Media Coverage

An op-ed by Charles Lawton in the Portland Press Herald's "Maine Voices" series highlights Colby's community investments as a model for growth across Maine. Lawton, a member of the Maine Consensus Economic Forecasting Commission, notes Colby's 20-percent growth in employees, its $176-million investment in facilities and equipment, and its economic impact on Waterville as examples of the College's strategy for growth. "Success requires having both an attractive academic institution and an attractive community – not merely a place where recruits will want to work, but also a place where their families will want to settle and build lives," he writes.

Maine's Second Congressional District will be one of the most hotly contested races in 2020, according to Sandy Maisel, the Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of American Government, who told the Lewiston Sun Journal that "there is no congressional district that is more competitive in the entire nation.” The article, also aired by WGME-TV13, reported, "People say that races in small states like Maine aren’t that big a deal, Maisel said, 'but here’s a district everyone is going to be paying attention to.'”

Multiple media outlets ran stories on the recently announced milestone of Colby's Dare Northward campaign—raising $500 million, or two-thirds of its goal, in just three years. Outlets that covered Colby's success include: Boston Globe, Nov. 21 U.S. News & World Report, Nov. 24 Washington Times, Nov. 24 WABI-TV5, Nov. 24 Mainebiz, Nov. 22 Portland Press Herald, Nov. 21 Morning Sentinel, Nov. 21

The Chicago Public Library selected Biddy Mason Speaks Up, cowritten by Arisa White, assistant professor of creative writing, as one of it's 2019 Best of the Best in the "Best Informational Books for Older Readers" category. The book, part of the "Fighting for Justice" series, tells the story of healer, midwife, and civil rights champion Biddy Mason, who was born into slavery but eventually wins her freedom in 1856. "The Best of the Best lists represent our choices for the year’s most outstanding titles, books of exceptional quality for a diverse, city-wide readership," the library said in an email to the author. Read more about White and her process of cowriting the book, in this Colby Magazine story, Past-Place and Present Moment.

The Boston Globe ran an extensive story Nov. 21 on the success of Colby's Dare Northward capital campaign, which raised more than $500 million, two-thirds of its goal, in three years. The article includes an interview with President David Greene, who is quoted about many of the dramatic improvements enabled by the campaign thus far—in financial aid, access, diversification of the student body, expansion of the faculty and academic programs, expanded internship and study-abroad opportunities for students, facilities improvements on campus, investments and improvements downtown, civic engagement of students, and more. Greene told the Globe, “We’re well ahead of track, which is a good place to be, but we still have a long way to go.” The campaign's overall goal is $750 million by June 30, 2023.

A November 21 NPR feature headlined "Why Money Can't (Usually) Buy You a Successful Campaign" featured Professor of Government Anthony Corrado, an expert on campaign finance. The story, on scores of stations and websites across the country, discussed wealthy candidates currently seeking the nomination and noted that while President Donald Trump's successful self-funded bid for the White House was unique, it wasn't necessarily his money that secured the election. "Really what drove his campaign was not the money he was spending, but rather the media coverage he was getting and his ability to generate an enormous amount of public attention," Corrado told NPR political reporter Jessica Taylor.

Dean Allbritton, associate professor of Spanish at Colby, spoke about his academic research at Stony Brook University in New York Nov. 6 as part of a distinguished alumni speakers series in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature. Allbritton, who earned a Ph.D. at Stony Brook in 2011, presented “Bad Blood: Visions of Hemophilia in the Spanish AIDS Crisis,” discussing his analysis of "representations of illness and health in contemporary Spanish culture and media as focalizing points for larger discourse of national and societal health," the Stony Brook news bureau reported.

The December issue of National Geographic has an extended feature on the thousands of tigers kept in captivity in the United States, and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies is quoted about the history of the animals in the country. The article is headed, "Captive Tigers in the U.S. Outnumber Those in the Wild. It's a Problem: Some are in roadside zoos. Some are pets. Many are abused. A lack of regulation on big cats is putting animals and humans at risk." Full text of the article was published online Nov. 14

Several Colby students who will participate in the Greenlight Maine Collegiate Challenge Nov. 16 at Thomas College are featured in a WABI-5 television news article about their business plans, the upcoming competition for $25,000 in startup funding, and the coworking space they share. Four of the students featured are from Colby and are part of Jumpstart Maine, a group that fosters business ideas for college students working together in the Bricks Coworking & Innovation Space in Waterville's Hathaway Creative Center. Nick Rimsa '13, also featured, is a founder of Jumpstart. At the statewide competition, Christian Krohg ’22 and Katie Dougherty ’22 will pitch their business Easy Eats, a food delivery system where students can place orders from local restaurants to be delivered to their dorm rooms by other college students. Torsten Brinkema ’22 will compete with Weart Apparel that he founded to support and share works of young artists through apparel items. Lastly, Joshua Kim '22 will present Sklaza, an online market place specific to each college for students to exchange items.

In connection with the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev's birth, India's largest independent news service quoted Crawford Family Professor of Religion Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh about celebrations. On OutlookIndia.com the IANS story relates Singh's observation that Sikhs and non-Sikhs are increasingly coming together to celebrate Guru Nanak, the first Sikh. Such celebrations, including when Colby's valedictorian recited Guru Nanak's hymn at a baccalaureate service, are moments of "collective effervescence"and are enormously meaningful, she said. In a quote from her book The First Sikh: The Life and Legacy of Guru Nanak, Singh says "the feeling here is not a simple tolerance of people of other faiths, or adding aspects from different faiths into a syncretic blend; to the contrary, it is real respect for and rejoicing in the difference and distinctive richness of our shared humanity."