada will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

As the current president and former CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, Canada has focused on education but brought a holistic approach — addressing not only academics but health and fitness and the cultures of community and family — to preparing thousands of young New Yorkers for success in college. Described by The New York Times as “one of the most ambitious social-policy experiments of our time,� HCZ’s array of programs support children and their families along the path to educational and economic achievement. It is “cradle-to-career� support, from The Baby College for new parents, through the Promise Academy K–12 charter schools, to the College Success Office for students in academe.

The 2016 college acceptance rate for HCZ students was 96 percent. That same year, HCZ programs served 12,509 people up to age 23, as well as 12,498 adults. HCZ engages an expanse of Harlem totaling nearly 100 blocks.

Canada became president of the Harlem Children’s Zone in 1990, and served as CEO from that year until 2014. Under his leadership, HCZ has become a national model and the subject of considerable media attention. Fans of HCZ include former U.S. President Barack Obama, whose Promise Neighborhoods Initiative adapted aspects of the HCZ program in communities across the U.S.

In 2008, Houghton Mifflin published Whatever It Takes by Paul Tough, a close look at the work of Canada and HCZ. Two years later, Canada and HCZ figured in the documentary Waiting for “Superman.� In 2011, Canada was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and in 2014, he was listed as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune.

Canada received a bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College and a master’s degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has written two books: 1995’s Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America (reissued as a graphic novel in 2013) and, in 1997, Reaching Up for Manhood: Transforming the Lives of Boys in America. He has written op-eds for The New York Times and Daily News, given a TED Talk on our failing schools that was broadcast on PBS, and has addressed audiences around the world about helping children succeed.

+U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, Doctor of Humane Letters

Maine’s senior U.S. senator, Republican Susan Collins has a national reputation for achieving progress on important issues by working across party lines with a focus on results.

Ranked as the most bipartisan senator by the Lugar Center–McCourt School Index three years running, Collins is “one of the crucially important (and increasingly rare) bipartisan playersâ€� in the Senate, said Elle magazine, which named her among Washington’s most powerful women in 2014. In 2016, she received the inaugural Jacob Javits Prize for Bipartisan Leadership. Of the tumult that accompanies bipartisanship today, Collins told a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ audience in November that “you can have vigorous arguments without insulting the integrity and intelligence of the person with whom you disagree. If we can’t respect one another, it makes it far more difficult to solve problems.â€�

This exceptional approach has thrust her into the national spotlight at important times, including in 2010 when Collins was the lead Republican in the successful repeal of the discriminatory law banning gay Americans from serving openly in the military. “She was nothing short of heroic,� recalled Joe Solmonese, then president of the Human Rights Campaign of the United States.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Commencement.

Famously dutiful in the execution of her office, Collins has never missed a Senate roll call vote — more than 6,300 and counting — during her time in public service that began in the wake of defeat. After finishing third in her 1994 bid for Maine governor, Collins considered taking a pass on a run for senator in 1996. But as she has said, “My dream was to serve the people of Maine in elective office, and I didn’t want to get to age 95 saying, ‘If only I had believed in myself. If only I had been willing to take that risk.’�

Collins is the senior Republican woman in the Senate and ranks 15th overall in Senate seniority. Chair of the Senate Aging Committee, she is also a member of the Committee on Appropriations, chairing its Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development. She also serves on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Select Committee on Intelligence. In 2004, Collins coauthored the landmark law overhauling the nation’s intelligence community, improving its effectiveness while protecting civil liberties.

Collins founded the Senate Diabetes Caucus in 1997 and has led the effort to more than triple federal funding for diabetes research. Senate co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s disease, she has worked to substantially increase Alzheimer’s research funding.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of St. Lawrence University, Collins was raised in Caribou, Maine, where her family’s fifth-generation lumber business was founded in 1844. “Community, giving back, and public service were very much a part of my life from the very beginning,� she said. “My parents taught me that you had no right to complain if you weren’t willing to get involved.�

+Wanda M. Corn '62, Doctor of Fine Arts

An author, curator, and scholar, as well as a teacher known for both the clarity and passion she brings to her subject, Wanda Corn ’62 is a star among historians of American art. She’s a “national resource,� said art scholar Bryan Wolf, who described Corn as “the teacher, the mentor, the organizer.� Another Corn admirer, the art historian Elizabeth Hutton Turner, took a more personal view: “She is, quite simply, my hero.�

Focusing on art and photography from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries, Corn has played an important role in defining American art in the contexts of both international art and U.S. culture. One of seven books Corn has authored or co-authored, her award-winning The Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity, 1915–1935 links emergent American modernism to transatlantic trends in history, literature, criticism, and popular culture — and to the energies of artists in Paris as well as New York City.

Wanda M. Corn ’62 will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree at Commencement.

Corn, a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ student for two years before studying abroad and then completing bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees at New York University, taught at Washington Square College, the University of California, Berkeley, and Mills College before moving in 1980 to Stanford University, where she held the institution’s first permanent appointment dedicated to the history of American art. Her record at Stanford includes service as chair of the Department of Art and Art History, director of the Stanford Humanities Center, and interim director of the Stanford Museum. In that role, Corn led a feasibility study for the museum’s comprehensive renovation after it was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. In 2008, she retired from Stanford after eight years as the university’s Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor in Art History.

Exhibitions that Corn has curated include thematic surveys, such as a companion show to The Great American Thing, and exhibitions focused on specific artists such as Grant Wood, who remains an active focus of her research, and Andrew Wyeth. Her curatorial efforts and advocacy helped to bring a collection of American art owned by Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, a body of 110 paintings described as the museums’ “single most important gift of art.â€� Corn has been lauded for inventive exhibitions that juxtapose material artifacts with art to establish context and richness of interpretation, hallmarks of her 2011 exhibition Gertrude Stein: Five Stories. In the current Brooklyn Museum of Art exhibition Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern, Corn explores the artist’s rigorous creation of a public persona by installing beautifully crafted garments from O’Keeffe’s wardrobe in conversation with artwork by and photographs of the artist.

