Jay Burns

As the editorial director for the Bates Communications Office, Jay guides Bates Magazine and BatesNews.

Stories by Jay Burns
Seniors Amanda Chisholm, at left, and Megan Patey cross a bridge between sections of the new student residence. Much of what's exciting about Bates' new student residence at 280 College St. is captured in one unlikely area: the laundry room.
Newly named Gillespie Hall honors John Gillespie’s ‘love and ambition for Bates’

Thursday, June 29, 2023 1:48 pm

The residence hall located at 280 College St. has been named in honor of John Gillespie ’80, whose engagement with the college spans more than four decades and two generations, including 20 years on the Board of Trustees and four years as chair.

This ‘beautiful, dreamlike’ cloud photo by a Bates professor is Best in Show

Thursday, June 29, 2023 9:20 am

The clouds above Maine on April 23 suggested a psychedelic landscape painting — Salvador Dali meets John Constable? — and created a photographic moment for Associate Professor of Biology Andrew Mountcastle

Celebrating the tenure of President Clayton Spencer

Thursday, June 1, 2023 4:46 pm

A $1 million gift to Bates honors a signature contribution by President Clayton Spencer, plus an invitation to offer thanks for Spencer's service as Bates' eighth president.

‘Be better. Do better. Be an arc in the bigger circle,’ graduates told at Bates College Commencement

Sunday, May 28, 2023 12:41 pm

The 157th Bates Commencement saw degrees conferred on 439 Bates seniors and an address by author and scholar J. Drew Lanham — a self-described "bird-loving Black kid" from South Carolina — who spoke about freedom and Benjamin Mays, and called on the graduates "to be better, to do better" and "to be an arc in the bigger circle" that gives power to our freedom.

“My thesis is about the evolving role of French in Maine, and as a Franco-American and French speaker, Herb has been a great friend and contributor to the brainstorming process surrounding my thesis.” Martha Coleman ’23 of Seattle, a double major in French and Francophone studies and American studies, took to the steps of Coram Library to bind her honors thesis, along with other students, staff, and faculty. Coleman recruited the help of Herb Saucier, the Learning Shuttle bus driver for the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, to bind her thesis, titled “Le français et le Franco(phone)s: An exploration of the evolving significance of French in Maine,” advised by Professor of French and Francophone Studies Mary Rice-Defosse. “Over the last four years, I've gotten to be here and speak this language, and speak it with people who grew up here speaking French,” she said. Saucier has been a “supporter and cheerleader” for Coleman throughout the thesis writing process. “I just think it's such a nod to how important community work and community members have been to this project.” “Community engagement has been a huge part of my time at Bates and I hope that my thesis binding will be an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the community members who made my thesis project, and my Bates career as a whole, possible,” says Coleman. Allison Fischman ’23, a sociology major from Woodbridge, Conn., and Sam Manogue ‘26 of Wynnewood, Penn., were binding Fischman’s thesis, titled “Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Conceptualizations in Research and Policy,” advised by Professor of Sociology Emily Kane. Liam Daly-Smith ‘23, a physics major from Montclair, N.J., got help from Jing Fang ’23 of Beijing, and Adriana Pastor Almiron ’25 of Asuncion, Paraguay, to bind his thesis, titled “Tidal Energy in Cobscook Bay: An Analysis of Tidal Range Energy and Tidal Barrage Generation Paradigms,” advised by Professor of Physics John S
An honors thesis creates a French connection between Martha Coleman ’23 and shuttle driver Herb Saucier

Friday, May 19, 2023 1:57 pm

Herb Saucier was flabbergasted. Invited to attend a senior’s thesis-binding ceremony on the porch of Coram Library, he suddenly found himself at the center of attention.

10 new CatFacts (the Bates trivia edition) about Ultimate, risqué dancing, and yagging

Friday, May 12, 2023 12:43 pm

This edition of CatFacts, our second, tilts toward the trivial. But where else are you going to learn what “yagging” is? 

From Bates history: Granite from Mount David and a prince from Liberia

Friday, May 12, 2023 11:34 am

A few items from the Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library and elsewhere on campus, and our thoughts about what they are and mean.

Moments from the Spring Dance Concert Dress Rehearsal on April 6th, 5-8 pm, in Schaeffer Theatre. (Theophil Syslo | Bates College)
A Ukrainian student’s dance about war and hope: Why ‘love cannot be killed with just one shot’

Friday, May 12, 2023 10:31 am

To express human hope in the face of war’s inhumanity, Ruslan Peredelskyi '25 has used his immense talent in dance and in writing tell two stories about the war in Ukraine, including the killing of Iryna Filkina.

Video: Campus osprey tries to build a nest at Garcelon

Friday, April 21, 2023 1:52 pm

Immense talent at finding prey doesn’t mean that an osprey, or any bird, will also be good at nest-building.

Keeping it real as Bates’ record-setting admission season hits the home stretch

Thursday, April 13, 2023 1:34 pm

A record 8,937 prospective students applied to Bates this year. And on April 3, a dozen of those newly admitted students made their way to a Pettengill Hall classroom to get a real taste of Bates academics.

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