Oliver Goodrich, the previous director of the Rachel Lord Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, departed Bowdoin in mid-August. In his role as director, Goodrich acted as a spiritual advisor, working alongside student faith groups including the Catholic Student Union, the Muslim Student Alliance, the Christian Student Association and Hillel to implement spiritual programs within the College community.

Goodrich had long been contemplating his role in spiritual guidance and its intersection with higher education, as his professional spiritual experience had been limited to college campuses for 21 years. He felt called to work further on his private Ignatian spiritual practice, continuing to spread his faith and beliefs beyond Bowdoin’s campus.

Chief of Staff for Student Affairs and Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs for Community Life Whitney Hogan worked closely with Goodrich during his time at Bowdoin. She described Goodrich’s work as falling in three separate buckets, each representing a particular sector of his responsibilities and commitments to the College community.

Hogan described the first bucket as his work in designing and implementing programs directly at the Rachel Lord Center, the second his support of faith-based student organizations and the third  his guidance and support given to individual students.

“I miss [Goodrich] deeply as a colleague, and one of the things that I so appreciate about him is his deep care and love for working with individuals around their own spiritual need and growth,” Hogan said.

Currently, Hogan is helping to fill in Goodrich’s previous responsibilities while the College searches for a new director to take his place. While waiting, Hogan has filled in where problems arise while also supporting the student workers and leaders affiliated with the Rachel Lord Center.

As Hogan works to sustain the Rachel Lord Center, she has contemplated what the next director will bring to the Bowdoin community. Hogan hopes the next director will be, like Goodrich, someone who is interested in working with students from a diversity of backgrounds and faith traditions.

“We are always looking to hire people who have a genuine curiosity about what student lives are … and want to work directly with students … and [support] their development as people,” Hogan said.