OFFICIAL NOTICE: Ice Cream, Late Night Food, and Everything Campus Life. This week’sCampus Celebrity is our own Jed W. Wartman, a name any Colby student will recognize fromoccasional announcements for everyone’s #1 priority, free food (and much, much more). Thoughwe were unable to sit down for an interview due to Fall Break, Jed was kind enough to take aminute from his busy schedule to answer a few questions via email.
Q: Let me start with a question I’m very familiar with as a freshman at Colby. Where areyou from?A: I grew up in Andover, MA and then went to college down the road from Colby at Bowdoin. Iwent to grad school in Boston and lived in the city for seven years before moving to Maine to work atColby.
Q: Could you share with us your education history?A: I had the great opportunity to attend Bowdoin College for my undergraduate years. For allthat we do to differentiate places like Colby and Bowdoin they are quite similar. The similaritiesare part of what attracted me to working at Colby. After graduation from Bowdoin I had my firstprofessional job in their office of Residential Life, which started me down the track of workingin student affairs at a college. After working at Bowdoin for three years I headed to the HarvardGraduate School of Education for a Master’s degree in Education Policy and Management.From there I worked at Wheelock College and MIT before coming to Colby. I continue toconsider pursuing doctoral level education, but that hasn’t happened yet.
Q: The Colby College website states that you’re the Senior Associate Dean of Students andDirector of Campus Life. What exactly does that position entail?A: My job tends to fall into two big buckets. The first is Campus Life and as the Director ofCampus Life I support a staff of six people who are dedicated to the areas of Residential Lifeand Learning, Student Engagement through programming and student clubs, Outdoor Education,Leadership Development, and Religious and Spiritual Life. In short the Campus Life Office isdedicated to facilitating and supporting students connecting with and making the most of theirColby experience. We want to know about your experience and we want to help make it great.The second bucket is the Dean of Students Office bucket and this work entails more strategicthinking and planning. I get to work closely with Vice President of Student Affairs Jim Terhune,and others, in setting the strategic goals for student life at Colby. I really like this combination ofon the ground work with students and big picture strategic thinking.
Q: As Dean of Students, could you tell us a little about your connection with Colby’sstudent body?A: I work hard to be as connected with students as possible. I do this through making myselfavailable to meet with students who want to discuss their ideas, questions and concerns. Ialso make it a point to get out of my office and walk through the student center, have lunchin the dining hall, work out in the gym, attend events, and generally be present on campus.Working with students is what drew me to this work and what continues to make my job fun andmeaningful. I learn a tremendous amount from students every day and feel honored to be a partof their lives and college experience. The work is about and for students.
Q: What made you pursue this career path?A: I long planned to work in education. My parents are educators so I was exposed to this careerpath from the get go. That said, my initial plan was to teach high school Spanish. I studiedSpanish and Psych at Bowdoin. I started down the road to teaching by getting certified to teachhigh school Spanish through a semester as a practicum student teacher. As I was wrappingup my student teaching I was offered a job at Bowdoin in the Residential Life Office and inconsidering both of these possibilities I realized that my interest and skills were better alignedwith working at the college. Specifically, I was drawn to working with students one on one andin small groups as well as the consideration of big questions about the purpose and function ofresidential higher education. Again, the simple definition of my job is to work with students andhelp them make the most of their time at college. And, along the way, I get to know thousandsof dynamic, smart, kind and exciting young people that push and challenge my own growth anddevelopment while on campus and beyond. I have a great job.
Q: You live with your family on campus. What’s it like living and raising your childrenhere?A: It is terrific to be able to call Colby home. My wife, Brynn, and first son, Micah, and I movedonto campus nearly a year ago and our second son, Theo, was born a few months later. Livingon campus is terrific. Micah has the biggest backyard of any three year old I know, an endlesssupply of ice cream, 1800 college buddies, and lots of tractors and lawnmowers to look at everyday. Living here is truly great for all of us. I believe in community; and for my family and Ito be a part of the Colby community in this way has afforded terrific relationships with lots ofstudents and the tremendous opportunity for us to really share in this adventure.
Q: Thank you so much for your time. As a closing, are there any top secret upcomingCampus Life plans you could let us in on?A: Top secret stuff. I wish I had some good stuff to unload, but I must confess (and am proudto do so) that we aren’t really in the secret business. We are and will always continue to workto make sure we are getting to know as many students as possible and are making ourselves asaccessible and available as possible. Our office mantra is to say yet to good ideas, so maybe youhave ideas about what the upcoming plans should be and if so, we want to hear them.