Joining Holbrooke as honorary degree recipients were career educator Robert E. Dunn, Bates class of 1950 (doctor of humane letters); biochemist Leroy E. Hood, M.D. (doctor of science); and urban sociologist William Julius Wilson (doctor of laws).

WEST NEW PORTLAND
Samuel Harold Anderson of West New Portland received a bachelor of arts degree in economics. Anderson played varsity football for the college in 1997 and was a member of the men’s alpine ski team throughout his Bates career, serving as captain in the 1998-99 season. He is the 1999 recipient of the college’s Dr. Lloyd Lux Award, given annually for overall contribution, dedication and leadership in the college’s skiing program. A graduate of Carrabassett Valley Academy, Anderson is the son of Paula Anderson, West New Portland, and William Anderson, North New Portland.

WEST PARIS
Melissa Vining of 52 Kingsbury St. received a bachelor of science degree (magna cum laude) in chemistry. Vining, who has a secondary concentration in French, was named Bates College’s 1997-98 Ruggles Scholar, a fellowship awarded to a junior for academic excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. Vining used the $1,000 fellowship to fund her senior thesis as well as to attend a number of scholarly conferences to discuss the thesis findings. She was elected to Sigma Xi, a North American Honor Society founded in 1886 to reward excellence in scientific research. Named a Dana Scholar after her first year at Bates, Vining has been a dean’s list student, junior adviser and member of the varsity softball team. The granddaughter of Ruth Hazelton of West Paris, Vining is a 1994 graduate of Oxford Hills High School.

A political science major with a concentration in international studies and a secondary concentration in Russian, Sedney will use the $1,000 fellowship to fund her senior thesis research on the politics of microcredit lending as practiced in Russia and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union.

Sedney, who is fluent in Russian after studying the language at Bates for three years, spent her Short Term in Yaroslavl, Russia, at Yaroslavl State University, where she studied language, culture and politics. She also has been an intern with a local non-governmental official at Yaroslavl’s International Investment Center.

A Dana Scholar and dean’s list student, Sedney has been a member of the rugby team and plays violin in the college’s Fighting Bobcat Orchestra. She also volunteers as a Big Sister at Lewiston’s Pettengill Elementary School. The daughter of David and Diana Sedney of Falls Church, Sedney is a 1996 graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.

The Ruggles Scholars Program was established in 1995 through a generous gift from Robert T. and Francine Pare Ruggles, the parents of Anne Ruggles Parisier, M.D., Bates class of 1983. The Ruggles Scholar program recognizes exceptional undergraduate achievement and offers encouragement and incentive to further cultivate this record of merit. The inaugural Ruggles Scholar was Nancy Bullet of Auburn in the fall of 1995.

Located midway between the coast and mountains in south-central Maine, Bates is a 144-year-old undergraduate college of the liberal arts and sciences and is rated among the top 20 national liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and World Report. Bates offers majors in 24 academic departments and eight interdisciplinary programs and encourages independent study, research in collaboration with faculty members and participation in off-campus programs.