Barry Mills (born September 8, 1950) is an American attorney and academic who served as the fourteenth president of

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. It was chartered in 1794. The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. In a ...

Early life and education

A native of

Warwick, Rhode Island Warwick ( or ) is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States, and is the third-largest city in the state, with a population of 82,823 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Warwick is located approximately south of downtown Pr ...

, Mills graduated ''cum laude'' with a double major in biochemistry and government from Bowdoin College in 1972. He then went on to earn a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in biology at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

in 1976 and a JD from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1979, where he was a

Harlan Fiske Stone Harlan is a given name and a surname which may refer to: Surname * Abram D. Harlan (1833–1908), American politician from Pennsylvania * Bob Harlan (born 1936 Robert E. Harlan), American football executive * Bruce Harlan (1926–1959), America ...

Scholar. Upon graduating, he soon began working at the law firm,

Debevoise & Plimpton Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is an international white-shoe law firm headquartered in New York City, with offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Luxembourg. The firm specializes in intellectual ...

, where he became a partner in 1986.

Career

A member of the Board of Trustees from 1994 through 2000, Mills became president of Bowdoin College in October 2001. Since then, Mills has dramatically changed Bowdoin's curriculum and campus. As part of a master plan first designed by

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...

in 2004, the college has built new residential dorms, a recital hall, a hockey arena, a fitness center, converted one of the college's pools into an architecturally distinctive recital hall, and has undergone a highly publicized renovation to the

Bowdoin College Museum of Art The Bowdoin College Museum of Art is an art museum located in Brunswick, Maine. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the museum is a part of Bowdoin College and has been located in the Walker Art Building since 1894. The museum is ...

. In 2011, Bowdoin set a record low rate of admissions for the class of 2015 at 15.7%. Three years earlier, in 2008, it was recognized as "School of the Year" by College Prowler. Additionally, that January, Mills announced that all student loans would be replaced by grants beginning in September. Mills presented the ''Bowdoin Campaign'' in 2006, a $250 million fund-raising campaign set to be finished in June 2009 and focusing on new faculty positions and financial aid. Aided by a $10 million gift by Subway Sandwiches co-founder

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.; he played the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his caree ...

, the goal was met that February. In response to the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, in September 2008, Mills announced that the college would slow down the rate of new capital projects and faculty positions but would retain

job security Job security is the probability that an individual will keep their job; a job with a high level of security is such that a person with the job would have a small chance of losing it. Many factors threaten job security: globalization, outsourcing ...

at the college. In April 2014, Mill
announced
he would "step down as president of the College ... at the conclusion of the 2014-15 academic year." He officially stepped down on July 1, 2015, and was succeeded by

Clayton Rose Clayton Stuart Rose is an American academic administrator who served as the 15th president of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Early life and education Originally from San Rafael, California, Rose graduated from the University of Chicago a ...

. In March 2017, Mills was appointed deputy chancellor and chief operating officer at the

University of Massachusetts Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a Public university, public US-based research university. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Ma ...

. In that role, he oversaw the academic and research program and campus operations. He stepped down from the role at the end of the 2017-18 academic year.

Personal life

On December 19, 2008, his wife, Karen Mills, was nominated by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

to serve in his administration as Administrator of the

Small Business Administration The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and str ...

, in which role she served until February 11, 2013.

References

External links

Barry Mills administrative records from Bowdoin College
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Barry. 1950 births Bowdoin College alumni Presidents of Bowdoin College Educators from Providence, Rhode Island Lawyers from Providence, Rhode Island Living people People from Warwick, Rhode Island Syracuse University alumni Columbia Law School alumni People associated with Debevoise & Plimpton