Eight Professors Appointed to Named Chairs

Badie Khaleghian has been named the A. LeRoy Greason Chair in the Creative Arts. A composer and multimedia artist, Khaleghian joined Bowdoin in 2024 from Rice University, where he earned a doctor of musical arts. His work bridges music, technology, visual art, and neuroscience. He directs Bowdoin's Center for Experimental Multimedia Art and leads the Bowdoin Electroacoustic Ensemble, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration across the arts and sciences. Khaleghian recently collaborated with a chamber orchestra and colleagues in neuroscience and music on a project combining immersive design and interactive brain visualization. Using a brain-computer interface, he translated live EEG data, or brainwaves, into animated 3D visualizations projected during the performance. "The work brought together music, neuroscience, immersive media, and live data visualization in a shared performance environment," he said. His latest composition, Chant, created with two Bowdoin colleagues and an independent dance company, combines live voice, contemporary dance, interactive electronics, and multimedia projection to reimagine communal chanting practices. The work, which features dancers who also vocalize and chant, will premiere in August 2026. This summer, Khaleghian will travel to Florence, Italy, as an artistic collaborator at the EBRAINS Conference on Community Involvement, Education, Innovation, and Interoperability. In 2025, he received Chamber Music America's Interdisciplinary Collaboration of the Year Award. "My artistic and scholarly work often moves between different fields rather than fitting neatly into a single category," Khaleghian said. "I feel strongly supported here in pursuing what I love, both as an artist and as a researcher."

The A. LeRoy Greason Chair in the Creative Arts was established in 1992 by Lisa M. and Leon A. Gorman '56, H'83 in honor of the twelfth president of Bowdoin College.