Bates announces nine faculty appointments to endowed professorships

Jay Burns

As the editorial director for the Bates Communications Office, Jay guides Bates Magazine and BatesNews.

Stories by Jay Burns

Fall foliage on the Bates campus Historic Quad, Hathorn Hall

Bates announces nine faculty appointments to endowed professorships

Thursday, November 21, 2024 5:01 pm

“Endowed professorships at Bates are a testament to the high aspirations of Bates donors and a powerful recognition of the sustained excellence of our faculty,” said Malcolm Hill, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty.

On Veterans Day, we pause to reflect and remember. During this morning’s gathering at Bates Veterans Plaza, Joe Castonguay of Facility Services lays a flower atop one of the basalt stones that comprise the plaza centerpiece. “I learned the value of human life in combat,” said Castonguay, a U.S. Army veteran who served for 15 months in Iraq. The Rev. Dr. Brittany Longsdorf, @bates_multifaith chaplain, guided today’s centering moment, which included reflective readings and interfaith prayers, the observing of silence, and the ritual of laying flowers to honor the service and sacrifice of veterans. Dedicated in 2020 and located near the Benjamin E. Mays Center, the plaza honors Bates veterans and invites “reflection on the impact of war on the lives of everyone it touches.” President Garry W. Jenkins was in attendance.

Veterans Day at Bates, and thoughts from a Bates combat veteran

Friday, November 15, 2024 2:52 pm

We caught up with Army veteran Joe Castonguay after Veterans Day, on a sunny morning when he and his grounds crew team were clearing leaves outside Rand Hall.

25 items (or 62, depending your count) in the Bates library’s Lost and Found on Nov. 11, 2024

Friday, November 15, 2024 12:54 pm

The sweetest lost item was a greeting card with the quote “Etre avec des gens qu'on aime cela suffit” (“Being with people you love, that’s enough”) from a grandfather to his Bates grandson in his first week on campus.

Say What? Quotable quotes from Bates folks: Nov. 15, 2024

Friday, November 15, 2024 12:05 pm

Our latest in an occasional roundup of quotable Bates quotes, this time about a terrifying regatta, why the Quad was like Candyland this fall, and the beauty and strength of being in solidarity with one together.

Video: The sights and colors in an autumn flyover of the Bates campus

Friday, November 8, 2024 4:28 pm

Rooftops, treetops, and towers, it’s all here in this guided aerial view…

dressed up woman voting in a very showy way

Takeaways after the 2024 U.S. election from three Bates politics professors

Friday, November 8, 2024 1:23 pm

John Baughman, Stephen Engel, and Clarisa Pérez-Armendáriz offers insights into the outcomes and implications of Tuesday’s election, including Donald Trump's convincing victory and a TBD Congressional win for a Bates alumnus in Trump territory.

“‘If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.’” — Physics and Geology Lecturer Gene Clough, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson on the stars, while looking at Venus in the evening sky. During the semester that he teaches “Lunar and Planetary Science,” Clough stands outside of Carnegie Science for an hour at dusk on every clear night so that interested members of the Bates community can star gaze.

Slideshow: Remembering Gene Clough, a teacher with boundless passion and curiosity

Friday, November 1, 2024 2:04 pm

Gene Clough, a Bates teacher whose passion and curiosity inspired generations of Bates students during a 38-year Bates career, died Oct. 23 at age 77.

A visit to the Looking Ahead Clubhouse in Lewiston by the Gather Hear Tour by pianist Miki Sawada (seen at the piano). Looking Ahead is a program for adults with mental illness based on the Clubhouse Model of Rehabilitation. Jahan Baker-Wainwright ’25 (blue crewneck sweater), a biochemistry major from Cottage Grove, Wis., performed Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata, op. 13, the third movement, on the piano. Assistant Professor of Music Zen Kuriyama (down coat) sang Franz Schubert’s “Der Doppelgänger” and “An die Musik,” accompanied by Miki Sawada on piano. Marrich Somridhivej ’26 (quilted pullover), a biology major from South Windsor, Conn., performed Amy Beach’s “Summer Dreams,” op. 47, no. 2 and 3, with Miki Sawada on the piano (four hand). Chiharu Naruse (glasses, black coat), Bates piano teacher, collaborative pianist, is seen at the picnic table and as a page-turner when the wind came up.

At a Lewiston clubhouse, a musical performance that’s ‘less about perfection, and more about connecting’

Friday, November 1, 2024 1:24 pm

Two Bates students and a newly appointed professor of music helped to bring the soothing beauty of music, through piano and voice, to an audience at the Looking Ahead Clubhouse, a vocational center in Lewiston for adults living with mental illness.

Bates Alumni and Students in the News: Nov. 1, 2024

Friday, November 1, 2024 12:14 pm

This edition’s items include a new documentary celebrating civil rights leader Benjamin Mays, Class of 1920, astonishing art sales by painter Takako Yamaguchi ’75, and humanitarian efforts by Army veteran Christine Quinn Antal ’98.

Then and Now: Vintage George French campus images (then) and gorgeous fall colors (now)

Friday, October 25, 2024 4:02 pm

This edition of Then and Now presents early 20th-century Bates images by famed Maine photographer George French, Class of 1908, and images taken this week during the waning days of a gorgeous fall foliage season.