Trustees, along with Cheney Society and Alumni Council members, held a dinner with some graduating members of the Class of 2026. They also gathered to honor retiring Trustee colleagues.

Trustees participated in a work session related to the college鈥檚 strategic planning effort and heard a presentation on  乐播传媒鈥� evolving brand positioning work. Trustees discussed the college鈥檚 ongoing work related to artificial intelligence, recent shifts and developments to strengthen the academic program, leadership transitions, and the impact of federal matters and legal challenges to federal policy changes.

The Board received the annual report from the Alumni Council, which was presented by Council President Leah Elsmore 鈥�12 and Vice President John Howard 鈥�86. Trustees also heard updates on the incoming Class of 2030, fundraising, the endowment, the budget, and college infrastructure.

Trustees also took a number of important annual actions, including:

• Voting of degrees for the Class of 2026, conditional on their completing all requirements of the degree and approval by the faculty
• Voting of the 2026 honorary degrees
• Approving the FY27 budget
• Approving academic personnel appointments and reappointments recommended by the Faculty Personnel Committee and the Vice President for Academic Affairs/Dean of the Faculty
• Electing officers of the corporation, Executive Committee members, and vice presidents for the 2026鈥�27 academic year, including thanking Jean Wilson 鈥�81, P鈥�05, P鈥�13  for the completion of her maximum term as vice chair of the board and the election of Katie Frekko 鈥�95, P鈥�25 as vice chair for a two-year term from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2028
• Formally acknowledging the service of Trustees retiring on June 30:
  • Chris G. Barbin 鈥�93
  • David W. Longdon III 鈥�14
  • Judith B. Miller 鈥�91
  • John T. Rossello, Jr.
  • Emma A. Sprague 鈥�10
  • Lisa M. Utzschneider 鈥�90

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for October 29鈥�31, 2026.

Garry W. Jenkins
President

Gregory A. Ehret 鈥�91, P鈥�23
Chair of the Board of Trustees

Trustees took a number of important annual actions, including setting a range for the 2026鈥�27 academic year single fee, which will be finalized this spring; setting the endowment distribution for the 2026鈥�27 academic year; accepting the conflict of interest report; reappointing the college鈥檚 auditor, CBIZ CPAs; and approving recommendations for faculty promotion and tenure from the Faculty Personnel Committee.

The Board heard updates and held discussions on important campus events and initiatives, including the college鈥檚 finances, the endowment, strategic planning, enrollment and retention, fundraising, infrastructure, and the Class of 2030 applicant pool. Trustees were also briefed on recent federal immigration activity in Lewiston and on the search for a new Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid. 

Trustees were joined by faculty, staff, or student representatives at most of its committee meetings and plenary sessions. 

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for April 30鈥揗ay 2, 2026.

Garry W. Jenkins
President

Gregory A. Ehret 鈥�91, P鈥�23
Chair of the Board of Trustees

The Board spent a significant portion of the meeting on the current strategic planning project, including hearing the preliminary findings of a recent market positioning study and discussing their implications for the college鈥檚 enrollment strategy and overall messaging. Trustees also engaged in an additional discussion of enrollment trends and retention matters at 乐播传媒, and heard early observations on academic affairs from Joanne Roberts, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, who joined 乐播传媒 in July.

Trustees discussed the current national context as it relates to higher education. Updates were provided on a range of college events and initiatives, including leadership transitions, athletics, employee engagement, the arts, and strategic planning.

The Board also heard updates on the college鈥檚 finances, the endowment, fundraising, and capital projects. Actions taken by the Board included approving the FY25 financial audit results and naming representatives to the 乐播传媒鈥揗orse Mountain Corporation.

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees will be held virtually and is scheduled for February 6, 2026.

Garry W. Jenkins
President

Gregory A. Ehret 鈥�91, P鈥�23
Chair of the Board of Trustees

What a genuinely great day to be a Bobcat!

And what a sight for sore eyes鈥攁fter a relatively quiet summer, our campus is full of students, staff, and faculty once again. It鈥檚 spectacular!

I鈥檓 Garry Jenkins, the 9th president of 乐播传媒 College (my pronouns are he/him), and I am so glad that you all are here, and ready to greet the new academic year at 乐播传媒.

If you are new to 乐播传媒: welcome! If you are a returning or continuing member of our community: welcome back!

And in particular to the our new students: welcome home! We are so pleased that you have decided to join our 乐播传媒 community, and we look forward to seeing all that you will do in the months and years ahead. Not just what you will accomplish鈥攖hough we know you will have countless wonderful triumphs in our classrooms, in our performance spaces, on our athletic courts and fields, and beyond鈥攂ut also how you will connect and contribute in ways that strengthen and enrich this college community.

