Thomas Easton was born on July 17th, 1944 (Barnes, 1992). He holds a bachelor of arts degree in Biology from none other than Colby College and a doctorate in theoretical biology from the University of Chicago. He retired from teaching at Thomas College in 2014 and now teaches part time in Newton, MA. One of the reasons Ryan and I chose to document and research Thomas Easton was because of his ability to succeed as a biology student and then return to support the expansion of Colby’s biology department. He was a Mainer thick and thin, having grown up in Bangor as a kid. One of the areas that Easton heavily supported was Colby’s intention to provide incoming students with the unique opportunity to attend the college exempt from all-school tradition curriculum and solely focus on independent research for four years. Colby’s biology department was only one of a few departments that were granted the ability to participate in this, and Easton offered to be the faculty lead for the biology department. Whether he was a faculty member at Colby or Thomas during this time is a bit confusing, however the amount of information on Thomas Easton in the Colby archives leads me to believe that he was a big supporter of Colby’s biology and science departments. We credit him with further pushing Colby to emphasize extracurricular work and laboratory work. His extraordinary teaching and countless publications in the field make him a significant figure in Colby and Maine’s biological advancement.
Curated by Chase Holding