Isa Cruz

This summer, Jim Hoppe joined the College as the new senior vice president and dean for student affairs. President Safa Zaki announced that Hoppe would replace Janet Lohmann following her retirement in an email to the campus community in May.

Hoppe describes his role as a mix of both management responsibilities and working with other senior officers of the College on strategy, planning and program development, as well as meeting with students to ensure the student experience is kept central to decision-making at Bowdoin.

“I don’t have a cohort of students assigned to me specifically, but I think, just on a pretty regular basis, there’s going to be things with student leaders and with students who have concerns about things or who have a great idea and want to think about how they can get it off the ground,” Hoppe said.

Much of Hoppe’s first month has been spent learning about the “Bowdoin way” of doing things, and he says he has been impressed by the many programs and opportunities available to Bowdoin students. One of his long term goals is to ensure that these experiences are accessible to and inclusive of all students.

“One of the things that attracted me to Bowdoin was there are so many transformational experiences,” Hoppe said. “I would love to make sure that they are transparent to students … that we’re really paying attention to accessibility and inclusion and that everything we do in Student Affairs should model what’s happening in the [Office of Inclusion and Diversity] and complement what’s happening in your academic programs.”

Hoppe emphasized how important it is that the College’s experience goes beyond just words to truly put into practice its values of equity and inclusion.

“You should know what the values are and that this is a welcoming community because of what you feel and experience, not just because we tell you it is,” Hoppe said.

Hoppe has worked in higher education for his whole career, including at the University of Puget Sound, Macalester College and, most recently, Emerson College. He expressed excitement at returning to a small liberal arts college and feels the student experience is uniquely prioritized at Bowdoin and students are especially engaged in the campus community.

“The level of commitment to the community has been amazing,” he said. “My first experience was meeting the orientation leaders, and then the ResLife staff, the McKeen trip leaders and the outing club O-trip leaders. And the common thread has been this serious commitment to holding and keeping the community [to] continue to move forward and be better.”

When Hoppe first started college at the University of New Mexico, he says he often had to meet with his dean after getting in trouble, and he appreciated how he was treated not as a problem but rather as someone who just needed to figure some things out. His dean encouraged him to be an orientation leader, and that role and experience drew him into the field of student affairs.

“There was something about the sense of community and the ability of students to support and develop and nurture the community, and then as I learned more about some of the things that staff did intentionally, I thought, ‘That’s pretty cool, right?’” Hoppe said. “That’s a great way to spend your life, being in that environment and having these developmental experiences and helping mentor and create leadership development.”

At Bowdoin, Hoppe has quickly become known for his Instagram account @Hoppetobeapolarbear, where he posts frequent updates about campus activities and events. At Emerson, he started an Instagram account commonly called the “Jimstagram,” and when he came to Bowdoin, the Office of Communications and Public Affairs encouraged him to create a new account.

Hoppe views social media as one of many ways he can connect with the student body and communicate important information.

“We put out information in a lot of different ways, and everyone digests it differently. Sometimes for me personally, I’ve got to see it in two or three different ways before I’m like, ‘Oh, that makes sense to me,’” he said. “[Instagram] was a way to highlight what was happening and showcase the victories and joys that happen every day on a college campus.”

While Hoppe’s time at the College is just beginning, he says he is eager to become immersed in the Bowdoin community.

“To me, one of the benefits of being in this type of environment is getting to know people and being part of the community,” Hoppe said. “I’d love to be invited to things. I can’t wait to just get to know individuals.”