About Fletcher

General information about the School.

Rachel Kyte
About Fletcher

An extra-special Convocation

Daniel Birdsall

New student arrival: check. Orientation: check. Official start of classes: check. Things are basically underway here for the 2019-2020 academic year, but without a good convoking, it doesn’t quite feel like the year has officially started. That will all change on Friday with this year’s Convocation ceremony. Convocation is always equal parts formal and celebratory, full of academic pageantry and the good energy of a community happy to be gathered together for the first time of the year. It feels a bit more special than usual this year, though.

Read More
orientation lunch
About Fletcher

Orientation, continued

Daniel Birdsall

As orientation rolls on, I’ve heard a number of colleagues comment that this year’s class of new Fletcher students are a happy-seeming bunch. That’s not abnormal; orientation is by definition a good-energy event, but I’ve likewise noticed a positive vibe so far this week. It helps that we’ve had idyllic weather (with a stormy afternoon yesterday being the only meteorological blight thus far). As I’ve mentioned before, we’re hugely excited by the arrival of our new students, and it’s great to feel that they’re just as excited to be here.

Read More
Dean Johnstone orientation
About FletcherGeneral Admissions News

Orientation!

Daniel Birdsall

Today is one of the most fun days of the admissions year – the start of orientation! With a few exceptions, it’s the first time we’ll meet our new students face-to-face, after having spent the better part of a year working with them virtually as prospective/admitted/enrolled students. Our friends in the Registrar run the arrival and check-in portion of the day, though we eagerly staff the welcome tables for the opportunity to put faces to names with which we’ve been working on paper for the better part of the past year. My guess is that it can sometimes be a bit surreal for students to arrive at Fletcher for the first time, and be greeted by one of us as if they’re a long-lost relative. What can I say? We’re excited to have our new students here.

Read More
Fletcher parking lot
About Fletcher

Summertime beautification

Daniel Birdsall

In some ways, summer can feel like a long season at Fletcher. I’ll admit that the hush that descends after the buzz of graduation is a welcome change for a few weeks, but pretty soon we get to missing our students. After a while, the quiet months can feel, well, quiet, and we start looking forward to the energy that comes with hundreds of students returning to campus. For our facilities folks, though, I imagine the season can feel barely long enough to get anything done.

Read More
Fletcher Class Day
About FletcherGeneral Admissions NewsOur AlumniOur Students

Commencement!

Daniel Birdsall

And just like that, members of the Fletcher Class of 2019 are officially alumni! It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were busy convoking the academic year, and here we are already recapping the season’s most anticipated finale outside of Westeros. On the weather side of things, there’s mixed news to report. For Saturday’s Class Day festivities, we lucked into probably the nicest day we’ve had all spring. Sunny, warm, and just generally the kind of day that makes you want to hang around outside. For Commencement itself on Sunday, less so. While the big tent provides good protection from the vicissitudes of the sky, the ground makes itself felt in a downpour, too, and there are likely a few muddy pairs of Maglis and Manolos due for a cleaning this week.

Read More
About Fletcher

GIS Poster Expo

Daniel Birdsall

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are amazingly powerful tools. Take a few moments to study a well-designed map, and you’ll be amazed by the amount of information it can simultaneously convey. Way back in my own Fletcher student days, I enrolled in the inaugural offering of GIS for International Applications at Fletcher, mostly out of curiosity and the desire to pick up the rudiments of a new skill set. While I haven’t gone on to do further GIS work, and while modest would be a charitable description of the mapping project I produced in that course, it did leave me with an understanding for and appreciation of the explanatory power of contemporary mapping technology and technique.

Read More
About FletcherOur Alumni

Dean Stavridis’ portrait is unveiled

Daniel Birdsall

The official portrait of former Fletcher Dean James Stavridis was recently unveiled in a ceremony here, which the Dean himself attended. While I wasn’t able to make it to the event, I did get a chance to check out the latest addition to the Ginn Library Reading Room recently, before it gets hung to join other Deans past. It’s a good likeness, as we’d of course expect an official portrait to be. Having had the opportunity to get to know Dean Stavridis relatively well, I immediately noticed a few details and artistic choices that capture his particular bearing and personality.

Read More