1936-1989
William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Humanities
President of the College 1969-1978

Roger Howell, Jr., a member of the class of 1958 and the president of Alpha Delta Phi in 1957-58, was a professor of history at Bowdoin for 25 years and president of the College from 1969 to 1978. Having graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, Howell was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University in England. He returned to Bowdoin as a faculty member in 1964, after earning B.A., M.A., and D.Phil. degrees at St. John's College, Oxford. An internationally known historian and author, Howell was one of only a handful of Americans to teach English history at Oxford.

After serving as acting dean of the College in the fall of the 1968-69 academic year, Howell became the tenth president of the College in 1969 at the age of 32. During his tenure as president, Bowdoin began admitting women, established the Twelve College Exchange Program, increased the student body from 950 to 1350 students, eliminated College Board examination requirements, established Maine's first African American Center and developed an academic program in Africana Studies, and made other improvements to the curriculum and institution. Howell resigned as president in 1978 to return to teaching and research.

From the program of House Dedication, Oct 21, 2000.