1. Video: Behind the scenes with the Bobcats at the NCAA Cross Country Championships

2. Psychology department receives national award for service to the discipline

3. Video: Alex Bolden ’15 and the 2013 Sankofa performance

4. With presidential installation complete, Spencer heads to Welcome Events

5. Hospital reveals inside story for physics students exploring medical imaging

6. Did you know? Goosie and the peat bog

7. Emily Kane’s book The Gender Trap attracts media interest

8. Video: First-graders give a ‘Bates-Bates’ cheer

9. End-of-year giving info: How to contact the Bates Fund during the holidays

10. Bates in the News

1. Video: Behind the scenes with the Bobcats at the NCAA Cross Country Championships

Bates photographer and videographer Mike Bradley, a former collegiate runner himself, traveled with the men’s and women’s cross country teams to the NCAA Division III Championships in November. Here, he offers behind-the-scenes stories that capture the mindset of Bates’ elite runners as they head into intense national competition.

2. Psychology department receives national award for service to the discipline

In various realms, the Bates psychology department provides robust service to their discipline and, by extension, the people and communities they engage with. That service has earned Bates top honors from the American Psychological Association.

3. Video: Alex Bolden ’15 and the 2013 Sankofa performance

Bates photographer and videographer Phyllis Graber Jensen profiles Alex Bolden ’15 of Cleveland, Ohio, director of the 2013 Sankofa performance set for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A relative newcomer to the Bates arts scene, Sankofa is a loose-knit, creative student collaboration that has drawn critical applause for its vibrant, artistic interpretations of the African diasporic experience.

4. With presidential installation complete, Spencer heads to the Welcome Events

Following President Clayton Spencer’s installation on Oct. 26, she is now embarking on a series of visits to Bates alumni, parents and friends, the first of which were in Hartford, Boston and New York City. Coming up in early 2013 are Welcome Events in Washington, D.C. (Feb. 6), Chicago (March 5) and Seattle (March 7).

5. Hospital reveals inside story for physics students exploring medical imaging

A hospital visit isn’t high on anyone’s list of compelling moments, but for 23 Bates students in a 100-level course, heading to St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center is part of a course curriculum designed to attract students to physics.

6. Did you know? Goosie and the peat bog

In the winter of 1917–18, the U.S faced a coal shortage caused by botched federal attempts to regulate national fuel distribution during World War I. With alternative fuels on the minds of many, Professor of Greek George Millett Chase told the Lewiston Evening Journal that the city should mine peat from Garcelon Bog, about a mile east of campus. The bog, said the professor nicknamed “Goosie,” could yield enough energy “to heat all [Lewiston's] homes for one thousand years.”

7. Emily Kane’s book The Gender Trap attracts media interest

In recent interviews with public radio, Professor of Sociology Emily Kane, author of The Gender Trap, emphasizes a theme of her new book: While parents often try to lead their children into  experiences beyond gender stereotypes, social pressure pushes parents back into traditional attitudes and actions.

8. Video: First-graders give a ‘Bates-Bates’ cheer

First-graders at Equitas Academy, a charter school in Los Angeles, school the rest of us on how to give a Bates cheer.

9. End-of-year giving info: How to reach the Bates Fund during the holidays

Though college offices are closed Dec. 24 through Jan. 1, those wanting to make year-end gifts by phone, or needing to ask gift questions, including instructions for securities transfers, will have help. The toll-free Bates gift line, 1-888-522-8371, will be staffed Wednesday-Friday, Dec. 26-28, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and on Monday, Dec. 31, until 9 p.m. Our Advancement colleagues tell us that uncertainty around fiscal cliff discussions and possible tax changes in 2013 have prompted some donors to make their annual gifts before the end of calendar 2012.

