List of College-Provided Software and Programs

Questions

  • What software is available to students?
  • What programs are available to staff and faculty?
  • I am a student. What software do I have access to?
  • Do I have access to any programs as an employee or student?
  • Which software titles does Bowdoin license for home use?
  • Is a title available on personal devices or only on Bowdoin-issued devices?
  • What does "site license" or "concurrent use" mean for Bowdoin software?

Environment

This article applies to current Bowdoin College students, faculty, and staff.

  • Some software requires the use of a Bowdoin-issued device.
  • Some software can be accessed on personal devices or from a web browser without a Bowdoin-issued device.

Resolution

Bowdoin offers and supports a large variety of software for students, faculty, and staff. Some of this software is provided free of charge to current faculty, staff, and students as allowed by the College's licensing agreements.

Students receive access to most software licensed by the College on their laptops or iPads provided through the Digital Excellence Commitment. Some software can be accessed on personal devices or from a web browser without the need for a Bowdoin-issued device.

Please note: Incoming students will not gain access to most software titles until the middle of July before the start of their first semester.

Bowdoin has more than 500 software titles in use across campus. The following is a list of the most commonly used software programs at Bowdoin. A listing of all software provided in the computer labs is also available for the Mac and Windows Virtual Lab Environments (see the Related Articles section).

For information about Microsoft Office 365, see Office 365 Pro Plus Information in the Related Articles section.

Most Bowdoin-licensed software is easily accessed through the Company Portal and Self Service applications. See the Related Articles section for more information.

General Software

Software title Type of license Faculty & Staff Home Use? Student Use? Notes
Adobe Acrobat Professional Site Yes Yes Acrobat DC Professional is available to all faculty, full-time staff, and students for campus and home computer use and for iPadOS.
Adobe Creative Suite Site Yes Yes The complete Adobe CS Suite is available to all faculty, full-time staff, and students for campus and home computer use and for iPadOS.
Apple Mac Operating System Site Yes Yes  
EndNote Site Yes Yes Available from Self Service for macOS. Windows users may click the link and complete the form to request the download.
Microsoft Office Suite Site Yes Yes Includes Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, OneNote, and Teams.
Microsoft Windows Operating System Site Yes Yes* Windows 11 is provided through OnTheHub. Registration and eligibility are required. You must use your Bowdoin email address to register.
Microsoft Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Site Yes Yes Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection is for the Windows and macOS operating systems. It is included with all running versions of Windows 11 and installed automatically on all Bowdoin-issued Macs. In addition, all faculty, staff, and students running Windows 11 on their personal machines have access to Defender by default.
CrowdStrike Faculty and Staff Yes No CrowdStrike is the College's anti-malware software for faculty and staff.
OneDrive Site Yes Yes OneDrive is the College's only supported cloud storage solution. It is available to all active Bowdoin community members and comes with up to 1 TB of available cloud storage.

Academic Software

Software title Type of license Faculty & Staff Home Use? Student Use? Notes
ArcGIS Pro Site Yes Yes Available through the Virtual Lab Environment for students or by using ArcGIS Online.
ChemDraw Site Yes Yes  
eViews Concurrent use No No  
Finale Concurrent use No Yes  
MATLAB Concurrent use Yes Yes MATLAB is available for macOS, Windows, on an iPad, and from a web browser using your Bowdoin email and password.
Mathematica Site Yes Yes  
Notability for iPadOS / macOS Site Yes Yes Available for iPadOS and macOS. Must be installed through Self Service and not from the App Store directly. Not available on non-Bowdoin devices.
NVivo   Yes Yes NVivo is available in the Windows virtual lab environment for student use.
GraphPad Prism Class Use Yes No The College owns a small number of licenses for individual and classroom use. A per-class use license is available but must be requested by the instructing faculty member.
R and RStudio Free Yes Yes  
SPSS Site No Yes  
Stata Concurrent use No Yes  
Important: Information Technology enforces updates on all student, faculty, and staff computers to keep them safe by applying all operating system updates, security patches, and application updates. Many of these are available through specific operating system and application update engines. For example, Apple updates come through the Mac App Store, and Windows updates come through the Windows Update application. Many apps also have their own update technologies that are used to stay current.

Glossary of Terms

Site - Also referred to as a "site license". This means the College owns enough licenses to cover all of the people on campus who wish to use the software, including faculty, staff, and students. There may be variations within a site license. For example, SPSS and Mathematica are site licenses, but the license is intended for educational use only and no commercial use of the software.

Concurrent Use - A license type that has a limited number of licenses that can be used at one time. In some cases this is managed by a license server, and in other cases additional software is used to keep track of the number of licenses currently used.

Class Use - A license type that is intended to be used for in-class use only and not for research or commercial use.

License Manager - A server or internet-based service that keeps track of the number of times a piece of software is being run at once on campus. This limits the total number of running instances to the maximum number of licenses the College subscribes to.

Additional Help

If you need further assistance, you have several options:

  • Bowdoin Bot: Chat with Bowdoin Bot directly from any KB page for instant answers.
  • Phone: Call the Bowdoin College Service Desk at (207) 725-3030.
  • In person: Visit the Tech Hub in Smith Union during business hours.
  • Submit a ticket: Request assistance through the Service Catalog.

Additional Resources

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Related Articles (3)

Install Software and Updates Using Company Portal on Windows
An overview of the Company Portal app on Bowdoin-issued Windows computers, used to install and remove software and to view and apply operating system and application updates. Covers opening Company Portal, installing an application, and viewing scheduled updates.
Install Software with Self Service on macOS and iPadOS
Overview of the Jamf Self Service app on Bowdoin-owned Macs and iPads, including where to find it, how to install licensed and free software without administrator access, and how software availability varies by device role and signed-in user. Applies only to Bowdoin-owned and Bowdoin-managed Apple devices.
Resolving Microsoft Defender Warning on Windows Computers
Explains why Bowdoin-issued Windows computers show a warning that Windows Defender has been turned off or disabled. CrowdStrike Falcon has replaced Defender as the primary antivirus on faculty and staff Windows computers; the warning can be safely ignored.

Related Services / Offerings (1)

Request access for Adobe licenses
The College's current license agreements provide for faculty, administrative staff and students to download and install all Adobe products on Bowdoin-issued computers, personal computers or iPad OS.