Greetings, Colleagues,

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

The Office of Accessible Education and Student Support sent along this message with regard to taking exams.  As a reminder, if you have a student taking their exam with us in the Testing Center, it is important that you are reachable by phone or email to answer any questions the student may have during their scheduled testing block. It is vital that the students taking their exam with Accessible Education have an equitable experience to that of their classmates who are taking it in the classroom. 

Ken Emerson announced that Annual Benefits Enrollment will be from noon, Tuesday, November 9th – midnight, Tuesday, November 23rd.  Annual Enrollment is your opportunity to make changes to your medical, dental, vision, hospital indemnity plan, life insurance and reimbursement account elections for the upcoming plan year (January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022). It is important that you review your benefit elections carefully and, if you have questions, review Alex, a recorded information session or schedule an appointment with Human Resources.

Changes to your medical, dental, vision, hospital indemnity plan and reimbursement account elections can be made through Garnet Gateway, while life insurance changes need to be made through Human Resources.

Even if you are not making any changes to your coverage it is important that you confirm your elections by completing the annual enrollment process through Garnet Gateway.

Susan Stark, Division Chair for the Humanities, sent information about a Zoom session on the humanities and post-graduate employment for our students, next Tuesday, November 9th, from 4:15 to 5:15.   Zoom Link: https://bates.zoom.us/j/98481126076.  The session will feature Kirstin Wilcox (University of Illinois) and is titled “Skills and Direction: Helping Students Connect a Humanities Major to their Future.”

Hamza Abdi of the Harward Center sent along this message with regard to our partners at Sandcastle Clinical and Educational Services.  Sandcastle, a local non-profit organization, recently had an HVAC issue that ruined their trove of 1,500 children’s books. They are asking for our support in donating gently used preschool-pre-kindergarten books, which could include picture books, board books, and easy first reader books. Books may be dropped off in the Harward Center lobby. Please, only preschool-preK books. For more information, see the attached memo from our Sandcastle partners.

Bridget Fulerton from Writing at Bates sent a message about the Thesis Cafe.  Starting this week, ARC’s Writing & Language Center will be offering four days only of Thesis Cafe on Wednesdays in November/December. Flyer here. Each of these Wednesdays, we will host an Early Bird Session from 9-11am and an Afternoon Pick-Me-Up Session from 4-6pm. Coffee, tea, and snacks will be provided! A WLC writing tutor and I will also be on hand to support senior writers. You are also welcome to join us in the space.

Áslaug Ásgeirsdóttir, Associate Dean of Faculty, sent us an email about Investigating Ideas.  Investigating Ideas, where a pair of faculty discuss their research, and engage in discussion with the audience, had a late start this year, but please take note of two upcoming events in November and December. 

November 16 at noon (on Zoom) Please click on the hyperlink and it should populate your google calendar. 

• Laura Balladur in French and Francophone Studies will speak on Postcolonial Scars: Parallel Histories of Madness, Entitlement, and Misappropriation of Resources in Eastern Congo and the PostColonial Mind.
• Susan Mangan in Psychology will speak on Online Positive Psychology Interventions: Strategies to Boost Well-Being in Emerging Adulthood 

December 2 at noon (format to be decided) Please click on the hyperlink and it should populate your google calendar.

• Katy Ott – Mathematics will speak on Convolution: filtering signals with weighted, local averages.
• Kate Snyder in Psychology will speak on The weight of words: Perceptions of giftedness, talent, and intelligence.

The schedule for Winter Semester is in the works.

Next, upcoming events.

Faculty Reception in the Museum of Art
November 10, 2021
4:30-5:45 PM

Marsden Hartley: Adventurer in the Arts features important paintings, drawings, and personal effects that span the career of this pioneering American modernist–a Lewiston native–and explores his artistic output through the lens of place; Hartley never lived in the same location for a year his entire adult life. A number of masterworks, one of which is on exhibition for the first time in the U.S., are included.

