乐播传媒

Dear members of the 乐播传媒 community,

In some ways, summer is the quiet time at 乐播传媒. Students have mostly gone home, or off to explore exciting internships, research, work, or travel opportunities. Faculty colleagues are focused on research and preparations for the next academic year. Staff colleagues are tending to projects that get set aside in the busier months and taking well-earned vacations. 

On the other hand, campus remains a busy place. Contractors are working on projects that are more easily completed when there are fewer people around. Conferences, camps, and the 乐播传媒 Dance Festival bring hundreds to our beautiful campus for collaboration and exploration. Last month, the Trek Across Maine made its annual overnight stop at 乐播传媒, filling our lawns and tents with tired (and ravenous!) cyclists raising monies to support the American Lung Association. And, of course, 乐播传媒 employees continue to do the work that powers the college throughout the year.

I thought you might appreciate a quick update on that work, some of our shared accomplishments, and where we鈥檙e headed. After all, you make it all possible.

Campus Happenings

On May 31, we held the college鈥檚 160^th Commencement, celebrating the 480 members of the Class of 2026 and awarding honorary degrees to three distinguished individuals: H. Scott Bierman 鈥�77, Seema Hingorani, and Deborah Harkness, who offered the Commencement Address.

Two weeks later, more than 1,200 乐播传媒 alumni and family members returned to campus for . It was fantastic to see so many members of classes ending in 鈥�1鈥� and 鈥�6鈥� (as well as other alumni who wanted to support and see them) in Lewiston and renewing their connections to 乐播传媒 and to each other. We had a couple of perfect Maine summer days for a wonderful weekend of fun and festivities. 

We held a on May 1, beginning the work of creating a magnificent new space to support the overall well-being of our broader college community. It鈥檚 exciting to see for the college, which also includes substantial renovation of the beloved Alumni Gym (which turns 98 years old this year), begin to take shape. Thanks to the generosity of many alumni, parents, and friends, we have raised $29 million toward the total goal of $31 million in philanthropy to support this transformative $45 million capital project. We are so close to our goal鈦犫�斺仩if you have been considering a gift in support of this project or see its potential benefit, there has never been a better moment to make your mark on 乐播传媒 athletics and well-being for generations to come.

Other major changes to the physical campus include a long-needed renovation of the softball field, including the installation of artificial turf that will allow our team to play home games earlier in the spring and when weather conditions are less than ideal. This renovation is part of a multi-year effort to transition the three remaining grass competition fields used by our varsity and club teams to turf fields, making them safer and more playable for our students. And last August, from the path to Merrill Gym to a place of honor at the corner of Garcelon Field, where it is much more visible鈦犫�斺仩and much more accessible to the athletes and fans who touch it for good luck!

Speaking of athletics, we had an amazing year. The field hockey, men鈥檚 basketball, women鈥檚 basketball, track and field, swimming and diving, men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 rowing, and men鈥檚 lacrosse teams all made end-of-season NCAA appearances. For the first time, 乐播传媒 won three NESCAC championships in a year. We won two NCAA titles in men鈥檚 swimming and had a runner-up finish in women鈥檚 rowing. We celebrated with a double overtime win over Amherst, and we marked . The men鈥檚 swimming and diving team took the President鈥檚 Cup at the annual CATSBY award ceremony, in recognition of their excellence in athletic competition, in the classroom, and in the community. All this success resulted in 乐播传媒 finishing among the top 10 percent of Division III athletics programs nationally, placing in the top 40 of more than 400 institutions in the 2025鈥�26 Learfield Directors鈥� Cup standings, awarded by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. 

Beyond the many on-field honors our student-athletes earned this year鈦犫�斺仩e.g., All-American and all-region recognition, All-NESCAC selections, and records broken across multiple sports鈦犫�斺仩乐播传媒 athletes continued to distinguish themselves academically as well as in competition. Literally hundreds of 乐播传媒 athletes were named to CSC Academic All-District and NESCAC All-Academic teams, a reminder that excellence in the classroom remains as much a part of the 乐播传媒 identity as excellence in competition.  

In October, we inducted the of Bobcat athletes into the 乐播传媒 Athletics Hall of Fame. , which includes five inductees and seven legacy honorees (individuals whose contributions and achievements occurred more than 50 years ago).

