Molly Holmberg Brown

mbrown6@bates.edu | she/her
Admission Counselor

Molly grew up in the small river town of Orono, Maine with a university campus in her backyard. Intent on playing Division III soccer and trying out another state, Molly applied early decision to Middlebury College. Coming from a small public high school, she was enamored with the breadth of the course catalog offered at a liberal arts college. Spring of her first year, she decided to try a geography class and joyfully discovered perhaps the most liberal arts of all majors. Molly fell in love with the spatial perspective, making maps, and the freedom to study just about anything. She went on to study abroad in Tibet and Nepal, captain the soccer team for two years, and form some of the strongest friendships of her life.

After graduation, Molly traveled the world drawing maps on a Watson Fellowship, which satiated her wanderlust enough to focus on a PhD in Geography at University of Colorado Boulder. She has since taught college courses at multiple institutions and led student groups across Alaskan mountain ranges and through the Gobi desert on (surprisingly grouchy) camels. Molly returned to Maine to raise her kids in the landscape she loves best and to run her own creative business around geographic education and mapping. 

Her love of supporting and working with students led her to return to work in higher education, and her pursuit of a more engaged and caring community drew her to Bates. Joining the admissions team got her one step closer to her ultimate career goal—being a professional college student!  When not on campus, Molly can be found surfing at Higgin’s Beach or skiing at Mt. Abrams (both less than an hour away), coaching her kid’s soccer teams, making art, or reading philosophy.  Her current free-time obsessions include messing around with Gelli Prints (So easy! So fun!) and making slow but brag-worthy progress through Iain McGilchrist’s giant tome, The Matter with Things.