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• Annual membership is on a calendar fiscal year (January 1- December 31) 
• State of ME annual report and IRS 990-N have been filed on time since 2015
• All financial information is currently stored in QuickBooks
• Total income in 2019 was $12,375.02. Although lower than 2018, total donations to our various projects in 2019 were $21,100. We basically donated all our 2019-20 dues income to Bates student programs over the college’s fiscal year 2019-2020.
• Pandemic impact is triggering unprecedented additional student need and dues significantly slowed late Q1(March) to present
• Limited use of cash reserves was needed and will be replenished with strong dues payments and other gifts for the remainder of 2020

Thank you for your response to our dues appeals in newsletters and by social media.  The College Key continues to make it easier for members to electronically submit their dues and other meaningful gifts.

As you know, we operate according to the calendar year.  Our dues and other generous contributions directly impact students and Bates programs.  

Please send your dues and gifts annually as notified via The College Key emails or e-newsletter reminders.  Each year provides new challenges and funding requests.  We do our best to meet the needs of students and programs while keeping the organization financially solvent.  We appreciate your ongoing support, and we know students are very grateful for the assistance which helps them pursue their education and professional dreams. Dues and Gifts link 

Sincerely,
Donald W. McDade ’74
Treasurer, The College Key

The Executive Committee has adopted the following goals for its work during the 2020-2021 academic year:

• Continue to improve virtual channels of engagement and digital member experience.
• Enhance dues submissions processes for improved transparency and dues growth.
• Improve communication with membership around College Key’s impact.
• Review and revise, if necessary, the scholarships and awards given annually by the College Key.

We welcome input from members as to how we can improve our organization and our service to the college. Please contact a member of the executive committee with your comments and ideas.

President, Karen Finocchio Lubeck ’92
Vice President, Henry Geng ’13
Secretary, Flora Chan ’11
Treasurer, Donald McDade ’74
Staff Liaison, Stephanie Dumont, Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement & Friends of Bates Athletics
Advisor, Marianne Nolan Cowan ’92, Associate Director, Bates Center for Purposeful Work

Welcome to the new Treasurer!

We are pleased to welcome Don McDade ’74 as the new College Key Treasurer. Don was born and raised in Portland, Maine, and is a longstanding and very engaged volunteer for Bates, most recently serving on the Alumni Council and his continued work with Reunion planning and also as a Class Agent.

His contributions continue to stretch across the breadth and depth of the Bates community. Don brings dense expertise in customer experience, fundraising, and operational efficiencies which will be critical as we strive for enhanced member experience.  We are thrilled to have Don join the Executive Committee. Welcome Don!

Several themes emerged from the recent member survey – that you want more regular communication, an easy way to check your dues status, and more ways to pay your annual dues. The Executive Committee has been hard at work investigating and evaluating ways to streamline and simplify many of the ways that you, a member of the College Key, receive information and make your impact. 

We hear you, and we plan to roll out several new processes and tools over the course of the next few months to address these pain points. Stay tuned!

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In early February, just before COVID’s impact, 2020 Distinguished Alumnus in Residence Rep. Jared Golden ’11 provided great insights around the legislative process in a conversation with Prof. John Baughman. The opportunity to engage productively with one’s congressional colleagues “doesn’t happen unless you make the time for it,” said U.S. Congressman Jared Golden ’11, D-Maine, during his campus visit on Monday.

In the morning, Golden visited with students in the course “Social Movements, NGOs, and the Environment,” taught by Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Sonja Pieck.

Afterward, he lunched with students, faculty, and staff in the Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, then did a Q&A session with Associate Professor of Politics John Baughman.

Golden, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Small Business Committee, told Baughman that he’s been struck by the sporadic attendance of his fellow committee members at meetings and hearings. At a hearing, they’ll pop in when it’s their turn to ask a question, then duck out without listening to other members’ questions and witnesses’ answers.

Golden’s point was this: Unless you’re intentional about it — and to that end Golden tries to attend entire committee sessions — you’ll miss chances to have potentially productive conversations with colleagues and develop bipartisan working relationships.

He also told Baughman that one of the most rewarding parts of his job is helping to solve problems for his constituents in Maine’s large 2nd Congressional District, such as helping veterans access mental health care or helping a senior citizen get resources for home heating. Credit for that problem-solving work goes to his staff, Golden says. “I live vicariously through my staff in Maine.”

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The Center for Purposeful Work used our gift fund from the College Key again this year for support of students with financial need to travel for career exploration in the Purposeful Work Job Shadow program. As awareness of the Job Shadow program and the Center for Purposeful Work increases, the number of applicants and funding requests increases, so each year for the past three years, our requests have increased from $18,000 to $22,000 to $24,000 this year. We approved $22,000, $10,000 of which was from College Key Funds, and supported 43 students on 65 trips. The total amount of travel this year was cut short, of course, due to COVID, so we ended up reimbursing only $12,000 (the Center budget pays the balance each year). 

I’ll read from a couple of thank you notes to you: one student visited an alum at NOAA Fisheries in Seattle, and wrote, “This experience was very interesting since I was able to meet with multiple people Katie worked with and learn about their jobs. There was a wide range and a recent graduate worked there as well which was very reassuring. It was a really fun experience and I’m glad I was able to experience it with the other Bates students.”

Another student visited two hospitals and wrote that the experience “has solidified my career plans. These job shadows were my first experiences with patient care and both of the physicians were so kind and passionate about what they were doing. I have found new people to look up to and admire, and I am grateful for the opportunity.”

Marianne Nolan Cowan ’92, 
Associate Director of Program Design
Center for Purposeful Work

The College Key is pleased to honor Professor Emerita of Politics Leslie Hill with the 2020 Distinguished Service Award. Professor Hill joined the Bates faculty in 1988 teaching in the Department of Politics and Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her research and teachings include subjects in women, gender and politics; women in the global political economy; and, Black Women’s Studies. Prof. Hill chaired the Women and Gender Studies Program from 2000 to 2004.

Throughout her Bates tenure, Professor Hill served in numerous cross-campus leadership roles including serving on a 14-member subcommittee charged with the 2010 revision to the Bates College mission statement. As an integral member, Professor Hill blended her deep scholarly work with an inclusive, collaborative approach. In a May 2020 Bates article on the 10^th anniversary of the mission statement, Doug Hubley notes: 

Not surprisingly, “there was some real wrestling around the phrase ‘transformative power,” as Leslie Hill recalls. The subcommittee needed to reconcile Bates’ historic invocation of diversity with a contemporary understanding of equity and inclusion. “It has a different meaning and, of course, different opportunities and possibilities,” Hill says. Moreover, they needed to make inclusiveness “more substantial — not simply to add ‘different faces’ to the community, but rather figure out how their presences enrich the community.”

Although now retired at the 2019-2020 academic year’s completion, Professor Hill’s work both inside and outside the classroom carries a lasting impact for the Bates community.

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Newest Alumni Members

Newest Key Members – Class of 2020