In the arts, 乐播传媒 students continued to shine in every aspect of creative production and performance. Highlights included outstanding a cappella concerts by the Merimanders, ManOps, Deansmen, Crosstones, and Take Note; magnificent offerings from the choir and orchestra; a breathtaking Marcy Plavin Spring Dance Concert; and a sold-out run of Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins鈥� play 鈥淓verybody.鈥� In the fall, a sold-out run of 鈥淢etamorphoses鈥濃仩鈥斺仩an extraordinary undertaking that required constructing an actual pool on the Schaeffer Theatre stage, reimagining the entire venue鈦犫�斺仩left audiences (and me) spellbound. And the student-designed and -produced 乐播传媒 Film Festival brought audiences from all over the state and region to both campus and to Portland to view and discuss more than two dozen films of national and international renown.  

We launched two critical community-building programs this year. The first is , which is designed to help us live more fully into our mission of 鈥渆ngaging the transformative power of our differences鈥� and enhance the discourse and expression of ideas, beliefs, and opinions that may be controversial or strongly opposed by others. Each semester, we will offer a program led by an outside expert that consists of two parts: a presentation by (or fireside chat with) our guest and a dinner and facilitated dialogue where participants can discuss what they heard and what they鈥檙e thinking about. In 2025-26, we welcomed Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law at Columbia, to talk about freedom of expression on college campuses, and podcast host Shankar Vedantam (Hidden Brain), who spoke about dialogue across difference. 

On a related front, we are integrating the Constructive Dialogue Institute framework into the First-Year Experience and across student clubs and organizations. All members of the incoming Class of 2030 will participate in the program, as will other student leaders and professional staff, giving them useful tools to foster a culture of inquiry, dialogue, and free expression. 

The second community-building program is something we鈥檙e calling the Lake Andrews Series, which is designed as a semesterly event for senior leadership of the college to update colleagues on important initiatives鈦犫�斺仩as well as for members of the campus community to ask questions and provide comment. This program is a direct response to concerns expressed in a recent employee engagement survey in which staff expressed a desire for greater connection with and communication from college leadership. I鈥檓 pleased to say that the first iteration of the Lake Andrews Series, in March, was by every measure a great success, with robust turnout, strong engagement, and affirmative feedback from participants.

And we continue to make important progress on the sustainability front, another core commitment of the college. The new Stoddard Fitness and Well-Being Center is the first building on campus designed to 乐播传媒鈥� high-performance sustainability standards, and will use 80 percent less fossil fuel energy than a building of equivalent type and size. The center will also have a rooftop solar array鈦犫�斺仩the first photovoltaic array on our main campus鈦犫�斺仩that will significantly reduce the energy cost of the building. We will also add a new EV charging station in the next few months, bringing the total number of public charging hubs on campus to 18. 

Academics

The work of strengthening the academic core of the college to meet the needs of coming times is, of course, an eternal, ever-evolving project. In her first year as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, Joanne Roberts worked with faculty and colleagues across the institution to address myriad important aspects of the academic program, making meaningful improvements for the faculty and students of both today and tomorrow.

We welcomed 16 new tenured or tenure-track faculty in 2025鈥�26 in departments and programs across the curriculum. We hired 11 more for the start of the 2026鈥�27 academic year in high interest areas such as art and visual culture, biology, chemistry, economics, politics, and psychology, among others. This continues a robust and deliberate stretch of hiring over the past few years as we have sought to renew and expand our faculty and the offerings available to our students. 

In 2025鈥�26, in addition to their world-class teaching and dedicated mentoring of students conducting advanced research, 乐播传媒 faculty published 86 journal articles, 15 book chapters, and 4 books, as well as making almost 200 presentations on their work.

We have made important strides forward in both administrative processes related to academics and to academic requirements themselves. These include changing the course registration process to increase access for 乐播传媒 students and adding a second degree conferral date in December. We will still hold just one commencement ceremony in May, but December grads will no longer be held back in seeking employment or graduate school admission for the lack of an official graduation date. 

We expanded our general education program to include a global languages option. Students may now choose to complete a global languages Mode of Inquiry (MOI) as one of the five required MOIs among six options.

