BatesNews May 2012
In this issue:
1. Live Commencement webcast features honorands Bassler, De Niro, Ifill
2. College community remembers Evan Dube ’15
3. Audio: Poems and prose from Bates’ creative writing majors
4. College Night in Town: Students, L-A make it a date
5. Video: Student stories underscore value of Bates philanthropy
6. Want college search help? Attend the Admission Alumni Legacy program, June 10-11
7. Backpack video journalists tell inside stories about Bates life
8. Champion thrower David Pless ’13 hits Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd
9. Services for Professor Emeritus of Political Science Garold Thumm announced
10. Bates in the News
1. Live broadcast of Commencement to feature honorands Bassler, De Niro and Ifill
Molecular biologist Bonnie Bassler, actor Robert De Niro and PBS Newshour senior correspondent Gwen Ifill will speak and receive honorary degrees at Commencement on Sunday, beginning at 10 a.m. on the Historic Quad. Watch online: bates.edu/live. See complete schedule: bates.edu/commencement.
2. The college community remembers Evan Dube ’15
Evan Dube, a member of the Class of 2015, died May 19 in Scotland while on a Short Term course working on the Shetland Islands Climate and Settlement Project. He collapsed after a brief ocean swim while on a cookout with fellow students. At a College Chapel memorial gathering May 24, mourners shared glimpses of a spirit inspirational in its eager openness, and were invited to “embrace Evan’s life and memory…and embrace each other as we try to move through this,” in the words of James Reese, associate dean of students.
3. Audio: Poems and prose from Bates’ creative writing majors
Listen in as students of Rob Farnsworth, poet and senior lecturer in English, read their poetry and prose at the annual senior thesis reading in Muskie Archives.
4. College Night in Town: Students, L-A make it a date
From Park Street to Lisbon Street and through Courthouse Plaza, droves of students, professors and staff members waved and swapped “hi’s” to and from downtown adventures in food, drink and music. The inaugural “College Night in Town,” the brainchild of two students and featuring all-in participation from businesses and student contributors, made it possible to sample and celebrate, in just a few hours, the diversity of downtown Lewiston and Auburn offerings.
5. Video: Student stories underscore value of Bates philanthropy
Romina Istratii ’12 of Athens, Greece, says she was fortunate to find Bates on the map when she did her college search. “And that is how it happened — I opened a map,” she said with a smile. Her quip drew a warm laugh from a gathering of donors whose philanthropy helps to fund the college’s nearly $30 million outlay of scholarship aid each year.
6. Want college search help? Attend the Admission Alumni Legacy program, June 10-11
The first question is what brand of diaper for your child. Then suddenly it’s the swirl of confusing questions about your child’s college search: tours, applications, interviews and, gulp, financial aid. Make it easier on you and your child by attending the college’s Admission Alumni Legacy Program, June 10-11, on campus. With in-depth panels and workshops, you and your child will learn from nationally recognized professionals, including college admission deans and directors as well as secondary school counselors from around the country. Deadline for registration: May 31.
7. Backpack video journalists tell inside stories about Bates life
Bates communications professionals recently turned loose three enterprising student journalists to create their own video stories about Bates life. The backpack journalists’ videos include stories about the college’s student-led EMS squad, a Lewiston-Auburn college aspirations program and President-elect Clayton Spencer’s first full day visiting campus.
8. Champion thrower David Pless ’13 hits Sports Illustrated‘s Faces in the Crowd
Still the gold standard for recognition of amateur athletic excellence, SI‘s Faces in the Crowd featured David Pless ’13 in its May 28 edition, noting that Pless, the reigning Division III indoor shot champ, is unbeaten in D-III competition this season and is “the only D-III athlete to make it to the Penn Relays discus and shot put finals this year.”
9. Services for Professor Emeritus of Political Science Garold Thumm
Services for Garold Thumm, professor emeritus of political science who died May 18, 2012, at age 96 in Springfield, Mass., are May 26, 10 a.m., at First Church of Monson, Mass., and visitation is today, May 26, 6 to 8 p.m. at Lombard Funeral Home in Monson. In a story in Bates Magazine after his 1987 retirement, Professor Thumm said his goal in the classroom was to involve everyone in the proceedings. So he called on all of his students regularly, “which many feel is a brutal way to conduct a class, but I did it anyway,” he said. Far from brutal, his teaching was beloved. Joyce White Vance ’82, now U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, remembers her mentor’s quick smile and how he folded his arms across his chest while pondering a challenging question. “He wouldn’t let you take the easy way out. He taught us to analyze an issue before taking a side, not take a side and then try to fit the argument to it.”
10. Bates in the News
As Clayton Spencer prepares to leave Harvard to become the eighth president of Bates, The Harvard Crimson reviews her 15 years of service there. The Maine Public Broadcasting documentary Desperate Alewives, featuring Bates environmental economist Lynne Lewis among others, gets a New England Emmy nomination. Overseas, the major German newspaper Berlin Zeitung reviews a gallery exhibition by Bates art faculty member Robert Feintuch, whose portraits of men offer wry explorations of powerlessness and vulnerability.
Categories BatesNews
