News
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2026 COA Summer Institute celebrates 10 years with star-studded week
Toward a More Perfect Union focuses on the 250th birthday of American democracy while exploring the perils and promises shaping the future.
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COA Summer Institute reimagines exploration
The promise of discovery and the hard-to-resolve ethical questions about the impacts of exploration on both human and non-human communities are the focus of the College of the Atlantic Summer Institute: Reimagining Exploration, held in collaboration with The National Geographic Society. Attendance is free but registration is required.
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Student perspectives featured at commencement
College of the Atlantic’s 50th commencement ceremony features several graduating seniors, with diverse academic interests from economics to Black studies, anthropology, education, art, and the humanities, who will provide a student welcome, perspectives on the student experience, and an introduction to keynote speaker Dr. Julietta Singh.
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Love of gulls leads to Goldwater award
Wriley Hodge ’24, a College of the Atlantic student with a passion for seabirds and the islands they inhabit, is named a Barry Goldwater Scholar, a prestigious, highly selective designation supporting students intending to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics.
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Beech Hill Farm preps for a busy season
The lion of early March is quickly becoming a lamb as 30-degree days become 40-degree days and snow turns into rain. The ground is thawing, and crocuses are peeking up from the soil. All this means the team at College of the Atlantic Beech Hill Farm in Mount Desert has begun preparing for a busy…
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Projects for Peace awardee aims to uplift migrant children
Alejandra Morales Torres ’23 will provide a six-week mental and emotional health course for children staying at a support and refugee center in her hometown of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and will create a permanent reading and wellness space there following a $10,000 Projects for Peace award.
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Fossil fuel-free campus comes into focus
Close to three quarters of College of the Atlantic’s electricity will be provided by a regional solar farm as part of a new agreement, marking an important step towards the school’s goal of eliminating fossil fuel usage by 2030.
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Senior lands year-long Watson Fellowship
Newly named Thomas J. Watson Fellow Charles-Olivier Lévesque ’23 will travel through Europe and Asia after graduating from College of the Atlantic to explore how collaborative experiments within communities can address social and environmental issues on both regional and global scales.
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Human ecology takes root in coastal Japan
Setouchi Global Academy, College of the Atlantic’s new affiliate school on the Seto Inland Sea, is structured around place-based, experiential learning and on a mission to make positive change in the world.
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A Bar Harbor college residential hall is being built with new wood technology
Bangor Daily reports on a new residential hall being built at College of the Atlantic is using a wooden structural design that is becoming more popular because of its environmental benefits, though the manufacture of such wood products has yet to catch on in Maine.
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Dr. Julietta Singh to give commencement keynote
Decolonial scholar and nonfiction writer Julietta Singh will deliver the keynote address at College of the Atlantic’s 50th commencement ceremony and will receive an honorary Master of Philosophy degree along with Native American Passamaquoddy historian, storyteller, and community leader Donald Soctomah.
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Can Congress encourage wiser AI?
Oversight will be vital as artificial intelligence systems are marketed to millions, turning citizens and their deliberative powers into products any businesses and politicians can purchase, as COA professor Gray Cox told the Portland Press Herald, author of the forthcoming book, “Smarter Planet vs. Wiser Earth? How Dialogue Can Transform Artificial Intelligence into Collaborative Wisdom.”
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Students collaborate and connect on musical production
Introspection, innovation, and a sense of collectivism highlight the experiences of College of the Atlantic students enrolled in Futurity: A Production Monster Course, a three-credit, term-long effort culminating in the staging of a live musical.
