We celebrate these successes with this annual issue of Colby magazine. Our stories explore how students, faculty, alumni, and community partners make things better for all of us in a variety of fields and disciplines.

Colby’s efforts are a matter of obligation and responsibility, as well as an opportunity to lead boldly. At a time when higher ed is under attack, and many institutions are pulling back, Colby continues to expand outward with strategic, targeted initiatives and partnerships designed with impact and outcome for the communities they serve.

sked to reflect on her experience as a guest of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs’ weekly In the News speaker series, Kristen Soltis Anderson described the event as informative and engaging, and then she paused. “And, quite honestly, civil.”

In this time of discord and disagreement, a cordial discussion about politics and current events is noteworthy, and it made an impression on Anderson, a Republican pollster and commentator, who came to Colby during the fall semester to explore the question, “Can Conservatives Win Gen Z?”

The answer to that question is open to discussion in the aftermath of Anderson’s appearance. But most important is that the conversation is happening at all.

Launched in 2024 by Alison Beyea, senior distinguished lecturer of public policy and executive director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs, In the News has become a weekly standing campus commitment. Every Wednesday from 6 to 7 p.m. during the fall and spring semesters, students gather in the Page Commons Room to share dinner and conversation with leading practitioners and thought leaders. The talks, which have a TV-talk-show quality to them, are open to all students and usually to the public.

Worried she wasn’t going to finish her project on time but not wanting to lessen her commitment to her team, she sought counsel from her capstone advisor, Philip Nyhus, the Elizabeth and Lee Ainslie Professor of Environmental Studies and chair of the Interdisciplinary Studies Division. “I remember sitting in his office, and he asked me, ‘What are you going to remember in 20 years—this report, or the fact that volleyball has been so incredible for you?’ He told me to focus on volleyball, and we’d wrap up the project later. Because Colby is a smaller community, you can support the whole person.”

Twenty years later and now an assistant professor of environmental studies, Cleaver keeps Nyhus’s message and advice top of mind when counseling her own students about academic issues, career decisions, or anything else. She knows what it’s like to be in their shoes.

“I tell my students, ‘I went here too.’”

“We are building things for the betterment of humanity, and we believe that a liberal arts college is one of the best places to do that, because the challenges of AI require an interdisciplinary approach,” said Watts, who came to Colby in 2025 after a 30-year career across the tech sector, with expertise in integrating AI into enterprise-scale products and services as a vice president at IBM. “It requires people who are willing to go into new spaces, and it’s not just about your space.”