Media Coverage

Professor of Government Dan Shea was tapped to comment on a Politico story titled "The Women of Maine vs. Susan Collins," which wonders if Collins, who has gone from "most beloved" to "most reviled" in recent years, has changed or if her voters have changed. “Every decision she makes seems to align her more closely with the Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell movement,” Shea told Politico. “Here in Maine, that’s become the anvil around her neck.” 

The new book When Midnight Comes Around by photographer Gary Green, associate professor of art, was reviewed in the UK publication The Review. "This new book presents a unique vantage point on a place and time whose impact on music and culture cannot be overestimated," the review said of Green's book, which contains photos taken by Green of the music and art scene in New York City in the late '70s and early '80s. Creative Boom, another UK publication, also reviewed Green's book. On May 26, 2020, the Eye of Photography ran the same review.

Andrew Lizotte '04 was certified as a judge advocate in December after graduating from a nine-week judge advocate staff officer course in Montgomery, Ala., where he also received the Lowry Award, given by the U.S. Air Force to the officer demonstrating the highest standards of leadership, academic excellence, esprit de corps, and service amongst all students. Lizotte is a first lieutenant with the New Hampshire Air National Guard. In his civilian life, he works as a federal prosecutor in Maine.

Reena Chandra Rajpal '93 has been named executive director of Combat Blindness International, and Madison magazine told her story, which began in 1983 when her father founded the foundation following a trip to India. Rajpal follows her father in this new role. “I’m so proud my dad has entrusted this — his legacy — to me,” she told Madison Magazine. “I want to carry on his good work. It’s needed. If I learned anything from him, it’s that we are a global community. These are our friends. If we can do something, we should.” This year Combat Blindness celebrated its 35th anniversary and reached a major milestone, having performed some 370,000 cataract surgeries in 15 countries on four continents, the magazine reported.  

Marine toxicologist Riki Ott '76, director of the nonprofit ALERT, discussed the lasting effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on an NBC News feature. "ALERT and its allies filed a lawsuit on Jan. 30, 2020, to force the Environmental Protection Agency to finalize its rules on the use of chemical dispersants in oil spill response. ALERT has since launched a campaign to further update the entire plan to protect workers and families from toxic exposures during oil-chemical disasters," according to the organization.

Following the announcement of Colby's bold initiative, Pay in Northward, President Greene was interviewed on NPR's Marketplace Morning Report program to discuss the College's plan to find postgraduate opportunities for members of the Class of 2020. The show's host, David Brancaccio, asked about what types of jobs Colby hopes to secure for its graduates. "It’s important that they end up with a great job," President Greene responded. "I’ll tell you, really interesting studies that have been done on what happens to graduates and recessionary jobs, and their wages are often depressed for 15 years or more when they come out in a substandard job. One of the ways that they often catch up is by job-hopping. So if we can avoid that for this graduating class, and I think we can, then it’ll make a huge difference for them."

Neil Gross, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology, was a guest on New Hampshire Public Radio's show Lifelines discussing collective trauma in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked what can help heal collective trauma, Gross responded, "I think a big part of it has to do with leadership and what people, from politicians, to faith leaders, to writers and others, what kinds of stories they can tell, what kinds of things they can say to help people put things in perspective and get a better sense on what's happened and how they can move forward and find meaning in moving forward."

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the shootings at Kent State, Down East magazine released the article "The Moment That Presaged a Maine Senator’s Downfall," which recalls a May 10, 1970, event with the senator at Colby, six days after Kent State. "Shocked by the horror of it all, Colby junior and student government president Stephen Orlov had spent the previous week contacting his fellow student representatives at colleges across Maine, convincing 16 of them to endorse a telegram inviting the state’s two senators to an all-Maine student event. Its wording was more command than invitation: 'Return home and address yourself to the people whom you represent.'”

Associate Professor of Psychology Christopher Soto, an expert on personality psychology, was quoted in an April 30 article in Forbes to help explain the counterintuitive notion that extroverts are less affected by the quarantine than are introverts. "Compared with introverts, extroverts tend to experience more frequent and intense positive emotions,” Soto told Forbes. “This makes it easier for them to maintain a positive mood in everyday life. It also helps them stay optimistic in the face of difficult circumstances, like the current crisis.”

In an April 28 Maine Public story titled "Maine Colleges Wrestle With How To Reopen In The Fall As Coronavirus Ravages Budgets," President David Greene shares his thoughts on reopening campus this fall, expressing his preference for a delayed opening. "We’re really trying to focus on those two things, on how we have that great classroom environment, but how we have that full experience that enriches that environment and allows our students to really thrive. And we would rather wait to allow that to happen than to be in a position where we’re offering online courses for an extended period of time,” he told Maine Public. This story was also picked up and run by Bangor Daily News.