DiGiusto: once a Bowdoin student, now a professor

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DiGiusto: once a Bowdoin student, now a professor

October 14, 2005

On returning to the College, Bowdoin alumnus Gerry DiGiusto '96 comments, "It's interesting to see how a place works from another perspective."

As his ten-year reunion approaches, DiGiusto reflects upon his time as a student at Bowdoin: "It fit. I made great friends. I was very happy with it."

DiGiusto, a visiting instructor in the Department of Government and Legal Studies, was born in New England, but moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania as a child. He grew up there, but wanted to return to New England for college.

He discovered Bowdoin his junior year of high school. His English class was reading the literature of famed Bowdoin College graduate Nathaniel Hawthorne. DiGiusto's teacher mentioned that Hawthorne had attended Bowdoin which sparked his interest in the College. After a visit, he felt that it was a good fit.

DiGiusto double majored in government and French at Bowdoin. He spent his junior year abroad at the University of Geneva in Switzerland.

After graduating, DiGiusto was a teaching assistant (TA) in the English department at the University of Western France in Brest, France.

"I thought I wanted to teach, and it was a good opportunity to try teaching," he said.

For DiGiusto, his time in France was also a time to experience being out on his own.

After returning to the United States, DeGiusto worked for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, D.C. There, he dealt with international issues such as cooperation and agreements with international agencies.

After working for the DOJ in D.C., DiGiusto attended graduate school at Duke University where he received his master's degree in political science. He is still working on his doctorate. At Duke, his primary focus was international relations, but he did secondary studies in comparative politics.

"Bowdoin's liberal arts education...prepared me well" for Duke, DiGiusto said.

DiGiusto's main research project at Duke focused on the creation of international economic institutions. He was able to draw on his experience at the Antitrust Department as he searched for an understanding of "when states are more likely to cooperate in international marketplaces."

Although he is currently finishing up his doctorate at Duke, DiGiusto felt that it was time to get a job. Bowdoin had a position open in the Department of Government and Legal Studies and he was happy to fill it.

According to DiGiusto, coming back to Bowdoin to teach, as opposed to another collegiate institution, helped make the transition from Duke easier because he already knows his way around and sees familiar faces on campus. In fact, some of his former professors are now his colleagues.

While the atmosphere at Bowdoin seems the same, DiGiusto lists new buildings, the absence of fraternities, and the presence of phones and internet in student rooms as a few of the differences from when he attended as a student ten years ago.

DiGiusto's interests fall beyond the realm of academia. DiGiusto runs marathons and will run in the Marine Corps Marathon this month for the fourth time.

As a student here, DiGiusto admits he was caught "inside the Bowdoin 'bubble.'" Here as a professor, he plans to spend more time hiking and exploring Maine.

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