Elaine Tuttle Hansen became the college’s seventh president in 2002 and served until 2011. A former professor of English and provost at Haverford College, she worked to enhance the traditional strengths of Bates: open and intense intellectual inquiry; individualized student and faculty interactions in a historic residential setting; and a community unified by the ethical principles of integrity, egalitarianism, and social responsibility.

During her presidency, the college developed greater resources for financial aid, increased diversity of the faculty and student body, strengthened environmental sustainability and stewardship, and made technological advances. Hansen undertook a range of institutional planning initiatives, including facilities master planning and academic planning.

Under Hansen, a collaborative process of strategic thinking about Bates’ future prompted the college to pursue a deeper integration of ideas and practices in the areas of arts, natural science and mathematics, and learning across the entire Bates experience. Hansen appointed teams of faculty and administrators to lead the work for each major component of the plan.

By 2011, Hansen had guided Bates through Phase I of its ambitious Campus Facilities Master Plan. A new residence hall for 150 students at the foot of Mount David opened in August 2007. A new Dining Commons, opened in February 2008, preserves the Bates tradition of centralized student dining. The renovation and expansion of historic Roger Williams Hall and Hedge Hall, completed in 2011, has created new academic facilities including state-of-the-art classrooms, faculty offices, study areas, computer labs, lounges and administrative spaces.

With a wide array of goals for her administration accomplished, Hansen announced in spring 2011 that she would step down from the Bates presidency at the conclusion of that academic year. She subsequently accepted the position of executive director of the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth. As the third person to lead CTY since its founding in 1979, she has continued her leadership in the field of education and her commitment to helping young people with outstanding academic capabilities fulfill their potential.

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