Isa Cruz

Yesterday afternoon, students, faculty, alumni, trustees and community members gathered in the newly renovated study room of Hubbard Hall to unveil the portrait of Bowdoin’s 15th president, Clayton Rose.

President Safa Zaki remarked on her and the community’s gratitude for Rose’s tenure at Bowdoin, which lasted from 2015 to 2023. Zaki thanked Rose for expanding student financial aid, renovating the facilities, leading the College through the pandemic and committing to the expansion of Bowdoin’s environmental studies program, including through the opening of the Roux Center for the Environment, Schiller Coastal Studies Center and the Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies.

Zaki then introduced the portrait’s artist Lanie Wurzel, who together with Rose unveiled the painting. Wurzel explained that Rose’s portrait marks a sharp departure from previous presidential portraits. Rose, unlike Bowdoin’s first 13  presidents, will not be shown in academic dress or with the nondescript background used in previous portraits. Instead, Rose is portrayed outdoors, with the Coastal Studies Center in the background.

“When students see this portrait in comparison to all the other portraits, they’ll see that there was a shift in style, in color, and that it’s a little more contemporary, that it’s more pared down, that it takes it out of the academic setting,” Wurzel said.

Wurzel explained that while there was nothing wrong with the previous portraits, Rose did not believe that the older portrait style was meant for him. She hopes the portrait will tell the story of Rose’s collaborative presidency and leadership.

“While traditions are important, it is possible to give yourself permission to change them and create your own traditions,” Wurzel said. “By capturing the likeness, revealing something about the subject and pulling on more strings of the public’s imagination, they are themselves, and they symbolize more than themselves, and with a portrait you can say a lot about someone, and tell a story about them.”

In his remarks, Rose explained that he hoped the simplicity of the painting would highlight his philosophy of trying to leave the world better than he found it.

“My approach to work and probably to life is that you show up, try to do the best you can, try to leave the thing or a place a little bit better than you found it and then you move on and let somebody else take their shot,” Rose said.

Rose also took time to express his appreciation for the people at Bowdoin. Rose told a story of how he and his wife, Julianne, while in South Africa over the summer, ran into two students from his time at Bowdoin within 24 hours of each other, emphasizing that the Bowdoin community extends all over the world.

“The time at Bowdoin, working as president … was some of the most important and satisfying years of our lives,” he said. “This community is very special because of all the people, faculty, staff, students, the folks in town. Don’t take this for granted here, too. It’s a very special place, a very special opportunity.… It was the privilege of a lifetime.”