Stories about "My Last Year"
My Last Year of Teaching: Jane Costlow’s departure prompts reflections on past, present, and future

Thursday, June 11, 2020 9:17 am

It was the Tuesday after Commencement, and Jane Costlow paced around her Hedge Hall office, up to her elbows in books, boxes, papers, and assorted memorabilia.

My Last Year: Teaching in Russia

Friday, April 24, 2020 2:43 pm

From Gorbachev to Putin and St. Petersburg to Orel, retiring professor Jane Costlow looks back on leading students through 10 trips to Russia.

My Last Year: ‘Long goodbyes lead to too many tears’

Friday, April 3, 2020 3:41 am

With the college's move to remote learning, Jane Costlow, in her final year, saw her classroom teaching career end in a way she never could have imagined.

My Last Year of Teaching: ‘I really love the one-on-one interaction’

Friday, March 6, 2020 10:38 am

Jane Costlow shares stories and insights from 34 years of advising senior thesis students.

he collegeÕs Philip J. Otis Committee invites members of the Bates community to attend:The 23rd Annual Otis LectureMonday, November 4, 7:30pmOlin Concert HallRESERVE TICKETSTickets free but required.Ross Gay, author of The Book of Delights, will deliver the 2019 lecture:ÒDelight, Gratitude, Joy: Entangle MeÓRoss Gay is the author of three books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His collection of essays, The Book of Delights, was released by Algonquin Books in 2019.Ross is also the co-author, with Aimee Nezhukumatathil, of the chapbook ÒLace and Pyrite: Letters from Two Gardens,Ó in addition to being co-author, with Richard Wehrenberg, Jr., of the chapbook, ÒRiver.Ó He is a founding editor, with Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the online sports magazine Some Call it BallinÕ, in addition to being an editor with the chapbook presses Q Avenue and Ledge Mule Press. Ross is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project. He has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Bread Loaf WriterÕs Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Ross teaches at Indiana University.GayÕs lecture is made possible by the Philip J. Otis Õ95 Endowment.Jane speaks with Visiting Assistant Professor of Africana Cassandra Shepard in the Olin Arts Center lobby after the lecture/presentation. Ross visited Shepard's class earlier in the day.
My Last Year: Jane Costlow encourages young faculty to be themselves

Thursday, January 30, 2020 5:24 pm

As she approaches retirement, Costlow considers her progress through the cycle of faculty mentoring.

From left, Wilder Geier ‘22, Lars Schuster ’20, and Julian Cook ’20 take a look at a pileated woodpecker in Lewiston’s Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary..Nick Lund of Maine Audubon @maineaudubon spotted the bird as he led Clark A. Griffith Professor of Environmental Studies Jane Costlow and students in her “Living With Animals” course on a midday birding excursion during their last class session.
My Last Year: Semester’s end is a time of firsts and finalities for Jane Costlow

Tuesday, December 17, 2019 1:15 pm

The last few weeks of the semester represent the beginning of the end of Jane Costlow's 34-year career on the Bates faculty.

My Last Year: ‘Trying to get too much done in too little time’

Thursday, November 14, 2019 3:16 pm

It's trying, says Jane Costlow, trying to excel at the triad of faculty responsibilities — teaching, research, and service — sometimes all at the same time.

Jane Costlow and Sue Inches, who has worked in community and economic development for more than 25 years, at the rally. Inches has taught a practitioner-taught course on "Advocating for Sustainability" at Bates.“I can't believe I'm even having to protest this.”.— Muskan Verma '21 of Shimla, India, shares the frustration of inaction on global climate change after she addressed a crowd of at least 2,000 at Portland City Hall gathered for the student-mobilized Global Climate Strike, ahead of the opening of the United Nations General Assembly and the Climate Action Summit on Sept. 23..“I'm not from this country,” she said. “But that shouldn't matter. This is affecting us all. And whether we like it or not, we have to take action.”.A representative of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led movement for climate-change action, Verma is a double major in theater and in rhetoric, film, and screen studies. She joined a large contingent of Bates students and several faculty who attended the event, organized, in part, by the Bates Environmental Coalition..
My Last Year: Jane Costlow, a professor-activist ‘in solidarity with others who really care’

Friday, October 11, 2019 11:00 am

A teachable moment during the Global Climate Strike prompts a veteran Bates professor to examine her history of activism.

At today's Opening Convocation ceremony, keynote speaker and honorand Dolores Huerta @doloreshuerta, an icon of the labor rights movement and civil rights leader, helped usher in the academic year at Bates by encouraging the Class of 2023 and the broader Bates community to become active in the fight against racism, anti-semitism, and sexism.Clark A. Griffith Professor of Environmental Studies Jane Costlow
My Last Year: Scenes from Jane Costlow’s final year of teaching

Tuesday, September 10, 2019 4:46 pm

This new series will follow Jane Costlow — esteemed Bates teacher, scholar, and colleague — month by month during her 34th and final academic year.