Also, a warm welcome to our new faculty colleagues who join us here at 乐播传媒. Special greetings to you all and we look forward to the ways you will enrich our intellectual community.

This ceremony, our Opening Convocation, is the formal induction of our newest students into our incredible 乐播传媒 community. Let me give you the outline of our program today.

I will offer a few words, and the Class of 2029 and new transfer students will then be welcomed by your student government co-presidents, Zachariah Richards and Mohammad Zayd.

Zach is a member of the Class of 2026 from Princeton, Massachusetts. He is majoring in politics and economics. In addition to serving as a BCSG co-president, he is the co-president of club volleyball, a residence life team leader, a W-CAT (course-attached writing tutor), and treasurer for Model UN. 

Mohammad is a neuroscience major from the Bronx, New York, and a member of the Class of 2027. He is a STEM Scholar, a biology/neuroscience research assistant, a Students in Admissions coordinator, a Student Academic Support Center peer tutor, and a board member for the South Asian Students Association and the Muslim Student Association.

Following their remarks, we will have the convocation address, delivered by the wonderful and esteemed Rebecca Herzig, the Charles A. Dana professor of gender and sexuality studies. The convocation speaker is chosen by the outgoing senior class as a gift to the incoming first-year class鈥攁nd Professor Herzig was the choice of the Class of 2025 for the Class of 2029.

Professor Herzig joined the 乐播传媒 faculty in 1998, as the college鈥檚 first full-time faculty member in the program then called Women鈥檚 Studies. A scholar in the field of science and technology studies, she is the author, editor, or series editor of sixteen books, including Suffering for Science: Reason and Sacrifice in Modern America.

Her writing on science, technology, and medicine in American higher education, the subject of her current book project, can be found in a number of publications, including Liberal Education, Feminist Studies, and the Minnesota Review.

Here at 乐播传媒, Professor Herzig teaches courses cross-listed in multiple departments and programs, including 鈥淏lood, Genes, and American Culture鈥� and 鈥淭echnology in US History.鈥� Perhaps most important, in the winter of 2010, she chaired the sixteen-person committee of alumni, staff, faculty, and students who together developed the college鈥檚 powerful mission statement. We can look forward to hearing from her today.

Finally, at the end of the ceremony, Raymond Clothier, our interim multifaith chaplain, will lead us in a benediction, after which we will march out, as we marched in, led by the mace bearer and our faculty marshals. There will then be a brief tree planting ceremony honoring those members of our community who have died during this past year; we will gather on the College Street side of Gomes Chapel, just across the quad.

* * *

I would like to take this opportunity to say just a few words about how I am thinking about 乐播传媒, the current moment, and the year ahead.

We are all aware of the challenges of the current moment. Challenges to democracy and our institutions. To personal freedoms and democratic norms. To fundamental rights. Challenges to our sense of unity. Challenges to the ability of individuals to disagree鈥� or sometimes even converse鈥� with respect and civility, and to find points of commonality in spite of our differences or disagreements.

When we lose these critically important core values鈥攐ur democratic commitments, our liberties, our ability to live in community鈥攚e are diminished and we are, ourselves, lost. 

But here at 乐播传媒, we are rooted in these same values. They drive all that we do. 

Think of the very point of entry for every 乐播传媒 student: the admission process. Some of you may have even read this on our admission website: 鈥溊植ゴ解�� unique personality rests on the bedrock values of academic excellence, diversity, inclusivity, and social responsibility.鈥� We look for students who embrace these values, who show promise to develop them during their time on our campus, who will make our college even better and stronger through their presence, and then go on to make a difference in the world. And we know that it is not just one type or kind of student who will make a great 乐播传媒ie. It takes ALLLLLL different types and kinds of students, from a range of backgrounds, with a broad spectrum of experiences, to make up a class and to make 乐播传媒 the place that we are so proud it is. The same is true for the faculty and administrative staff that we hire. So from the very beginning, we are always looking to expand, enrich, and energize this community and this college. 

It鈥檚 not only in our admission materials, it鈥檚 in our mission statement. Some of you have heard this ad nauseum, but it鈥檚 worth hearing again on an occasion such as this, I think:

鈥淪ince 1855, 乐播传媒 College has been dedicated to the emancipating potential of the liberal arts. 乐播传媒 educates the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community. With ardor and devotion鈥�Amore ac Studio鈥�we engage the transformative power of our differences, cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action. Preparing leaders sustained by a love of learning and a commitment to responsible stewardship of the wider world, 乐播传媒 is a college for coming times.鈥�

There are so many beautiful and compelling pieces of that mission statement, but for now I draw your attention to the phrase… 鈥淭he transformative power of our differences.鈥� Remember this. This phrase defines 乐播传媒, and it guides us.