An Adventurous Spirit: The Jane Costello Wellehan Collection celebrates the transformative gift of a significant collection of nearly 100 works and generous endowment by Jane Costello Wellehan ’60, an alumna with deep multigenerational ties to Bates. The collection features works in a variety of media and with particular strengths in painting and ceramics, primarily by artists living and exhibiting in Maine.

Critiquing the Field:  White Supremacy, the Distant Past, and Coming Times
November 10, 2021

7:00 PM
Students, staff, and faculty are welcome.  Each event features two twenty-five minute presentations, followed by an opportunity for questions and discussion. Please register here to receive a link to this event on zoom.

Amy Kaufman “City of Ruins: Tolerance and Extremism in Medieval Córdoba”

Damon Berry  “The Souls of [Medieval] White Folk”: American White Nationalists Imagining Medieval Europe

Moderator, Cynthia Baker, Professor of Religious Studies

An Environmental Geologist’s Tools of the Trade by Keith Taylor, EACS Visiting Assistant Professor and Senior Environmental Geologist with St. Germain
Tuesday November 9, 2021
noon to 1pm
Please join the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences (EACS) for EACS/GEO Lunch and Talk:
~ Pizza will be provided on the quad beside Carnegie at Noon (weather permitting)
~ Talk will be in Carnegie 204, 12:15 to 1pm

Le Carrefour/The Intersection, a documentary about French-speakers in Lewiston, Maine.
Available to the Bates Community
November 3, 2021 7 a.m.-November 8, 2021 11:59 p.m.
The Department of French and Francophone Studies, with support from the NEH Fund for Teaching Support, is pleased to present this film.  This film is in English, French, and Lingala with English subtitles. It is available for viewing at  https://watch.showandtell.film/watch/le-carrefour
Q&A, November 8th, 7-9 pm EST, moderated by Mary T. Rice-DeFosse, Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Bates College.  Directed by Jessamine Irwin and Daniel Quintanilla. Executive Producer, Julia Schulz.  Lecarrefourfilm.com

Multifaith Banquet
November 10
6:00-7:30 PM
Memorial Commons
Come listen to student speakers (Chenemi Maji, Julie Jesurum, Miguel Pacheco Gonzales, Martha Reyes, Cam Anderson, Julia Raboy & Oliver Barrera), reflect on finding joy and rebirth, listen to live music, and enjoy delicious snacks and desserts. Register here!

An Adventurous Spirit: The Jane Costello Wellehan Collection
Opening Friday, November 5
Museum of Art
6-8 PM
Join us in celebrating the extraordinary gift of the Jane Costello Wellehan ’60 Collection! This exhibition introduces our audiences to the collection of nearly one hundred paintings, ceramic vessels, baskets, drawings, photographs, and prints collected over the course of several decades by the Bates alumna and Lewiston native.

* Visitors must be fully vaccinated at least 14 days prior, have print or digital copy of vaccine card, and wear a mask. For complete Bates visitor protocols, see the link at the top of www.bates.edu.museum  Read More

Ask Us Anything: Fulbright Scholar Program 2023-24
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
2-3 PM EDT 
For those of you who are eligible for a sabbatical in 2023-23, and are considering applying for a Fulbright Fellowship, this virtual information session might be a good start to learn about the process, and the possibilities.  Join our interactive session to learn more about things you can do now to prepare for a successful Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program application for 2023-2024.  Program staff will discuss award opportunities, the application & selection process, and answer your questions! Click here to register.

“THE LAST NOMAD: COMING OF AGE IN THE SOMALI DESERT”
A PROGRAM WITH SHUGRI SAID SALH
Tuesday, November 9
7:00-8:00 PM
The Harward Center is delighted to partner with the Lewiston Public Library, Maine Community Integration, and the Bates Office of Intercultural Education in welcoming author Shugri Said Salh to Lewiston. All are welcome to join us for a virtual event with the author. Register here.