Information technology's Andrew Biedrzycki revs up for scooter rally

Behind the Name tag: Art buff: Manager of Museum Security Hanson is also a globetrotter

Manager of Museum Security Operations Timothy Hanson is a true Mainer. Growing up in Rumford, Hanson led a normal life with loving parents and traditional schooling. In his junior year of high school, his horizons expanded past Maine, when he learned that his passion lay in a six-lettered word—travel.
“When I was in high school, I started taking a Spanish class and convinced my teacher to bring us to Mexico...It was pretty wild,” he said. “She was a fantastic teacher and I was amazed that she was convinced because it was a bunch of 16, 17 year olds that she was going to bring to Mexico. And then I got the bug for languages and travel at that point.”
In his final year of high school Hanson went to Mexico City to explore. He rented a hotel for 30 days, immersing himself in the culture. On his trip he got his passport stolen and admits to making some poor choices.
“I figured, I survived. ...The experience of being so far from home, in a different culture, feeling how other people feel and perceive the United States...is really, really an amazing experience.”
After graduating high school, Hanson attended University of Maine in Orono. There he studied French, Spanish and Russian, earning a degree in Modern Languages. In college, Hanson studied in southern Spain for a year and visited Morocco and France. After graduation, however, Hanson struggled to find a job in his field.
“I wasn’t too excited about the employment prospects, so I decided that I would get certified as an ESL teacher,” he said. “I did that and then I went to Spain with the intent of teaching English as a foreign language. It didn’t work out because in 2008 the economy there was really hitting the pits. I stayed there for about eight months and then I came back and I needed a job, so I found a job in security, just as a security officer in a corporate account. I did that for a few years and then I came here.”
Hanson now lives in Brunswick with his wife, who also loves to travel. They save money for traveling and enjoy back-trail hiking. This fall they are going to Barcelona and Paris.
At Bowdoin, Hanson is responsible for management of all security at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, working with the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and the campus. At the art museum, he generally runs into three different groups of visitors: visiting students, members of the Brunswick community and Bowdoin students. Hanson particularly enjoys when Bowdoin students visit because of their familiarity with the security and staff members. He recalled a humerous incident when a visitor did not fall into any of these categories.
“Working at the museum, often times you get unique personalities,” he said. “There was one gentleman who just had a very strange way with acting. He would make all sorts of gestures at the artwork while he was looking at it. He would shoot his arms out at the artwork and do little dances in front of it. The gentleman would come into the museum, change his clothing—put on different shoes and socks—the whole nine yards—go in, look at the art, come back out, change, again, to go home.”

Behind the Name tag: In good health: Catching up with doctor Birgit Pols

She has traveled around the world, she has gone scuba diving with whale sharks in the Maldives and she has even played competetive croquet, but what really excites Dr. Birgit Pols is providing health care to students.
Bowdoin’s new director of health services has been working in college health for over eight years—most recently at New York University (NYU) and NYU Abu Dhabi, located in the United Arab Emirates.
“NYU Abu Dhabi was sort of this magical, mystical place that none of us really knew much about,” said Pols. “The opportunity presented itself to go there for the short term, and I took advantage of it.”
Although Pols only expected to work at NYU Abu Dhabi for a few weeks, she ended up staying for four years. While there, she lived and collaborated with Emirati students, getting to know each of them by name.
Working with the small community of NYU students was a factor in Pols’ decision to come to Bowdoin.
“I learned how much I really love providing health care at a liberal arts college,” she said.Pols also has a strong connection to the area.
“I grew up in Maine, so I’ve always known about Bowdoin and always found it a very exciting place,” she said. “Having the opportunity to get to know students here, to get to know my colleagues here—those are the things that energize me.”
Pols has years of experience in the medical field, both on land and at sea. An avid scuba diver, she has achieved the distinction of being a dive master, a master scuba diver and a dive medical technician.
Besides diving in the Maldives with whale sharks, some of Pols’ favorite dives have been in Thailand and the Great Barrier Reef.
Pols is already diving right into her work at Health Services and taking every opportunity to engage with students. She is working with peer health educators and the Department of Athletics and is serving as staff advisor to Reed House.
“Birgit has been incredibly friendly and communicative with Reed House. I know I speak for all of us when I say that we are glad to have her,” said Jacob Russell ’17, the programming director of Reed.
Pols will be hosting a question and answer session about campus health at Reed next Thursday.
Pols said she does not anticipate making any large-scale changes to the current campus health care system.
“Hopefully any changes I would make would seem seamless to the students because what I would be looking to do would be to improve access to care,” she said.
Pols said she hopes any changes that come will benefit both students and staff. “The most important [task] is either directly providing patient care or supporting my staff who are providing patient care,” Pols said.
At the same time, she hopes to focus on establishing connections with the Bowdoin community.
If you see Pols working out in the gym early in the morning or practicing her croquet swing on the snowy Reed lawn, stop and introduce yourself. After all, your health and is in her hands.