At its heart, we are talking about pluralism here鈥攄efined by scholars in a variety of fields in a variety of ways, but pluralism is the idea that multiple perspectives, ideas, approaches, groups, ways of life can coexist and make a society stronger rather than weaker. Pluralism recognizes that our differences鈥攚hen engaged respectfully鈥攍ead to a richness, opportunities for collaboration, to a freedom, to the flourishing of the potential of all. And of course, we didn鈥檛 invent pluralism at 乐播传媒鈥攖hough I do think we embrace it, do it, and talk about it, better than most. 

A small, residential college experience is also designed to embrace pluralism. Our communities thrive not despite diversity of thought and culture but because of it鈥攖hrough exchanges both in and outside the classroom, in late night conversations, and in exchanges of histories and values, we build empathy and move from rigid thinking to nuanced discernment. 

Also, the liberal arts are a pluralistic ideal. Don鈥檛 let me shock any of the newest among you by stating plainly that in making the decision to join a liberal arts college, you have signed up not for narrow exposure to one area of study or one point of view, but for experience in a breadth of disciplines, philosophies, questions, and perspectives that will help you better understand, and contribute to, the world around you. Promoting critical thinking and analysis and fostering independent thought. This is the liberal arts project, stretching back to the ancient world, and extending through today: a liberal arts education is designed to create informed, independent, contributing members of democratic societies. 

This is also the American project, at its best and as it is idealized, if not always realized. Let me be completely clear: I am not going to stand here and tell you that the Founding Fathers, all of them white men and many of them slave owners, were models of inclusive thinking. But they produced the foundational documents of the republic we live in today, which have several virtues, and laid a foundation with a unique proliferation of voluntary associations crafting a pluralistic civil society. 

In Federalist No. 10, 鈥淭he Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection,鈥� James Madison wrote about cultivating an expansive society where people holding a range of views would live together and have the same degree of freedom and right to a diverse range of views. 鈥淓xtend the sphere,鈥� he wrote, advocating for 鈥渁 greater variety of parties and interests.鈥�

Several decades later, Alexis de Tocqueville would famously marvel at the myriad ways Americans would organize themselves and associate with one another, and how well this served democracy. He wrote: 鈥淎mericans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small.鈥� The 鈥渁rt of association鈥� that Tocqueville observed represented a wide range of differing organizations each with their own missions, approaches, and constituencies apart from the both government and majority opinion coexisting civilly, enhancing and sustaining democratic governance.  

All of which is just to say that when we talk about the 乐播传媒 mission of engaging the transformative power of our differences, we are talking about not just our current priorities, but our college鈥檚 history, the liberal arts tradition, and the founding ideals of our nation. Welcoming, celebrating, and cultivating a range of perspectives and experiences is what we do here, what鈥檚 expected of us鈥攁nd, frankly, I think we鈥檙e among the best at doing it. Not perfect鈥攂ut among the best.

It takes all of us to do this work鈥攖o sustain this pluralistic community. It takes openness and respect for everyone and a generosity of spirit; it takes care and trust and goodwill. It takes all of us wanting to do better, and be better. It鈥檚 a never-ending project. But there鈥檚 joy to be found in the effort. And I know that all of you are up to that task. We certainly need it throughout our nation, in our communities, and here on our campus, too.

Let me stop there and turn the mic over to my fellow speakers. But Class of 2029, first I鈥檓 going to end, as has become my tradition, with four core words of advice I once received from my mom at the start of college. As you launch into your 乐播传媒 experience, just remember this: learn, care, share, and enjoy.

Now, please join me in welcoming first, your BCSG co-presidents, Zach and Mohammad, followed by Professor Rebecca Herzig.

I write to share the news of two changes to 乐播传媒鈥� senior leadership team.

First, after 13 years at the college, Mike Hussey, vice president for institutional affairs and secretary to the Board of Trustees, has decided to step down from his position. As of next month, he will become senior advisor to the president and will serve in a part-time capacity beginning in September. He will support the transition and the president鈥檚 office in this reduced role, which will also give him more time to spend with his family and consider his next professional steps.

Stepping into the role of vice president for institutional affairs and secretary to the Board of Trustees on July 1 will be Leigh Weisenburger, our current vice president for enrollment and dean of admission and financial aid. Leigh has worked in 乐播传媒鈥� admission office for 21 years, and has been a member of 乐播传媒鈥� senior leadership team and overseen admission and student financial services since 2012. She is looking forward to expanding her higher education experience beyond admission and financial aid, and I look forward to working with her in this new capacity. We will announce plans for interim leadership of admission and financial aid in the near future.

 And please join me in congratulating both Mike and Leigh on their exciting new chapters.

Warmly,

   Garry

Trustees, along with Cheney Society and Alumni Council members, held a dinner with some graduating members of the Class of 2025. They also gathered to honor retiring Trustee colleagues. 