10. Bates in the News

In a letter to The New York Times, Dana Professor of Anthropology Danny Danforth takes issue with characterizations in the new book On Saudi Arabia. The landmark astrophotography exhibition at the Museum of Art garners another glowing review, this time in the Maine Sunday Telegram. Lena Sene ’00, considered an expert in private equity investing in Africa, is named one of the most influential women in corporate America by Savoy Magazine.

Bates photographer and videographer Mike Bradley produced this audio slide show about the competitiveness, camaraderie and mutual respect of the women’s cross country team as it treks to Terre Haute, Ind., for the 2012 NCAA Division III Championships on Nov. 17.

Championship meet story here.

Devin Dilts '11

In his first semester at Bates after transferring from Vanderbilt University, sophomore Devin Dilts capped an impressive debut season with the Bobcat men’s cross country team on Saturday at the New England Division III Cross Country Championships, hosted by Williams College.

Dilts (Roscoe, Ill.) covered the 8-kilometer course at Mt. Greylock High School in 26:57.1, good for 25th place overall out of 331 runners. Dilts’ time was the third-fastest ever run at the Williams course by a Bates man. Dilts was also the second sophomore in the entire field to cross the finish line. For his top-35 performance, Dilts captured All-Region honors, while junior teammate Doug Brecher (Waban, Mass.) missed repeating as All-New England by finishing in 36th place, just one-tenth of a second out of 35th.

Bates scored 330 points, topping such competition as 14th-place Springfield (370) and 15th-place Wesleyan (380), finishing 13th out of 49 teams at the meet.

Esther Kendall '10

Something about the New England Division III Regional Cross Country Championships seems to bring out the best in Bates junior Esther Kendall. For the second straight year, Kendall picked New Englands to lead the Bates women’s cross country team for the first time all season.

Kendall (Ridgeway, Ontario) led a team performance that showcased impressive depth and balance, as the Bobcats, who entered the race ranked No. 10 in New England, placed eighth out of 49 teams. Kendall finished 43rd out of 330 runners in the race at Williams College’s home course, covering the 6 kilometers in a time of 24:16.8, meanwhile edging out a pack of teammates who were close behind, including sophomore Liz Rowley (Evanston, Ill.) in 47th at 24:25.3, sophomore Alex Alberto (Concord, Mass.) in 50th at 24:27.3, sophomore Chloe Bourne (Litchfield, Conn.) in 54th at 24:34.4, junior Abby Samuelson (Freeport, Maine) in 74th at 24:55.3 and senior Allie Goldstein (Needham, Mass.) in 76th at 24:56.4.

At last year’s New Englands, Kendall was placed 47th out of 344 runners, again leading a tight pack of Bobcats, as Bates finished in ninth place.

Devin Dilts ’11 made a splash in his first collegiate 8-kilometer race on Saturday, running the fourth-fastest time for a Bates male at Tufts University’s home course in Grafton, Mass., at the annual Jumbo Invitational.

Dilts (Roscoe, Ill.), who transferred to Bates from Vanderbilt University this fall, crossed the finish line in 27:20.22 and placed fourth overall out of 84 competitors in the 8K, which was run on an adjusted course that likely measures a bit more than 8,000 meters. The Bobcats finished third out of 10 teams in the race, and Dilts earned NESCAC Men’s Cross Country Performer of the Week honors.

Bates next competes at the Wesleyan Invitational on Sept. 27.

Slovenski, who retired from Bates in 1995 after 43 years of coaching, led his Bobcat track and cross country teams to 726 victories, five undefeated seasons, more than 20 State of Maine championships and four New England regional championships.

A memorial service will be held at the Bates Chapel on Sept. 24 at 4 p.m. followed by a reception at the Benjamin E. Mays Center on campus.

At a Sept. 4 campus ceremony attended by several hundred Bates alumni, faculty and staff members, students, friends and Slovenski family members, Bates College dedicated the indoor track at Merrill Gymnasium in honor of Slovenski.

