Special collections expands hours to accommodate demand

News in brief: College remembers Grobe

Professor of Mathematics Emeritus Charles A. Grobe Jr. died after a long illness on September 29. He was 81 years old.
Grobe taught at Bowdoin for 35 years. In an email to the Bowdoin community last Monday, President Clayton Rose wrote that “his former students and colleagues carry with them fond memories of his sharp, dry wit and never-failing good humor.”
Grobe began teaching at Bowdoin in in 1964, after earning his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. In 1968, Elizabeth (Betsy) Mendell, his wife, also joined Bowdoin’s faculty, becoming the first woman to have a faculty appointment at Bowdoin.
“He was a family man,” said Isaac Henry Wing Professor of Mathematics William H. Barker. “He was just devoted to his two sons and his wife.”
Grobe gained a reputation for impressive blackboard lectures.
“He was very precise,” said Barker. “He would write very carefully and it was beautiful.”
Outside of teaching, Grobe had a passion for photography. On the cover of the 1974-1975 Bowdoin course catalogue is an orange and red photo Grobe took of a boat at sunset at Five Islands in Georgetown, Maine.
It was the only course catalogue cover in Bowdoin’s history to feature a photo that is not of a building on campus. Very few covers have photos at all, most simply featuring text and the College insignia.
“He was always very proud of that photo,” said Barker. “It is a lovely shot.”
Beyond mathematics and photography, both Barker and Rose remarked on Grobe’s incredible character.
“When he was ill, he showed true, really incredible courage,” Barker said.
“He was a remarkable member of the Bowdoin community and a remarkable teacher and scholar and a remarkable partner with his wife,” said Rose.

News in brief: Students fundraise for Haiti hurricane relief

Over the past week, Bowdoin students have helped raise hundreds of dollars for disaster relief in Haiti. Fundraising efforts are continuing for the Caribbean island nation, which was struck by Hurricane Matthew on October 4.
“We’ve been really surprised in how much we’ve been able to raise,” said Reyada Atanasio ’17, who is one of the students leading the fundraising campaign.
Students raised funds by selling breakfast goods including donuts and coffee outside of Hawthorne-Longfellow Library last Wednesday. They also sold baked goods after a talk last Thursday on healthcare in Haiti by Dan Fitzgerald, a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.
“Even if [people] weren’t interested in buying donuts or coffee or anything, they still donated, and those extra donations really helped our effort,” Atanasio said.
The students involved plan on holding another bake sale outside of H-L and are considering the possibility of tabling in Smith Union.Atanasio became involved with the fundraising efforts after encouragement from Associate Director of the McKeen Center Andrew Lardie.
“[Lardie] contacted me because I had previously been in one of [Assistant Professor of Anthropology] Gregory Beckett’s classes, and Beckett is very involved with Haiti,” Atanasio said.
Beckett helped the students decide to give the donations to an organization called the Lambi Fund, a grassroots organization in Haiti.
“Especially after the earthquake in 2010, a lot of humanitarian organizations and NGOs went into Haiti to help with the relief effort,” said Atanasio. “But the disconnection between their efforts, the government’s efforts and what the Haitian people actually needed has kind of resulted in a lack of success.”
Sophie Binenfeld ’17, who has also been involved in fundraising efforts, also took Beckett’s course on contemporary Haiti. She said that international aid was one of the topics discussed in class.
“This was a nice opportunity for us to give money to a reputable organization that we know is going to do good things for Haitians,” she said.
The Latin American Student Organization (LASO) also launched its own fundraising drive. The group also plans to sell baked goods and launched a GoFundMe page to raise donations.

News in brief

Special collections expands hours to accommodate demand

October 21, 2016

In response to a large number of students using Special Collections this semester, the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections and Archives has extended its Thursday hours. Students and other researchers are now able to access Special Collections from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursdays, as opposed to the previous hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

According to Kat Setfko, director of Special Collections and Archives, the increased hours are intended to better meet the needs of students.

“Our concern is that the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. may not be the best for students, who are often in classes during that time,” she said. “Because we have a lot of students that are coming in this semester with a variety of classes we wanted to be able to try to be open during hours that might better meet their calendar needs.”

Peter Mumford ’17 is using documents from special collections for a research paper on how Bowdoin maintained its commitment to the liberal arts model of education during World War II.

“I think [the expanded hours] are a great idea, especially if you’re trying to work on a project that spans the entire semester. Having the ability to go in there during normal study hours instead of during the day is pretty crucial,” said Mumford.

According to Stefko, Mumford and one other student made use of the first set of expanded hours, along with another non-student researcher.

The office is open to the idea of adding additional hours depending on the needs of students.
“We’re hoping what’s going to happen is we’ll see a lot of students during those evening hours, which would be a good indicator that that’s something that we need to continue to do,” said Stefko.

The office started the expanded schedule last week. The current schedule will continue through the end of the academic semester. Special Collections is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays other than Thursdays.

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