Read about this year’s slate of alumni Trustee candidates. Then vote!

This slate of four candidates, presented by the Alumni Council of the Alumni Association, is your opportunity to nominate two candidates for election as Alumni Trustees.

We hope you will help shape the leadership of Bates. Alumni choose one quarter of the Board of Trustees, which provides policy leadership and careful fiduciary oversight for the College. Working with President Hansen, the board will have especially important roles in the next few years, including major improvements to the endowment and facilities and preparation for the College’s sesquicentennial in 2005.

Additional ballots have been sent to those households where more than one Bates alum reside. If you have any questions about the process, please contact the Alumni Relations Office at 207-786-6127.

Daniel E. Doyle Jr. ’72

Dan received a B.A. from Bates, was co-captain of the men’s basketball team, and is a member of College Key. He holds an M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts and an honorary doctorate from Bridgewater (Mass.) State. Dan coached the Trinity College men’s basketball team to national rankings, and compiled a 142-45 record. In 1980-81, he was New England College Coach of the Year.

In 1986, Dan founded the Institute for International Sport www.internationalsport.com at the University of Rhode Island and serves as its executive director. Institute programs include the World Scholar-Athlete Games, National Sportsmanship Day, the Center for Sports Parenting, and Belfast United. The 2001 World Scholar-Athlete Games attracted delegations from 151 countries, the world’s largest sport/cultural event in 2001.

Dan has raised over $60 million for projects he has initiated, including a major gift to construct the institute’s International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame. When recently presenting him its New England Hero Award, Northeastern University’s Center for Sport in Society cited Dan as “one of sport and education’s true visionaries, and perhaps our industry’s most gifted fund-raiser.” Dan has also been active in Bates philanthropy, including spearheading the Wigton Scholar program.

Dan’s first novel, Are You Watching, Adolph Rupp? was published in 1990. His second book, which he is writing with Deborah Doermann Burch ’72, The Encyclopedia of Sports Parenting (Warner), will be published in 2003. His second novel, Paradin’ the Ghosts, will be published in 2005. Dan founded and chairs the volunteer Young Writers Institute, a mentor program for young writers in Hartford, Conn. Mentors have included Annie Dillard and Dave Barry. Dan also founded and chairs the Aran Islands International Poetry & Prose Festival. Readers have included Frank McCourt and Joyce Carol Oates. For the second consecutive year, the NCAA Foundation has selected Dan as a speaker for its Distinguished Lecture series. The Sporting News recently included him in its list of most influential sports figures.

Dan has involved Bates people in his projects. Since 1987, the institute has employed at least one and often several Bates graduates. Two Bates faculty have been Institute Sabbatical Fellows. Bates representatives have been featured speakers at all World Scholar-Athlete Games.

Dan and his wife, Kathy, are the parents of six children, including Meg ’02.

If elected, I will do my best to assist in three areas: development, domestic and international student recruitment, and in whatever way I can help the school with long-term planning.

My work at the Institute for International Sport has centered on developing projects that fit within our mission and finding the funding to implement the projects. As a Trustee, I would work with the Bates staff on development strategies to enhance the endowment and attract other program-related grants.

One of my most gratifying experiences has been directing students to Bates, including many participants from the institute’s scholar-athlete and scholar-artist programs. The Scholar-Athlete Games and other institute initiatives afford me the opportunity to meet many attractive Bates candidates from the United States and abroad. I enjoy looking for students who fit the Bates profile, and encouraging them to apply.

Much of my time at the institute is devoted to reflecting on where we are — where we should be in the short- and long-term — and what we need to do to get there. As a Trustee, I would try to be a positive contributor to the shaping of my college’s long-term vision.

I love Bates, and would be honored to serve.

Mary Henderson Pressman ’78

A native of Arlington, Va., Mary was a psychology major at Bates. She spent her junior year at St. Andrews University in Scotland and had an internship at the Augusta Mental Health Institute during her senior year. After Bates, she taught autistic youth and then served as an associate in the Hamilton College Admissions Office. After two years she worked at Connecticut National Bank as a trainee and then in the Private Banking Division. With a move back to New York she returned to admissions, working in graduate school admissions at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and in secondary school admissions for Emma Willard School. With the birth of her first child, she has been a full-time parent.

Mary’s commitment to community service has remained constant while she raises her three children. While living in England, she served on the board of the Junior League of London, in the membership development, nominating, and training committees. In New Canaan, Conn., she served on the schools committee of New Canaan CARES, providing alcohol and drug awareness and promoting healthy choices for teens. She also was on the missions and social action committee of the New Canaan Congregational Church, which helped promote community outreach in the congregation. She is currently a member of the board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City and also on the board of the Kansas City Ballet. She serves on the operations committee of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. In addition, she is active on several committees at Pembroke Hill School, where her children attend.

Mary’s participation in Bates activities began as soon as she left her position at Hamilton College, where she saw the difference that alumni can make for their college. A member of College Key, she has been active in Alumni-in-Admissions, representing Bates at college nights and interviewing candidates. She has served as a class agent for the Bates Fund, on the Bates Fund Committee, Reunion planning committees, and is currently president of her class and active in planning its 25th Reunion. For the past two years, Mary has lived in Kansas City, Mo., with her husband, Ron, and their children, Emily, Jake and Ned.

The beginning of my time at Bates brought the sudden expansion of my horizons. Each course opened new ideas for me. Each new friend brought a perspective outside of my own. The first few months were exhilarating and exhausting. This was what I had hoped for in a college. What I did not realize is that Bates would continue to open new horizons for me well beyond the years I spent there. Like many people, I have ended up with a very different life than I expected when I was 18, yet I have been able to approach each new experience with an open mind and strong analytical skills. These are things that I first developed while at Bates.

