Blog

The Harward Center advances the College’s commitment to informed civic action and responsible stewardship of the wider world through reciprocal and sustained partnerships that address community needs, deepen student learning, and develop leaders who work with diverse others to advance the greater good. 

Below you will find links to our blog posts. Please peruse them at your leisure to find out the latest news about and from the Center!

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  • Bobcats Studying Bobcats
    by Morgan Kinney, Associate Director of Community-Engaged Research and Learning
    This fall, Biology professor Eric LeFlore integrated community-engaged learning into both his BIO 195 and BIO 470 classes to get students out of the classroom and into the field. The collaborative project brought students, faculty, and local organizations together to study wildlife in the Lewiston-Auburn area. Professor LeFlore shared the big picture: “The work is…
  • Come As You Are
    by Morgan Kinney, Associate Director of Community-Engaged Research and Learning
    Through the course-based community-engaged learning (CEL) program facilitated by the Harward Center, more than 1,000 Bates students annually spend time and energy on mutually beneficial volunteer placements and projects as part of their academic journey at Bates. This fall semester, our faculty are teaching twenty-seven CEL courses spanning eighteen disciplines. In the process, their students…
  • Visual Explorations: Voter Suppression, Then and Now
    by Darby Ray
    In this semester’s “Visual Meaning: Process, Material, Format” course, professor Michel Droge is inviting students who are serious about making art to explore doing so from a research-based and conceptual standpoint. Working in various media, students are asked to respond in different ways to a shared theme. They research the theme, consider their own connection…
  • Ka Bogso (Be Healed)
    by Kristen Cloutier
    In this week’s blog post we lift up a recent article in the Bates student newspaper about an exciting community-engaged research collaboration between one of our longtime community partners, Fowsia Musse of Maine Community Integration, and Harward Center Faculty Fellow, Assistant Professor of Psychology Yun Garrison. The two have been working together for several years…
  • Bates is ALL IN!
    by Kristen Cloutier
    In light of the upcoming election in November, we are pleased to share that the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge (ALL IN) has recognized Bates College for its nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that fostered top levels of student voter engagement in the 2022 midterm elections.  In the recently announced ALL IN awards, Bates was recognized…
  • From Participant to CEO
    by Kristen Cloutier
    As a Bates student, Rodney Galvao, class of 2014, majored in Rhetoric and minored in Religious Studies and Education. His passion for community service began during his early years as a participant in SquashBusters, a youth development program that combines academic support, squash, and community service. SquashBusters strives to bring out the best in its…
  • Happy New (school) Year!
    by Darby Ray, Director
    Bates people tend to do a double-take when I greet them at this time of year with a peppy “Happy new year!” Yet for faculty, staff, and students alike, the beginning of a new academic year can feel at least as momentous as the January turn of the calendar.  Across the Bates campus right now,…
  • Putting Veterans on the Map
    by Paul Adutwum ’27
    Located on the banks of the Androscoggin River in Lewiston, Riverside Cemetery was incorporated in 1855 after a group of city leaders purchased land from the Maine State Seminary, soon to become Bates College. Many historically important people are buried at Riverside, including mayors, governors, and more than 1,200 veterans of wars dating back to…
  • A Bittersweet Send-Off
    by Ellen Alcorn, Associate Director of Community-Engaged Learning and Director of Student Leadership Programs
    Last week, we gave a bittersweet send-off to our colleague Ronan Goulden. After four years as a Bates student, and then two more years as our AmeriCorps VISTA/Civic Leadership Fellow, Ronan packed up his Honda Fit and started the long drive across the country towards the University of Washington, where he will pursue a Master’s…
  • Addressing Body Image and Mindful Eating with Students at Hebron Academy
    by Paul Adutwum ’27
    When I spoke with Camillia Ghavami, a Bates junior majoring in Psychology and Gender and Sexuality Studies, about her community engagement experience in last semester’s Women, Culture, and Health class, her response was categorical: “I truly wish almost all classes at Bates had a community engagement component.” She continued, “My experience with CEL courses has…
  • A Human Voice that Speaks to Local Issues
    by Paul Adutwum ’27
    In the past few blog posts, I shared Bates students’ experiences participating in various Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) and Community-Engaged Research (CER) projects. Today’s blog post is about a pivotal moment in a recent course, “Narrating (Agri)cultures: Ecologies of Livelihood, Care and Reciprocity,” taught this past January-April by professor Christine Martinez (Environmental Studies).   In the course,…
  • Forging Deep and Meaningful Connections
    by Paul Adutwum ’27
    The Harward Center’s Community-Engaged Research Fellowship offers mentoring, peer support, and funding for promising student research projects that address public needs and are informed by dialogue with community partners and academic research. Through the program, students grapple with the unique values and challenges inherent in community-based research while fostering an interdisciplinary peer community for collaborative…
  • Social and Political Exploration and Expression through Art
    by Paul Adutwum ’27
    Today’s blog features students’ journey and experience in the Art and Social Practice course with Professor Michel Droge, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art and Visual Culture at Bates. A socially-engaged art production course, Art and Social Practice invites students to engage in scholarly inquiry and research on historical and contemporary social and political art, focusing…
  • Student Reflections on the work of Dr. Davarian Baldwin
    by Dionne Chen ’26
    This past Fall, the Harward Center hosted a faculty/staff book circle focused on Dr. Davarian Baldwin’s book, In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities (2021). Facilitated by Associate Professor of Digital and Computational Studies Anelise Hanson Shrout, the book circle brought twenty faculty and staff together for three lunchtime…
  • Values for Positive Community Engagement
    by Dionne Chen ’25
    Earlier this school year, I wrote a piece about Inez Johnson ‘25, who had recently been awarded a year-long “Engaged Athlete Fellowship” by “The Team.” As you may recall, Inez, a politics and sociology double major, is a cross country and track student athlete, and also a long time advocate for voter engagement. As part…
  • Introducing Mo Awil
    by Paul Adutwum ’27
    The Harward Center’s new Associate Director for Volunteer Programs and Community Partnerships, Mohamed (Mo) Awil, is poised to significantly impact our community. Born in Kenya, Mohammed relocated to Lewiston at a young age. He attended Salem International University in West Virginia and competed in Track and Cross-Country athletics. Mohamed continued his education at the University…
  • Bates Students Testify at the Maine State House
    by Emily Walsh ’24
    On Thursday, March 7th, sixteen Bates students spent the day at the State House in Augusta. Affiliated with a new student club, Students Demand Action, we went to the State House to show support for two new gun safety proposals: a 72-hour waiting period bill for firearm purchases and a bill that would improve Maine’s…
  • New Resources for Understanding Our Community
    by Darby Ray
    At Bates, community engagement happens when students, faculty, or staff collaborate with an off-campus community member or organization to advance community well-being, social justice, and/or the common good, and when that collaboration is characterized by reciprocity and mutual respect. One form of community engagement that gets a lot of attention at Bates is community-engaged learning,…
  • A Deep Dive into Reality
    by Dionne Chen ’26
    “Community Engaged Learning” courses are a hallmark of the Bates academic program, with around thirty CEL courses taught each semester. In a previous blog post, I wrote about students in “Economic Statistics,” taught by Professor Sandra Goff, who presented their work after a semester-long project in which they collaborated with a variety of local Lewiston/Auburn…
  • Aaliyah Moore ‘24 named national Newman Civic Fellow and awarded a Newman Mini-Grant
    by Darby Ray
    In recognition of her outstanding commitment to and future potential for effecting positive change, Bates student Aaliyah Moore ’24 of Phoenix was chosen as a Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact, a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. The Newman Civic Fellowship is a year-long program that…
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