As some of you will know, the graduation requirements at 乐播传媒 in recent years have required a 鈥渕ajor plus one鈥濃仩鈥斺仩with that 鈥減lus one鈥� being either a second major, a minor, or a GEC, which stands for 鈥淕eneral Education Concentration.鈥� These thematic areas have allowed students to develop exposure to, and expertise in, topics such as applied mathematical methods, music and culture, or water and society. The problem is that the term 鈥淕EC鈥濃仩鈥斺仩commonly pronounced as 鈥済eck鈥� by 乐播传媒ies鈦犫�斺仩was not broadly legible beyond our campus.

Effective July 1, the term 鈥淕EC鈥� was officially retired and we will now simply refer to these as 鈥淐oncentrations.鈥� Concentrations will continue to be a space for faculty to develop new, innovative, and inter- or transdisciplinary programs that will help prepare students to make connections across their studies and to prepare for their futures. Offerings will include business analytics, law and society, public health, international business, learning and teaching, globalization, and design. (Some of these already exist; some are being launched this upcoming year.)

We have also created a new post-baccalaureate teacher certification program in which recent alumni can return to 乐播传媒 for an additional semester and complete the requirements for a Maine State Department of Education public school teaching certificate. This certificate makes the holder eligible to teach in any public school in the United States. We have long seen strong interest in teaching careers among 乐播传媒 students, but the state鈥檚 requirement that those seeking certification complete a full-time, 14-week student teaching practicum made attaining certification during the traditional four-year academic program at 乐播传媒 possible for very few.

As it is for seemingly everyone, artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies have been very much on our minds at 乐播传媒. We know that it is important to both understand how students, faculty, and staff are already using these new technologies and to offer guidance on their most appropriate and beneficial use. We especially want to make sure that students get the exposure, and develop the skills, they will need for life after 乐播传媒鈦犫�斺仩without sacrificing what makes a 乐播传媒 education special, or at the expense of developing the uniquely human capabilities that have always made 乐播传媒 graduates indispensable (and which become even more relevant in a world of AI).

I tasked an AI working group with developing a set of principles and guidelines around AI, which has been drafted, shared with the campus community for comment, and is being finalized this summer. Additionally, with donor support, we developed a series of AI innovation grants for faculty and staff, applicable to both pedagogy and campus operations, to help support AI adoption for those who see opportunity and want resources for exploration.

Admission/Enrollment

乐播传媒 remains in high demand! We had a record 12,009 applicants for the Class of 2030. That is a 45 percent increase since I first came to 乐播传媒 three years ago. 

We expect to welcome approximately 550 members of that class to 乐播传媒 this fall. Forty-three percent will receive financial aid; 14 percent are Pell-eligible and 13 percent are among the first generation in their family to attend college. Students in the Class of 2030 will join us from 40 states, the District of Columbia, and 27 countries besides the U.S. We will also enroll about a dozen new transfer students this fall. We will release more details about the class in September.

The Class of 2030 will also include our first cohort of QuestBridge Scholars (19 students). As we announced in early 2025, 乐播传媒 is partnering with QuestBridge, a national nonprofit that connects high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds with leading institutions of higher education, in order to more robustly fulfill our commitment to providing access to and support throughout a 乐播传媒 education.

And an honorary member, of sorts, of the Class of 2030 will be our newly-appointed vice president for enrollment and dean of admission and financial aid, Victoria Neason Wallace. Tori, who started at 乐播传媒 on July 1, is a terrific addition to our senior leadership team and an experienced and visionary leader in liberal arts enrollment. We鈥檙e glad to welcome her as one of our newest 乐播传媒ies.

Recognition, Honors, and Collaborations

乐播传媒 students won a whopping 16 Fulbright awards this year. Fifteen of those went to members of the graduating Class of 2026, which also included a Watson Fellowship winner, two Goldwater Scholars, and a Truman Scholar. Two members of the 乐播传媒 faculty, Elena Maker Castro (psychology) and Michel Droge (art and visual culture) also won Fulbright awards. This extends 乐播传媒鈥� extraordinary run as a top producer of Fulbright awards, which now spans 15 consecutive years. In addition, a recent alumnus was awarded a prestigious Schwarzman Scholarship (modeled on the Rhodes Scholarship) to pursue a master鈥檚 degree in global affairs at China鈥檚 Tsinghua University.