Behind the Name tag

Information technology's Andrew Biedrzycki revs up for scooter rally

May 2, 2014

Courtesy of Andrew Biedrzycki

ALL WIRED UP: Biedrzycki and his wife were married in Cram Alumni Barn in fall of 2012.

Experimenting with the Linux operating system and restoring a 1966 Vespa may be foreign concepts to some, but for Audiovisual/Computing Specialist Andrew Biedrzycki, this is business as usual.

Biedrzycki came to Bowdoin as an intern during his time at Southern Maine Community College to complete the curriculum for his computer technology major. He later applied to his current position in Information Technology (IT), which he has held for seven years.

“Audiovisual isn’t really where my strength was, but coming into the position you learn on your feet,” Biedrzycki said.

When he’s not working at Bowdoin, Biedrzycki enjoys tinkering with Linux, an operating system with an open source code that encourages a community to build around it.

In addition to his technological pursuits, he’s restoring a 1966 Vespa with his brother and organizing a scooter rally for this summer.

“Currently two of my brothers, a friend, and I are planning the second annual Ski’s Shrimp Run. A bunch of scooters get together and we take a cruise up to Richmond and enjoy the day. My brother has always been into scooters and and motors, so my dad always joked about starting a scooter gang, and it evolved into this fun thing we did last year and are doing again this year,” he said.

Although they expected the event to be small, about 75 people showed up, including people from Nova Scotia and out of state.

Biedrzycki grew up in Topsham, and both he and his other family members still live there. He and his wife were married in Bowdoin’s Cram Alumni Barn and are currently expecting a child.
As part of his work for IT at Bowdoin, Biedrzycki works on classroom projection, AV technology, and preparing events with microphones and projection.

“Every day is a little bit different and a challenge. They keep us busy,” Biedrzycki said.
“Some days I’ll be setting up meetings talking about infrastructure, or I’ll be setting up microphones for President Mills for his ‘Life After Bowdoin’ talks. This Wednesday night I helped assist with the French flash mob in Thorne,” he said.

Some of his most memorable moments at Bowdoin are setting up for events. Through assisting in event setup and preparation, he’s seen and met people like Poet Laureate Richard Blanco and the creator of PostSecret Frank Warre.

Another enjoyable aspect of the job is getting to set up and staff events during Commencement and Reunion Weekend.

“During reunion there’s a lot of different events that take place, and they try to keep people busy all weekend long,” Biedrzycki said.

AV sets up everything from slideshows and old movies in the pub to Dance Dance Revolution for kids to organized dinners for the different classes—which often feature alumni speakers.

“It’s interesting because you get to see people come back and enjoy the place and be nostalgic for when they were here. You can hear some of their stories, and it’s a really great time,” he said.
Biedrzycki said he enjoys working at Bowdoin.

“Bowdoin’s always been a thing. Growing up, you know it’s there but don’t really go there. Once I started working here and seeing how beautiful the campus is, I’ve seen how it’s a really great place to work,” Biedrzycki said. “Everyday is different. I couldn’t imagine going to an office and doing paperwork all the time. There’s so much here to keep you interested.”

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