Trustees participated in a work session related to the emerging framework for the college鈥檚 current strategic planning effort. They also discussed the current and potential implications of federal actions specific to higher education, and they had their first on-campus meeting with representatives from 乐播传媒鈥� new outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) firm, Investure. 

The Board received the annual report from the Alumni Council, which was presented by Council President Leah Elsmore 鈥�12 and Vice President John Howard 鈥�86, and heard early observations from Vice President from Student Affairs Rosanna Ferro. Trustees also heard updates on the incoming Class of 2029, fundraising, the endowment, the budget, college infrastructure, and the draft interim report for continuing accreditation. 

Trustees also took a number of important annual actions, including:

• Voting of degrees for the Class of 2025, conditional on their completing all requirements of the degree and approval by the faculty
• Voting of the 2025 honorary degrees
• Approving the FY26 budget
• Approving academic personnel appointments and reappointments recommended by the Faculty Personnel Committee and the Vice President for Academic Affairs/Dean of the Faculty
• Electing officers of the corporation, Executive Committee members, and vice presidents for the 2025鈥�26 academic year
• Formally acknowledging the service of Trustees retiring on June 30:
  • Andrea Conklin Bueschel 鈥�90 
  • Evelynn M. Hammonds H鈥�11
  • Garth A.L. Timoll 鈥�99 

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for October 23鈥�25, 2025.

Garry W. Jenkins
President

Gregory A. Ehret 鈥�91, P鈥�23
Chair of the Board of Trustees

I am happy to share the news with you that Joanne Roberts will join 乐播传媒 College as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, effective July 1, 2025.

Joanne is a noted public economist who has served most recently as president of Yale-NUS College in Singapore, a liberal arts college created in 2012 as a joint venture of Yale University and the National University of Singapore. She took on that role in 2022 after five years in multiple leadership roles at Yale-NUS, including executive vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty, and before that as a member of the economics faculty. 

罢丑颈蝉听聽shares more details about Joanne鈥檚 appointment and background.聽

As an experienced chief academic officer, Joanne has mentored, developed, and innovated on behalf of faculty and students. She has a clear capacity to navigate academic leadership with skill and compassion, and I am confident she will bring those same talents to her work at 乐播传媒 supporting our faculty, students, and academic staff. I look forward to working with her to advance the college鈥檚 academic aspirations.  

I am extraordinarily grateful to all who helped with this extensive search, including the dedicated search committee chaired by Francesco Duina, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology. The committee was assisted by the search firm of Isaacson Miller, and supported by Renee Dana, executive assistant to the vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, and Mike Hussey, vice president for institutional affairs and secretary to the Board of Trustees. I also wish to thank the many members of the 乐播传媒 community who took time to meet with finalists and provided important feedback.

Sincerely,

   Garry

Trustees took a number of important annual actions, including setting a range for the 2025鈥�26 academic year single fee, which will be finalized this spring; setting the endowment distribution for the 2025鈥�26 academic year; accepting the conflict of interest report; reappointing the college鈥檚 auditor, CBIZ CPAs (formerly known as Mayer Hoffman McCann); and approving recommendations for faculty promotion and tenure from the Faculty Personnel Committee.

The Board heard updates and held discussions on important campus events and initiatives, including the college鈥檚 finances, the endowment, fundraising, infrastructure, and the Class of 2029 applicant pool. Trustees were also briefed on the current state of the faculty in advance of the anticipated leadership transition in the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, including a report on the 2024 COACHE survey results.

Trustees were joined by faculty, staff, or student representatives at most of its committee meetings and plenary sessions. 

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for May 1鈥�3, 2025.

Garry W. Jenkins
President

Gregory A. Ehret 鈥�91, P鈥�23
Chair of the Board of Trustees

The Board was updated on campus events and initiatives, including athletics, recreation, and wellness; programming related to the 2024 presidential election; the Employee Engagement Initiative; and early planning on institutional strategy and positioning efforts.

Trustees also heard updates on the college鈥檚 finances, the endowment, fundraising, and admission and financial aid. Actions taken by the Board included approving the FY24 financial audit results and naming representatives to the 乐播传媒鈥揗orse Mountain Corporation.

The Board invited faculty, staff, and students who are actively engaged in curricular, programming, and nonpartisan outreach efforts on campus related to the upcoming presidential election to a dinner to learn more about their efforts and to thank them for their work.

October 25, 2024, was the one-year anniversary of the tragic shootings in Lewiston. Trustees joined other members of the college and local communities in a vigil of remembrance at Gomes Chapel to mark the occasion and remember those whose lives were lost on October 25, 2023.

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees will be held virtually and is scheduled for January 31, 2025.

Garry W. Jenkins
President

Gregory A. Ehret 鈥�91, P鈥�23
Chair of the Board of Trustees