This year also saw the wonderful recognition of two members of our English department, Jessica Anthony 鈥�96 and Myronn Hardy, as Guggenheim Fellows, one of the most esteemed honors in the academy. Professor of Digital and Computational Studies Carrie Diaz Eaton received renewed support from the Hewlett Foundation for her work with the Institute for a Racially Just, Inclusive, and Open STEM Education in the form of a two-year $1 million fund for general operations. And Carolina Gonz谩lez Valencia, Associate Professor of Art and Visual Culture, won the Kirby Walker Documentary Award from the San Francisco International Film Festival for her film How to Clean a House in 10 Easy Steps.

In addition, Allison Brown, associate director of Counseling & Psychological Services, was named a 2026 Harriett Copher Haynes Leadership Mentoring Award winner by the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors. 

Thanks largely to work driven by the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, 乐播传媒 was once again recognized by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for its deep level of commitment to community engagement, an honor the college first achieved in 2008 and again in 2015. 乐播传媒 was also recently lauded by ACE and Carnegie for its success in providing paths for graduates to earn competitive wages. 

And even though the Bonney Science Center opened back in 2021, it keeps winning awards! In March, the Boston Society for Architecture gave its highest recognition, the Honor Award, to the Bonney Science Center for 鈥渆xceptional innovation, sustainability, and community impact,鈥� calling it 鈥渙ne of the premier examples of modern educational architecture in New England.鈥�

We have seen great interest in and success with our partnership with the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, which we piloted last year. We are exploring ways to sustain and expand the relationship supporting the 鈥淭uck Business Essentials鈥� practitioner-taught course offered during Short Term, making management and team-based leadership education experiences that complement the liberal arts available to 乐播传媒 students.

Engagement

I鈥檝e saved one of the best news items for almost last. It is looking as though, when final numbers are released in the fall, 乐播传媒鈥� endowment (for June 30, 2026) will be over $500 million for the first time ever.  

This is an incredible number and a major milestone for 乐播传媒. That is about double the size of the endowment from 2016. And it only happens thanks to careful management by the college and its fiduciaries鈦犫�斺仩and thanks to the generosity of many, many enthusiastic alumni and friends.

And that鈥檚 not the only good news from the fiscal year we鈥檝e just closed. 乐播传媒 alumni, parents, and friends invested $63.9 million in the college in 2025鈥�26. This includes a record $38.3 million in outright gifts (surpassing the previous record of $33.4 million set during the last campaign) and $25.6 million in documented pledges and future estate gifts. This outstanding result represents a 78% increase in total gift activity over the previous year.

Additional records set in this historic year include:

The 乐播传媒 Fund: We raised a record $9.27 million, marking our first time crossing the $9 million threshold.

Annual support of 乐播传媒 Athletics: Friends of 乐播传媒 Athletics set a new FBA Challenge record of $934,000, ultimately reaching a milestone of more than $1.7 million in total designated annual support for the year.

This is a phenomenal result for the college. And it demonstrates that 乐播传媒 people are showing up and giving their very best for 乐播传媒鈦犫�斺仩ensuring that the college remains a strong, world-class institution preparing leaders for coming times. It is beyond heartening to see this kind of excitement and energy among those who love and support the college, and we are going to do our best to keep that momentum going! Your collective ardor and devotion is propelling 乐播传媒 to new heights, benefiting today鈥檚 students and generations to come. 

In Closing

All this and I haven鈥檛 even mentioned our ongoing strategic planning work, which is, of course, a massive and critically important effort. Launched in earnest in 2025, more than 75 faculty, staff, and students worked throughout the past year on five working committees and a steering committee to develop recommendations for 乐播传媒鈥� next set of institutional priorities. We are currently bringing those recommendations together into a cohesive draft plan, which we will be sharing for comment in a few short weeks. Please keep an eye out for more on this front鈦犫�斺仩we want to hear your thoughts about our ambitions for 乐播传媒.

After all, there is no ambition without the confidence that what we are doing matters and that we are supported by all those who love 乐播传媒. Your investment in our future powers all that we do. And I couldn鈥檛 be more grateful.

Sincerely,
Garry W. Jenkins

President