Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues, 

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on our proposed Bates Now communication system. We have appreciated all of your ideas, and are working to create the final product that will be launched on Monday, October 21.  For those unable to make a demo in person, there is a short video on the Dean of Faculty’s website that will walk you through the system and feedback may be given any time through the Bates Now feedback form. 

Starting on the 21st, a Bates Now email will arrive at 1 a.m. each weekday. This email will allow colleagues to obtain detailed information about events on campus, and learn about other important news related to our community. Bates Now should be a convenient place to find all the events going on on campus (and will have the added benefit of reducing traffic on the faculty and staff listservs). For those looking to post to the new Bates Now, please work with your Academic Administrative Assistant. The Academic Administrative Assistants have helped shape this resource and are trained on how to post to the site. If you would find additional training for yourself or your unit helpful, please reach out to Mary Meserve (mmeserve@bates.edu) to arrange a mutually convenient time to meet. 

We understand that this new feature will take some adjustment, and we plan on taking several weeks to get comfortable with Bates Now. In the meantime, we will continue to utilize the faculty and staff listservs as we have been. Beginning November 15, our goal is to reserve the faculty listserv for official communications for the entire community. At that time, announcements, events, and reminders about happenings on campus will be communicated through Bates Now.

Again, we appreciate the feedback we have received and those who have participated in this process, particularly Bates Communications and Marketing, Information and Technology Services, and the Bates Academic Administrative Assistants.

All the best,

Mary and Malcolm