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

Stories about "Current topics"

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.

“‘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.

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.

Mic’d Up: Golf captain Will Phillips ’25 on lefty golf swings and the ‘damn shame’ of a missed putt

Friday, October 11, 2024 12:33 pm

College golf is a beautiful thing, which this quip-filled mic’d up video captures — walking a course on a beautiful fall day in Maine with teammates who are also friends.

scientists sitting before physics equipment

Dana Professor Emeritus of Physics George Ruff passes away at age 83

Friday, October 4, 2024 12:46 pm

In an email to the campus community, President Garry W. Jenkins has…

Forty years ago, a Bates faculty vote heard ’round the country

Friday, October 4, 2024 12:21 pm

The vote by the Bates faculty to make SAT scores optional for admission led to Bates' leadership in the national conversation about promise, access, and academic ability in American higher education.

What’s in a Lewiston Name: Skinner

Friday, September 27, 2024 1:12 pm

This 19th-century name belongs to an early investor in Lewiston’s cotton mills, but today it's no longer affixed to any Lewiston place.

unhoused person in an encampment outside.

Faculty in the News: Philosophy professor Paul Schofield on homelessness being a ‘unique form of injustice’

Friday, September 20, 2024 2:30 pm

We talked with Schofield about his exploration of homelessness in America — including a widely distributed Washington Post opinion piece — and how he hopes to deepen the progressive response to the issue.

Picture Story: A new wave of public art in downtown Lewiston

Friday, September 13, 2024 2:48 pm

Colorful, surprising, and shared by all, a new wave of downtown public art builds community in Lewiston.