Below please find a summary of recent announcements and upcoming events.

Megan McHenry from the Registrar’s Office sent a message to announce that the schedule for Short Term 2022 is available online for your review.  You can access it via the “Course Schedule” link in Garnet Gateway, from the link on our website, or by clicking here.  Please note that this is slightly different from the fall and winter drafts, which have recently been available via Google Drive.  Short term courses have much more variability in meeting dates, days, and times as well as additional information such as extra costs or travel dates that may need to be displayed and having faculty review the schedule in this format is the best way to make sure that all of that information is correct.

Please check the schedule carefully for any changes, errors, or omissions.  There are a handful of courses that are not yet listed because they are still under CRC review or in some other state of proposal, and those will be added as the details are finalized.  If your course is in that situation, rest assured that we’ll get it listed as soon as possible once the proposal is approved.

Extra Costs: If your short term is supposed to have an extra cost associated with it and that cost isn’t listed in the schedule, it’s imperative that you tell us now so that we can list it.  It’s not possible to assess students a fee after they’ve already registered under the assumption that there’s no extra cost involved.

Scheduled Days and Times: Pay close attention to meeting days, dates, and times.  Now’s the time to make sure that we’ve accurately reflected your meeting expectations for students.  If you need to make a change, we can absolutely do so before we reach out to students about Short Term.  Just let us know!

Instructor Information: If your course is listed without your name as the instructor, we don’t know you’re the one teaching it.  Tell us!

If you encounter anything that needs changing, email your changes to me at mmchenry@bates.edu by Wednesday, December 1 so that we can process any updates prior to contacting students about Short Term on Friday, December 3.  I will be out of the office next week but will see your message when I return.

Kerry O’Brien of the Dean of Faculty’s Office, asked if we could share information with our students regarding an upcoming summer grants and fellowships info session that will be held this coming Thursday, December 2 at 4:30 p.m.  This meeting will be short but will have helpful info for any first-year, sophomore, or junior.  The meeting will be held on Zoom and the Zoom link can be found here.

The Committee on Faculty Governance wrote with regard to Division Chair elections.  As you may know, this year is Amy Douglass’ last year as the Social Sciences Division Chair. Therefore, we need to hold an election to find a new Division Chair for Social Sciences. We are holding this election now so that the affected department or program has time to plan replacement courses.

Electing a new Division Chair is a multi-step process. First, all faculty appointed in the Social Sciences nominate up to 3 colleagues from a list of continuing faculty appointed in the Division and eligible for election. Next, CFG consults with those nominated most frequently to determine whether they are willing to run. Once CFG has a slate of faculty willing to run, the slate will be presented to the entire faculty in order to elect the next Social Sciences Division Chair. 

The first step of the election process will be available for faculty appointed in the Social Sciences on the Garnet Gateway from Monday, Nov 29 at 9 am through Friday, December 3 at 4 PM.  

Cary Gemmer and Erin Brown of the Community Giving Campaign sent us a message about the 2021 Community Giving Campaign effort. This year’s campaign will run through Sunday, December 5. All donations will support three organizations that have important local impact:

United Way of Androscoggin County aims to increase the organized capacity of people in Androscoggin and Oxford Counties to care for one another.

Maine Share aims to provide support to organizations doing progressive, social justice, and root cause work in Maine and to raise public awareness of their work.

Community Health Charities: Creating Healthier Communities aims to address barriers to good health and equity, and to create resilient communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

You can donate to this year’s campaign through payroll deduction in Garnet Gateway. Donors can choose to designate their contribution based on personal charitable interests and values and give directly to nonprofits that the three organizations support. 

Shonna Humphrey, of Sponsored Programs and Research and Compliance, wrote with interesting information about the Object Lessons book series.  If you enjoy collecting information, you might be interested in this opportunity. The Object Lessons book series is a partnership between Bloomsbury Academic and The Atlantic, and they are soliciting book pitches right now. If you have an idea for a short (25-30k words) book in the spirit of the series, you can read more here.

This opportunity, too, looks interesting. It’s from the National Science Foundation’s STS program, and it supports research that “uses historical, philosophical, and social scientific methods to investigate the intellectual, material, and social facets of the scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical (STEM) disciplines. It encompasses a broad spectrum of topics including interdisciplinary studies of ethics, equity, governance, and policy issues that are closely related to STEM disciplines.”

I have included a sampling of other opportunities below, and if you find a solicitation (from this list or otherwise), please let our team know here. Maggie or I will take a look and follow up and get the conversation started.

As your regular reminder, you all have access to the Pivot database, and if you are looking for external support, accounts are free for the Bates community–with a great feature that automatically sends personalized opportunities to your email address. This database ranks among the best, and I encourage you to set up an account and take advantage of the resource.

Matthew Carter of Ladd Library sent an announcement that Winter library course reserve requests should be submitted by December 10, 2021.  If you would like to learn more about library course reserves and/or access the online request form please visit Reserves for Faculty on the library website.  Contact Matthew at reserve-request@bates.edu if you have any questions.

Next, upcoming events.

Candles and Carols

Sunday, December 5 at 7PM

~Peter J. Gomes Chapel~
Brought to you by The Multifaith Chaplaincy

Please register for a free ticket via Eventbrite HERE

Please join us for this annual candlelit service of festive communal singing, reflective readings from many traditions, and musical offerings by the Bates College Choir and Bates acapella groups.  All are welcome! 

Faculty Retirement Event #1
Wednesday, December 1 4:30-6 PM|Colleague tributes begin at 4:45 PM
Perry Atrium, Pettengill Hall

Please join us to celebrate the retirement of several faculty members.  This Wednesday we’ll honor:
Danny Danforth, Dyk Eusden, Jim Hughes, and Maggie Maurer-Fazio
December 1 Reception: Register on Eventbrite Here

Faculty Retirement Event #2
Tuesday, December 7 4:30-6 PM|Colleague tributes begin at 4:45 PM
On December 7 we will be honoring Martin Andrucki, Jane Costlow, Elizabeth Eames, and Tom Wenzel
December 7 Reception: Register on Eventbrite Here
Please note: Due to college Covid restrictions, these events are open only to Bates faculty, emeritus faculty, and staff. We regret that we are unable to welcome family and friends who are not Bates employees.

Phillips Fellowship Lunchtime Talk
Monday, December 6 (Reading Day)
Nancy Koven: “The Neurohacking Frontier: DIY Neuroscience in the American Southwest”
12-1 PM, Commons 221
Lunch will be available to eat during the talk, or to take with you.
Register for the lunchtime talk on Eventbrite here

Investigating Ideas
Thursday, December 2, 2021
12-1 p.m.
Commons 221
Our speakers will be Katy Ott in Mathematics, “Convolution: filtering signals with weighted, local averages” and Kate Snyder in Psychology, “The weight of words: Perceptions of giftedness, talent, and intelligence”.  DOF will provide lunch through the Commons line.  After you get your lunch, go up to Room 221 for the gathering.  Registration required.  You may register on Eventbrite here.