Staff in the Office of the Registrar

Christine Cote

Christine CotespacerTitle
Registrar

Email
ccote@bowdoin.edu

Professional Duties
Direct the Office of the Registrar; oversee and manage office planning and projects; manage office staff; provide link to deans’ offices and faculty; analyze data relevant to student and course information; manage enrollment modeling; member of Curriculum & Educational Policy Committee, Recording Committee, New Course Subcommittee, and Enrollment Committee.

Hometown
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, grew up in San Diego, California. Maine, however, is my home.

Education
B.A. with a major in music from University of San Diego; M.A. in music history from University of California, Riverside; M.A. in theology from the University of Notre Dame; Ed.D. in educational research, measurements and evaluation from Western Michigan University.

Background
I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Since my family moved to San Diego, California when I was only six years of age, I have only vague memories of Milwaukee and feel that I really grew up on the west coast. After college and my first round of graduate school, my yearnings for four seasons – falling leaves and snow – got the best of me, and I moved back to the mid-west – Indiana to be precise. I worked for the two-year college system in Indiana for several years, helping low-income adults transition into college. I also began doing program evaluation and assessment and continued graduate work in this field. After receiving my Ed.D. I left Indiana to come to Bowdoin College, where I was Director of Institutional Research for fifteen years and have been Registrar since 1994. I live in Brunswick with my husband and two Irish Setters. Together we enjoy our camp in northern Maine, where I love to walk in the woods during the summer, bird hunt in the fall, and snowshoe in the winter. I also enjoy photography and quilting.

Julie Bedard

Julie BedardspacerTitle
Associate Registrar

Email
jbedard@bowdoin.edu

Professional Duties
Ensure the integrity of the degree by monitoring degree requirements, transfer credit, AP/IB, student statuses, and honors and awards for all students. Serve as Secretary for the Recording Committee.

Hometown
Keene, NH, but Portland, Maine, will always be where I call “home.”

Education
Bachelor of Science, Keene State College, Sociology and Management majors; various courses in Franklin Pierce’s MBA program, MECA, USM and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Currently I am working toward my Bachelor of Fine Arts through USM.

Background
Before coming to Bowdoin I worked primarily in bank management and financial aid. I spent two years as the Campus Manager at Franklin Pierce College, Nashua campus, where we acted as a “one stop” center performing Bursar, Financial Aid, and Registrar functions. I spent four additional years at Franklin Pierce College as Assistant Director of Financial Aid for six satellite campuses. I then took a job at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth as Assistant Director of Financial Aid in order to expand my knowledge into other areas of lending. I have been Associate Registrar at Bowdoin since May 2003.

I have a studio in my home where I currently don’t spend nearly enough time. I am working toward my BFA degree while working full time at Bowdoin and a second part time job. People ask me where I hope the BFA degree will take me and I don’t know how to respond. For me, it is about the process of learning– not what I hope it will bring to me in the future. If I’m not painting or printmaking you can usually find me reading, knitting, hiking or kayaking, doing demolition/construction work, gardening/landscaping, fishing, cross-country skiing, prowling in dusty junk stores for unique treasures I can resurrect to a new life, or taking impromptu road trips to unplanned destinations with my partner.

Jan Brackett

Jan BrackettspacerTitle
Associate Registrar

Email
jbracket@bowdoin.edu

Professional Duties
Oversee course registration, course scheduling, and the grading process. Manage the Registrar web site.

Hometown
I was born in Salem, Massachusetts, but my family moved every two to three years while I was growing up. I have lived in Gardiner, Maine, for 22 years now; it feels like home.

Education
BS degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University. I stopped three courses short of a Masters degree in Educational Technology from Lesley University.

I enjoy learning things on my own (like woodworking and crocheting), and I continue to take classes as well (in computer programming, house-building, and ceramics, for example).

Background
My career path has been non-linear. At various points before taking on the challenge of my current position, I led wilderness and bicycling trips, ran my own business, taught in a middle school, coordinated the Upward Bound program at the University of New Hampshire, and ran the Women’s Resource Center at Bowdoin. I continue to seek and design unique adventures. For example, when my son was 12 years old, we built a wooden raft and lived on it for a week on the Kennebec River—traveling south on outgoing tides and north back home on incoming tides. We enjoyed this adventure so much, we did similar extended excursions four more times before my son took off for college.

Janet Dana

Janet DanaspacerTitle
Course and Registration Specialist

Email
jdana@bowdoin.edu

Professional Duties
Track and support the course proposal process from submission to entry into the database and publication in Bearings and the Catalogue. Process course registrations and grades, schedule classrooms, and perform daily office/customer-service oriented tasks.

Hometown
Harpswell.

Education
Somewhere between an associate’s and a bachelor’s degree—a work in progress.

Background
I have lived in Maine most of my life—with the exception of a few years in Asia and Massachusetts. When not at work, I enjoy traveling (particularly to tropical locales), kayaking, snorkeling, bicycling, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, gardening, knitting, reading, and beachcombing. In all actuality, much of my time away from Bowdoin is spent involved with/in support of family (which includes, but is not limited to, two young adult daughters). My dreams/plans/goals for life outside of Bowdoin (other than retirement) include living on a small, sustainable farm with a couple of alpacas, some goats, and a beautiful garden—or living in a grass hut on a remote tropical beach. In the meantime, the interaction with students, faculty, and other staff here in the Registrar’s Office makes the job interesting and enjoyable.

Linda Portee

Linda PorteespacerTitle
Administrative Coordinator

Email
lportee@bowdoin.edu

Professional Duties
Issue transcripts and enrollment verifications. Assist in a variety of cyclical processes of the office including registration, add/drop, and grades.

Hometown
Kansas City, Kansas.

Education
Some college.

Background
I grew up in Kansas City and moved to Maine twelve years ago. Prior to moving to Maine, I worked as an Administrative Assistant and Office Manager at the American Red Cross and in the computer software and insurance industries. Upon moving to Maine, I worked at L.L. Bean for five years, then joined the team in the Registrar’s office. I’ve been here for seven years and enjoy being a part of the Bowdoin community.

I enjoyed camping, concerts, and water skiing in Kansas City. My priorities both in Kansas City and in Maine were raising my two sons. However, this didn’t keep me from trying my skills at snow skiing, motorcycle riding, and skydiving. I’ve also enjoyed crafts, gardening, and photography. My newest interests are jewelry making and my first grandchild.

Office of the Registrar
Bowdoin College
4500 College Station
Brunswick, ME 04011-8436
Tel: 207-725-3521 • Fax: 207-725-3338
Email: registrar@bowdoin.edu