Stories about "Bates values"
"My introduction to business was through Aristotle." -- Thomas Moser, a master craftsman whose handmade furniture beautifies public spaces around the world, explaining the importance of a liberal arts education. Students in the "Short Term Practicum: Brand Culture Building" (including Lois Masson '16 of Petit-Lancy, Switzerland, and Clarke Shipley '17 of Andover, Mass., pictured here) listened to the internationally acclaimed furniture designer as he offered them a tour of his Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers workshop in Auburn, Maine. Moser, a former speech professor and debate coach at Bates, received an honorary doctor of humane letters from the college in 2015. This course, taught by brand strategist Peter Bysshe '93, takes students behind the scenes of brand culture consultants in an effort to not only humanize intimidating large corporate cultures, but also to arm students with tools to observe, measure, and build, manage or contribute to smaller cultures in which they may find themselves after graduating.
Remembering Thomas Moser, the debate coach turned world-renowned furniture maker

Thursday, March 13, 2025 4:43 pm

A master craftsman of fine furniture and former Bates faculty member and director of debate, Thomas Moser, who died March 5 at the age of 90.

Sophie Hafter ’25 of Brooklyn, N.Y., crafts faux birch trees for upcoming performance of ‘The Seagull’ by Anton Chekov Serene but surreal: Sophie Hafter ’25 and the art of making theatrical magic How magic is made: Sophie Hafter ’25 crafts faux birch trees for upcoming performance of ‘The Seagull’ The magic touch: Sophie Hafter ’25 brings theater to life with scenic arts creations Shown in the set shop where she paints the paper that will be wrapped around cardboard to make birch trees for the Schaeffer Theatre stage; shown on Alumni Walk with her paper trees amidst the real birch trees; and then back in Schaeffer Theatre where she continues fashioning trees. Shown with Professor of French and Francophone Studies Kirk Read who performs in the play, and with director Joshua N Hsu. Konstantin is a young playwright struggling with his artistic identity and complicated relationship with his famous actor mother, Arkadina. Konstantin’s also in love with Nina, a naive aspiring actor, who’s also infatuated with the more successful writer Trigorin, Arkadina’s lover. Aspirations, family, and romantic entanglements inevitably collide, testing Konstantin and Nina’s sense of worth and purpose. Chekhov’s wry classic skillfully intertwines the ordinary with the poetic, illustrating the duality of human existence: an existence where our dreams give us the drive to move forward, but our decisions haunt us at every turn. “The Seagull” is a darkly comedic exploration of unfulfilled ambitions, unrequited love, and the bittersweet nature of artistic success. Content Warning This production includes strong sexual content, mental illness, self-harm, intentional self-injury, discussion of suicide, alcohol abuse, offstage gunshots, simulations of using tobacco, and a realistic-looking firearm prop.
As the multitalented stage manager for ‘The Seagull,’ Sophie Hafter ’25 barks up the right trees

Wednesday, March 5, 2025 10:00 am

It’s winter, but birch trees have sprouted in Schaeffer Theatre — crafted by stage manager Sophie Hafter '25, whose scenic artistry helps "The Seagull" glide between realism and the avant-garde.

Drone photography operated and captured by Theophil Syslo on October 10, 2024. (Theophil Syslo | Bates College)
Bates College to team with QuestBridge to enhance access and experience for low-income students

Thursday, January 23, 2025 8:33 am

Bates College today announced a new partnership with QuestBridge, a national nonprofit that connects high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds with leading institutions of higher education.

Bates’ top 10 Instagram and Facebook posts of 2024

Friday, December 13, 2024 4:25 pm

Check out Bates' top 10 Instagram and Facebook posts of the year, ranked by the number of online engagements they received.

When the Bates student EcoReps encounter a sustainability problem that needs solving, they don’t just sit around and debate solutions — they envision and then execute them. In two of their most recent successes, the students helped to secure funding to solve an unexpected problem with the existing electric vehicle chargers on campus and helped purchase a slew of new EVs for campus use. “It's really cool that as students, I feel like we have a voice,” says Martin Carriere ’25, an EcoRep from Davis, Calif. “I always feel like our ideas are heard. We're positioned to have bolder ideas and be able to bring those to the table.” Bates is known for its impressive achievements in sustainability, but the existential threat of climate change gives expanding the work great urgency. Carriere, a double major in politics and environmental studies, and fellow EcoRep Cassidy Meyer ’25, an environmental studies major from Carbondale, Co., are both set to graduate this month — and both are working on sustainability solutions right until the end. They even had a meeting on local renewable energy scheduled with college leaders during their last week of classes, amid the haze of studying for finals and saying goodbyes. The two pose for a portrait with the F-150 EV truck outside of Cutten Maintenance Center. And in one photograph, they pose with Paint Shop supervisor Tom Tom Espeaignnette.
Wear garnet, go green: Students and Facility Services team up to expand Bates’ EV presence

Friday, December 13, 2024 11:46 am

“It's really cool that as students, I feel like we have a voice,” says Martin Carriere ’25, a student EcoRep from Davis, Calif. “I always feel like our ideas are heard.

Bates people on stage in costumes made from recycled materials
Traditional garments, elegant gowns, and out-of-this-world outfits: Bates has a passion for Trashion

Friday, November 22, 2024 12:36 pm

At the Bates Trashion Show, one person’s trash is not just another’s treasure, but perhaps even another’s trend.

Retiring after 14 years, Bates Museum of Art Director Dan Mills reflects on highlights from ‘a good run’

Thursday, November 21, 2024 11:00 am

Mills has overseen dozens of exhibitions, encompassing multiple mediums and groupings of artists, including contemporary works from Saudi and Native American artists.

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.

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 at Night: Into the Den for Election Trivia Night

Friday, October 25, 2024 9:40 am

Election Trivia Night, co-hosted by professors Stephen Engel and Stephanie Kelley-Romano in the Den on Oct. 9, offered students a low-stakes way to talk about presidential politics.

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