“Walter Slovenski’s years of service to Bates and his commitment to his family, to his student-athletes, to the importance of competition, and to achievement are all emblematic of the highest standards and expectations,” Bates President Donald W. Harward said at Saturday’s ceremony. “Bates is proud to have had the opportunity to be influenced by his decades of dedication, professionalism and humane good will.”

Slovenski combined competitive zeal, deep care for his student-athletes and a spirited sense of humor and fun to bring out the best in his performers.

“The Slovenski name is synonymous with track and field excellence,” Director of Athletics Suzanne Coffey said at the dedication. “Whether watching him chase alongside and cajole an athlete, or seeing him offer a word of advice and encouragement to a younger coach in the department, it was easy to see the fire in this man’s competitiveness and the humor in his soul. The Slovenski legacy is unparalleled.”

Born April 13, 1920, in Dupont, Pa., Slovenski left school after the seventh grade to join his father as a coal miner. One day, a local high school track coach, Jack Daugherty, saw Slovenski perform at a local summer field day and convinced his parents to enroll him in high school. A star athlete at Cherry Hill (Pa.) High School who led his football team to a 10-0 record in 1939, Slovenski was later the national prep school long jump champion at Seton Hall Prep.

After spending three and a half years in the Navy, Slovenski attended Syracuse University. While there, Slovenski was an All-America baseball player, a two-way football player whose name still appears in the Orangemen’s record books, and a member of the track and field teams, competing in the long jump and high jump.

At the Sept. 4 ceremony, Auburn resident and former Bates assistant track coach Allen Harvie, a 1965 Bates graduate, read remarks written by Slovenski, who was too ill to attend. “The Bates community helped Ruth and me raise six children,” Slovenski wrote. “I’d like to thank every Bates track athlete for enrolling at Bates and making such terrific contributions to our track team. Everything I ever accomplished I have to give credit to Jack Daugherty. I learned through him the lessons of sports, the great joy of helping others through athletics. He single-handedly transformed my life.”

After graduating from Syracuse in 1949, Slovenski earned a master’s degree at New York University and coached track at Oneonta State College for two years before coming to Bates in 1952 as assistant football and head track coach. From 1957 to 1960, Bates compiled a 30-meet winning streak, including victories over schools like Boston University, the University of Connecticut and the University of Maine. The Bobcats’ state track titles in 1957 and 1958 were their first since 1912.

In 1958, Slovenski resurrected the long-dormant Bates cross country program and built it, too, into a consistent winner, posting a 9-1 record by 1963 and winning the first four New England Small College Athletic Conference championships between 1983 and 1986.

Slovenski produced 26 All-Americans, including five national champions. Slovenski’s track and cross country teams produced the highest finishes by any Bates team at an NCAA championship, placing fifth at the indoor track and field meet in 1989 and sixth at the cross country championships in 1977.

Slovenski has been inducted into the Clearfield County (Pa.), Indiana (Pa.) and Lewiston Auburn Sports Halls of Fame, as well as the Maine Running Hall of Fame. He was honored as a New England and NCAA cross country coach of the year. In the 1960s, Slovenski was selected by the Mexican government to upgrade that country’s track programs in preparation for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. A competitor in the World Veterans’ track and field championships in 1989, Slovenski placed sixth in the hammer throw with a toss of 123 feet, 6 inches.

He will always be loved dearly by his wife, children and grandchildren for his own magnificent heart and love of family.

Slovenski is survived by his wife of nearly 49 years, Ruth; three sons, Peter Slovenski of Brunswick, Paul Slovenski of Cambridge, Mass., and Steven Slovenski of Lee, N.H.; three daughters, Patty Slovenski Gannon of Framingham, Mass., Sally Slovenski of Watertown, Mass., and Sue Slovenski Pucko of Webster, N.Y.; and 11 grandchildren.

Gifts in memory of Walter Slovenski can be made to Bates College, 2 Andrews Road, Lewiston ME 04240.