I have watched with great pride as Bates has also expanded its horizons. It has strengthened its Facility Services, its faculty and academic programs, and its commitment to the outside community. This has, in turn, strengthened the reputation of the College and brought a corresponding increase in the number of students who wish to attend. The challenge that Bates faces today is to increase its resources to allow for continued faculty development and retention, to ensure adequate financial aid for any qualified student and to support continued facilities development to keep the College on the cutting edge of technology. Bates is an institution that has gone from strength to strength in the years since my graduation. Yet it remains a place that values strong interpersonal relationships and encourages respect for the individual. I am proud to be able to serve the College now and will continue to do so in any capacity that I can.

Edmund J. Wilson ’62

A history major at Bates, Ed was president of his class for four years, an All-East ECAC varsity football player, captain of an NCAA Division III tournament baseball team, and a proctor for two years in Roger Bill. As a junior he was inducted into the College Key and as a senior was the recipient of the Alan C. Goddard Football Achievement Award. Following his graduation he worked in Boston for the Atlantic Refining Co. and served as an officer in the U.S. Army. Ed returned to Bates in 1964 to serve as assistant to Dean of Admissions Milton Lindholm ’35, whose mentoring led to a career in higher education that now spans nearly 40 years. From Bates, Ed moved to Columbia where he earned an M.A. and served as director of admissions for the School of General Studies. In 1969, Ed was appointed director of admissions and financial aid for the M.B.A. program at New York University’s Stern School of Business. For the last three decades, Ed has served at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in a series of increasingly responsible positions. He started as dean of admissions and financial aid and most recently has been associate dean for M.B.A. programs and student affairs. Ed is credited with a number of initiatives that improved the quality of life for students and led to what today is widely known as Kellogg School’s culture of teamwork and collegiality. He received his M.B.A. from Kellogg in 1984. In 2002, Business Week and The Economist ranked Kellogg as the No. 1 business school in the nation and the world, respectively. For his many contributions to the school, Kellogg has named the Student Affairs suite of offices in his name and in his emeritus status has bestowed upon him the title of ambassador-at-large.

Professionally, Ed served on the board of trustees of the Graduate Management Admissions Council, the Graduate and Professional School Financial Aid Council, and the Executive MBA Council, which he chaired and by which he was recognized with the Bud Fackler Award for outstanding service in 1993.

In Bates affairs, Ed has served the College in a number of ways. He was class president from 1963 to 1972, served on the Alumni Council from 1967 to 1970, and currently serves on the Chicago Bates Council. He has also served on Bates Fund and Reunion gift committees, as an OCS career advisor, and as an Alumni-in-Admissions (AIA) volunteer. In 1991, he was given the David Russell Award for outstanding service to the AIA program.

He and his wife, Jean, reside in Glenview, Ill. They have two married daughters and four grandchildren.

Generations of students have experienced the academic rigor and the culture of caring that exist at Bates. I am blessed to be one of them. Since its founding, the College has been committed to excellence, and I would be proud to serve Bates as an elected Alumni Trustee. The role requires those elected to give advice on programs and projects that advance the reputation of Bates, to build relations between Bates alumni, students, and faculty, to assist the fund-raising efforts of the College, and to advise the Bates administration on matters for which external advice is critical. Nothing would please me more than to work with President Hansen, her administration, and other board members to insure that the needs and interests of future generations of Bates students are met.

Robert E. Witt ’62

An economics major at Bates, Bob Witt went on to earn an M.B.A. from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a Ph.D. in business from Pennsylvania State University. In 1968, he joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin as an assistant professor of marketing in the College and Graduate School of Business. In 1975, he was promoted to the rank of professor and in 1983 was appointed to his first endowed faculty position, the Zale Corporation Endowed Professor. In 1986, he was appointed to the Centennial Endowed Chair in Business Education Leadership. During his tenure as a faculty member, he earned several teaching excellence awards.

His administrative career includes 10 years as chairman of the Marketing Department, two years as associate dean, and nine years as dean of the College and Graduate School of Business. In 1995, he was appointed interim president of The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). UTA has an enrollment of approximately 24,000 students. In 1996, he was appointed president of UTA.

Bob has been active on numerous civic and corporate boards. Civic memberships have included the Austin Symphony, the Medical Center of Arlington, Tarrant County United Way, and North Texas Public Broadcasting Inc. Corporate board memberships include LaQuinta Realty Corp., Life Partners Group Insurance Co., and JP Morgan Chase Bank of Arlington. He serves as board chairman for the Arlington Chamber of Commerce.

Bates College is a truly special place defined as much by its vision, values, traditions, and sense of academic community as it is by its programs, students, faculty, and campus.

Thirty-five years in higher education as a professor and administrator have helped me realize how unique the “Bates experience” is. A student does not merely matriculate at Bates; a student becomes part of Bates, part of a vibrant learning community, part of a long and proud tradition, and part of the future of Bates.

I agreed to be a candidate for the Board of Trustees because I believe my 35 years of experience as a professor, department chair, dean, and president place me in a unique position to serve. As a professor and college-level administrator, I have confronted the challenges of establishing and nurturing a strong and vibrant learning community. As a dean and president, I have had extensive experience in working with systems to support and reward excellence in both teaching and research. More than 25 years of extensive involvement in fund raising and working in Washington on federal funding will allow me to effectively support the College’s external fund-raising initiatives.

It would be an honor to be elected a Trustee and to join in supporting the efforts of the College to preserve and enhance the Bates experience.