Corn’s honors include the Archives of American Art’s Lawrence A. Fleischman Award for Scholarly Excellence in the Field of American Art History and the College Art Association’s Distinguished Teaching of Art History Award and Distinguished Scholar award.

+Patrick Dempsey, Doctor of Humane Letters

Patrick Dempsey is a household name, thanks to film and television roles that include his 11 seasons as Dr. Derek Shepherd on Grey’s Anatomy. Motorsports cognoscenti also recognize him as a race car driver. But people in Maine, especially Lewiston, know there’s yet another Patrick Dempsey to admire.

That’s the Lewiston native who responded to his mother’s cancer diagnosis by co-founding a facility to support people living with cancer — the Dempsey Center — just blocks from the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ campus. Patrick Dempsey makes headlines every autumn when he comes home for the Dempsey Challenge, joining participants for fund-raising walks and rides and lending his star power to the festivities. In 2016, the three-day event attracted nearly 4,000 participants and raised more than $1.2 million for the center.

Raised in Buckfield and Turner, Dempsey did not thrive in school because of dyslexia that went undiagnosed until seventh grade. But it was a schoolteacher who introduced this born performer to juggling. “Learning how to juggle,� Dempsey told The New York Times in 1987, “changed my life. It gave me a purpose. It led me toward performance.� Embracing a mental and physical discipline in juggling that would serve him well in other pursuits, Dempsey went on to win the national Talent America competition in 1983.

Patrick Dempsey will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Commencement. (Photo by Matthew Elsman)

He was also acting by then, and success in the theater quickly led to film and television work: By the end of the 1980s, roles in romantic comedies such as Can’t Buy Me Love had put Dempsey on the map. In 2005, following well-received recurring roles in television programs like Will & Grace, the Emmy-nominated actor helped launch Grey’s Anatomy as neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd. The hit series, wrote an IMDb.com biographer, was “the perfect vehicle to showcase his undeniable charisma and sharp talent for offbeat comedy.� Dempsey, seen on screen last fall competing for Renée Zellweger’s hand in Bridget Jones’ Baby, completed his directorial debut in 2017 with a Tag Heuer spot with Director of Photography Janusz Kaminski.

An automobile collector, Dempsey began racing cars in 2004 and has driven more than 100 competitions, including the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, placing second in class in 2015. That same year, Dempsey was part of the winning team in the Japanese round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Amanda Dempsey, Patrick’s mother, was diagnosed with cancer in 1997 and succumbed to the disease in 2014. Six years earlier, partnering with Central Maine Medical Center, her children Patrick, Mary, and Alicia founded the Dempsey Center to provide education, wellness services, and other forms of support — free of charge — to anyone affected by cancer. Discussing fame in a 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Dempsey said that “when I can use it to accomplish something constructive — those are the moments that I actually enjoy being famous.â€�

Scheduled months ago, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ talk at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ came just hours after Donald Trump’s victory speech and Hillary Clinton’s concession. Talk about timing.

Maine’s senior senator, Republican Collins spoke on Nov. 9 about post-election unity and gave advice to Clinton supporters who now feel isolated.

She spoke of the glass ceiling for women seeking executive office in politics. And she talked about a lesson in courage she learned from the Watergate era.

Collins was interviewed by Maine state Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, who is director of strategic and policy initiatives with the Harward Center for Community Partnerships at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. Held in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, the talk was part of the Purposeful Work Unplugged speaker series.

Post-election unity

After listening to Trump’s and Clinton’s post-election speeches, Collins said, “What I was struck by is how each of them stressed the need to unify our country.”

Get involved

Getting involved is an antidote for anyone feeling isolated after their candidate lost the 2016 election. You should “not feel alienated from our country,” Collins said.

Debate without rancor

Students can help elevate the quality of political debate, said Collins.

Glass ceiling in politics

Recalling a story from her unsuccessful run for Maine governor in 1994, when a man told her he couldn’t imagine a woman as governor, Collins says there still is a glass ceiling in politics today.

Self-doubt among aspiring women politicians

In her experience recruiting women and men to run for elected office, Collins says that women invariably harbor doubts about their readiness. Men never do.

Overcoming setbacks defines who you are

How you deal with setbacks in life, Collins said, “shapes how people perceive you” and sets the stage for opportunities later.

Taking a risk means no regrets later

In deciding to run for U.S. Senate in 1996 after losing a three-way election for governor in 1994, Collins said she didn’t want to look back someday with regrets.

The last compromiser?

Collins, often rated , believes both parties “can have good ideas.”

Problem with primaries

Primaries tend to create polarizing candidates, Collins said, because many moderates aren’t enrolled in parties.

Women and collaboration

There are exceptions, but Collins believes that women in Congress tend to be more collaborative than men.

What unites women in the Senate

Collins offers an idea of what might unite the 22 women in the U.S. Senate. And it’s not ideology.

Lesson from Watergate

In college, Collins worked for then-U.S. Rep. Bill Cohen during the summer of the Watergate crisis. From Cohen, a Maine Republican who would go on to become senator and secretary of defense, Collins learned a valuable life lesson.

Picking potatoes

When she was growing up in Caribou, Maine, a defining moment of community-building came during the potato harvest.

Advising her past self

Collins offers advice that she would have given to her college-age self.

Public service

Lessons in public service came from her family, said Collins.