1. Commencement 2005 speakers, schedule announced
Five honorary degree recipients will speak at the 139th commencement at Bates College on May 30. They are composer Thomas Jefferson "T.J." Anderson, theoretical biologist Lynn Margulis, entrepreneur and engineer Paul Soros and his wife, Daisy M. Soros, and NBC Nightly News anchor and managing editor Brian Williams.

Trustees seek nominations for future honorary degree recipients
The Bates Board of Trustees Honorary Degree Committee seeks nominations for honorary degree recipients in 2006 and beyond. www.bates.edu/honorand-nominations.xml

Schedule for Commencement 2005
Parents of graduating seniors: Please note that there is a mandatory rehearsal for seniors at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 28, on Andrews Road in front of Lane Hall. For the complete listing of Commencement events, go to: www.bates.edu/x58591.xml

2. Bates offers admission to 28 percent of record applicant pool
Admissions decisions were mailed March 23 to 4,506 students who applied to Bates for entry in September 2005. Including Early Decision admits, Bates accepted 28 percent of its applicant pool, extending offers of admission to 1,029 students during regular decision from 49 states and 52 countries in hope of enrolling a class of 480 to 500 first-year students. One-third of the accepted applicants are either multicultural or international students. Admissions staff will welcome accepted students at on-campus receptions on April 1 and 28, and will host off-campus receptions in Boston, Hartford, New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

3. Mount David Summit highlights creativity, research
More than 250 students will go public with their academic work on Friday, April 1, when Bates hosts the fourth annual Mount David Summit. For many undergraduates, it's their introduction to presenting research to their peers and to the public. For seniors, a poster or talk at the Mount David Summit is a reflection of their most rigorous independent undergraduate work. In addition to research posters and papers, the summit features two photography exhibitions and performances by the Bates Modern Dance Company and the College Choir. This year, for the first time, newly admitted students are being invited to get a taste of the intellectual breadth and depth of the College. If you can't be with us in Lewiston today, view poster presentation topics and abstracts at: www.bates.edu/mt-david-summit.xml

4. Bates hosts 30 debate teams, ties with Harvard
The Brooks Quimby Debate Council hosted some of the nation's top debate teams in March, kicking off the tourney with a warm-up against Harvard on the issue: "The United States has a moral obligation to spread democracy around the world." www.bates.edu/x64329.xml

5. Reunion 2005 just around the corner!
Classes that end in '0 and '5: Reunion is June 10-12, 2005! This year, Bates celebrates its sesquicentennial, honoring a 150-year history that, from its very earliest years, has been marked by innovation and opportunity, while valuing deeply the traditions of the liberal arts and sciences and their critical role in a just and civil society. As part of that celebration, the Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes '65 will deliver the Sesquicentennial Address as part of the annual meeting of the Alumni Association June 11. The weekend schedule is rich with presentations by alumni and faculty, fun events for families, time to catch up with your friends, and of course, lots of lobster for everyone! You can learn more about Reunion and register online now: www.bates.edu/reunion.xml

6. ABC News features Bates' optional SAT policy
"ABC World News Tonight" spent four hours on campus interviewing faculty, students and administrators the day before hundreds of thousands of American high school students hunkered down with a new, longer SAT. Check out the 30-second story that highlighted Bates 20-year experience with optional SATs: NEED URL

7. Bates sophomore helps rescue Haitian refugees at sea
When a sailing ship carrying 22 college students on an educational voyage in early March rescued 49 Haitians from their disabled vessel, a Bates sophomore was right in the middle of this widely reported story. www.bates.edu/x64484.xml

8. From Bates Archives: Short Term through the years
Since its creation in the 1960s, Short Term has provided Bates students with innovative opportunities for learning both on and off campus. Glimpses of past offerings are the focus of this month’s historic slideshow on the Sesquicentennial Web site. Meanwhile, in this month's oral history, Jim Bauer of Information and Library Services talks about the evolution of computer technology at Bates in the last 25 years. www.bates.edu/x64395.xml

9. Fund raising begins for new campus dining facility
With a goal of securing at least $20 million by June 2006, Bates has begun fund raising for a new dining Commons – the top capital priority within The Campaign for Bates: Endowing Our Values. The new Commons will be centrally located on campus, placed next to Alumni Gym across from Pettengill Hall, and bordering Central Avenue. The new facility will contain a 1,000-seat dining area, a large kitchen and meeting spaces for student and faculty groups, among other features. The groundbreaking is scheduled for late 2006.

To make a gift or learn more about the campaign, visit: www.bates.edu/campaign

10. Awards aid student research from Australia to Uzbekistan
Bates has named this year's three recipients of the Philip J. Otis Fellowships, supporting research into the relationships among individuals, societies and nature, and six recipients of Phillips Student Fellowships, which provide major funding for summer research involving immersion in different cultures. The students' research projects span the globe and involve topics as diverse as European "ecovillages," economic and sociopolitical change in Central Asia and the uses of plants by indigenous people in the Andes.

For more on the Otis recipients, see: www.bates.edu/x64578.xml
For more on the Phillips recipients, see: www.bates.edu/x64579.xml

11. Three receive tenure
Faculty members in the fields of art, psychology and the study of American and African American culture were awarded tenure at Bates College this year. The three tenure recipients are assistant professor Pamela Johnson of the Department of Art and Visual Culture; associate professor John McClendon of the programs in African American studies and American cultural studies; and assistant professor Michael Sargent of the Department of Psychology. www.bates.edu/x64576.xml

12. This Month in Bates History: Winning decade at the Penn Relays
By the end of the 1920s, Bates' string of winning track performances at the prestigious Penn Relays, held each April, had The Bates Student fretting about championship fatigue on campus. Following the Bobcats' victory in the two-mile relay at the 1930 relays—the second Bates title in three years, and in the top flight, no less—an editorial in the April 30 Student commented on the subdued celebration on campus: no parade "down-street" to meet the returning team, no bonfire atop Mount David. "Championship after championship comes our way...[and] the thing is beginning to pall," the paper said. A story on Bates' victories at the Penn Relays, 1925-1930: www.bates.edu/x64580.xml

13. Bates People in the News
As students nationwide honed their No. 2 pencils in preparation for the revamped SAT, USA Today was one of many publications running a related Associated Press story using Bates as the standard-bearer for schools not requiring SAT scores. Reporter Justin Pope quoted Dean of Admissions Wylie Mitchell and Vice President Bill Hiss '66. Bates faculty, too, made the papers, as anthropologist Heather Lindkvist talked to the St. Petersburg Times about Lewiston's Somali community and the Chicago Tribune reviewed historian Margaret Creighton's new book on Gettysburg. Meanwhile, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette saluted the enduring basketball career of Bill Wyman '53. www.bates.edu/bates-in-the-news.xml