Jay Burns

Recently retired as editor of Bates Magazine, Jay now occasionally contributes stories to the magazine as well as Bates News.

jburns@bates.edu

Stories by Jay Burns
From Bates History: Martin Luther’s stained glass, water-shooting derrick

Friday, September 22, 2023 1:01 pm

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

11 new CatFacts: the 2023 Bates football edition

Friday, September 15, 2023 1:12 pm

This edition of CatFacts gives a nod to the gridiron, as Bates football opens its season tonight vs. Wesleyan University, in a game that was moved from Saturday due to impending effects of Hurricane Lee.

Holding open the Bates door, one rock, paver, or person at a time

Friday, September 8, 2023 11:13 am

Students are the front-line welcomers and baggage handlers on Opening Day, and they figure out creative ways to keep the Bates doors open for a steady flow of new students.

‘They’re problem solvers’: Facts, figures, talents, and tidbits about the Class of 2027

Friday, September 1, 2023 12:37 pm

The newest Bates class, 509 students strong, is filled with examples of engagement and action. "They’re problem solvers,” says Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Leigh Weisenburger. Sometimes quite literally.

Scenes from early summer on the Bates campus Hathorn Hall weathervane
Bates responds to Supreme Court ruling in LGBTQ+ case

Friday, June 30, 2023 6:01 pm

"We express our serious concern about today’s Supreme Court decision in 303 Creative, LLC v. Elenis and to offer support to our LGBTQ+ community in light of this ruling," wrote President Clayton Spencer and President-elect Garry W. Jenkins on June 30.

Left, a poignant moment during the installation: Clayton Spencer hoists her academic cap, the same one that her father, Samuel Reid Spencer Jr. — now 93 and seen below with his daughter after the ceremony — wore as president of Mary Baldwin College and Davidson College. From an early age, Clayton recently told The Chronicle of Higher Education, she experienced the liberal arts college as a “distinctive alchemy of people and ideas.” Photograph by Rene Minnis
‘Pretty cool’: Proud and grateful for her time at Bates, President Spencer offers final remarks

Thursday, June 29, 2023 7:17 pm

“I am proud and grateful to be associated with this fabulous college that you guys are lucky enough to claim as your own,” Spencer said in her final remarks as president, shared with alumni at Reunion.

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

‘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.

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