About
the BAM

The Brown Alumni Magazine was founded by a group of alumni in June 1900 “to bring the University and its graduates into closer touch and sympathy.” The magazine, in print and in its digital presence, seeks to sustain and strengthen the connection between the University and its alumni through thoughtful and powerful content that highlights the contributions of Brown students, faculty, and alumni to society, their industries, their communities and the world.

For its first three decades, the BAM was a subscription monthly (for a dollar a year) edited by Henry R. Palmer, class of 1890. In 1931, Brown offered to take ownership of the BAM; by 1945 the University was distributing it free to all male alumni. When Palmer, who had become the chief editorial writer at the Providence Journal, agreed to turn over the magazine to the University, he and his fellow staffers stipulated that the BAM remain editorially independent. This led to the establishment of an alumni board of editors to ensure the continuing quality and integrity of the BAM.

Today, the BAM is distributed for free to all alumni, faculty, and staff, as well as to parents of current students—more than 115,000 people. Donations, voluntary subscriptions, and advertising make up a large percentage of the BAM’s operating budget.

Board of Editors

Dana Cowin ’82 (chair), Casey Caplowe ’03, Morgan Clendaniel ’04, Chip Giller ’93, Galen V. Henderson ’93 MD, Glenn Kessler ’81, Carlos Lejnieks ’00, Michelle Lough, Kristen Mulvihill ’91, George Musser ’88, Jill Rossi, Eric Schurenberg ’75

BAM's Bylaws

Sec. 1 Mission 
The Brown Alumni Magazine (BAM) exists to maintain the relationship between Brown and the extended Brown community, including alumni and others interested in Brown. It is responsible for allowing readers to truly know their institution, while advancing the long-term best interests of the University and its alumni. It holds itself to the highest standards of reporting and design, exploring its subject matter in a fair, accurate, credible, and complete way. It seeks to inspire its readers with a sense of access to, and intellectual engagement with, Brown, as well as with each other. The BAM is dedicated to creating experiences, across media, that are relevant and engaging to today’s audiences, and that remain faithful to the traditions of close examination, critical evaluation, and debate that are the hallmarks of a Brown education. 
 

Click here to read the complete Bylaws(PDF)