Professor of Philosophy Mark Okrent gets a close look as board chairman Mike Bonney '80 (left) and President Nancy Cable do the ribbon cutting. Photograph by Rene Minnis.

The journey of Paul Marks ’83 from Bates to China, and from being “a fairly unengaged student” to an international business leader, made an ideal narrative for the ceremonial reopening of Roger Williams and Hedge halls, facilities newly repurposed for the academic exploration of border crossings — borders national, cultural, philosophical, spiritual, disciplinary.

• Video: Paul Marks ’83 and fellow speakers at the dedication

Now based in Shanghai and CEO of the global aerospace technology firm Argosy Inc., Marks was one of Bates’ first students to graduate with a China-focused history major. His address at the dedication ceremony recounted how a Short Term trip to China in 1981, 30 years ago this year, was the challenge that set him on his life’s path.

Remarks by Bates board chair Michael Bonney ’80, college President Nancy Cable and Student Government President Cosmin Ghita ’12 were also on the program for the dedication late Thursday afternoon. Two symbolic acts completed the ceremony, as the faculty and staff who are the buildings’ stakeholders received honorary keys to Hedge and the Bill, and a ribbon-cutting made their reopening official.

Paul Marks '83 speaks to the dedication audience about his defining experience in China in 1981. Photograph by Rene Minnis.

As Marks recalled, his parents were not thrilled about the notion of his going to China. It took the persuasive powers of Professor of Sociology George Fetter, who had arranged Bates’ first-ever Short Term expedition to China two years previous, to bring them around.

Fetter had promised Marks that the trip would “change his life.” That prediction came true. During five weeks in China, Marks told his listeners, “I became hooked on China. I wanted to understand this chaotic, totally different world.”

Part of the attraction was a spur to his competitive spirit from the group’s Chinese guide, who insisted that the foreigners couldn’t learn the language. Marks rose to the challenge, betting the guide five bucks that he could indeed learn Mandarin. With his first instructor at Bates an adjunct faculty member who was the wife of a local Taiwanese dentist, Marks became Bates’ first student of the Chinese language, and continued his studies as a postgraduate.

In his welcome, Bonney, CEO of the pharmaceuticals firm Cubist, stated the theme for this celebration of two new academic buildings. “Faculty at Bates are helping students [prepare] to live, to work, to think, to lead and ultimately to solve problems in the global society. These two buildings are spaces that foster that kind of learning.”

“The decision to renovate these buildings was not an easy decision, Bonney said, owing to their age and condition after years of hard use as residence halls. “And yet we stand here today with two remarkable buildings that do honor to our history, but also position us beautifully for the future.”

Bonney was the right person to situate the buildings’ symbolic role in the context of time, as his family has been associated with Bates for nearly a century, roughly the same amount of time that the Bill and Hedge have been here. (And he and Marks, who were both students during Roger Bill’s heyday as a meeting place for, let’s say, joie de vivre, took the opportunity to point out that a benefit of the renovation was the elimination of the spilled-beer smell.)

Board chair Mike Bonney presents a symbolic key to Roger Williams Hall to Spanish professor Claudia Aburto Guzmán. Photograph by Rene Minnis.

“These two academic buildings, and the campus at large, are powered by Bates faculty,” Cable told the 175 or so listeners gathered in a tent on Alumni Walk, near the Bill and Hedge. “It is the faculty’s attention to the individual that makes the Bates experience so vitally special and distinctive academically.

“Paul’s stories inform our sense of what lasts over time, from the simple connection of a faculty member to a student, the heart of what we do.”

The ceremony began with international students Mustafa Basij-Rasikh ’12 of Kabul, Afghanistan, and Romina Istratii ’12 of Athens, Greece, welcoming the Bates community in their native languages (Istratii, anticipating Marks’ subject, also offered a greeting in Chinese, which she is studying at Bates).

Ghita, of Bucharest, Romania, touched on the chilly dampness of the day in his remarks, bringing the thought neatly around to the ceremony’s theme of global citizenship. “Cultures around the world perceive rain as an omen of good fortune,” he pointed out. “I never would have known that had I not immersed myself in the study of another language.”

Hansen’s Leadership Includes Strengthening of Student Diversity, Expanded and Improved Facilities, Largest Fundraising Campaign in Bates History and Innovation in College’s Strategic Planning Process

Board of Trustees Appoints Interim President and Begins Immediate Search for Successor

Elaine Tuttle Hansen, the seventh President of Bates College, announced to the campus community today that she plans to step down from her post as president effective July 2011. She will depart after nine years of leadership in which the institution — already regarded as a national and international leader in liberal arts and sciences education — has moved into an ever-stronger position in academic stature and reputation.

Hansen will leave the College to assume a leadership position elsewhere to be announced within the next two weeks. Her announcement allows for the Bates College community to be informed before the close of the current semester.

In her message to the Bates community, Hansen said in part, “I am so proud of how Bates has met the challenges of being a liberal arts college in the world today. In our highly virtual and transient society, we have preserved the idea that living and learning in a stable, physical community represents unique and golden opportunities for the next generation of thinkers and leaders. With most of the goals of my administration accomplished and the time for our next comprehensive fundraising campaign on the horizon, it is the right moment for the trustees to find the next leader of this very important college.”

• Read Trustee Chairman Bonney’s announcement to the Bates community.
• Read President Hansen’s announcement to the Bates community.
• See a list of  major achievements during President Hansen’s tenure.
• See President Hansen’s biographical background.

In a separate message to the Bates community, Michael W. Bonney of Sudbury, Mass., a 1980 graduate of the College and current Chairman of its Board of Trustees, said, “Working energetically with the Board of Trustees as well as our outstanding faculty, staff, students and alumni, Elaine Hansen has achieved many key institutional goals in academic and student life, fundraising, faculty support and innovation, facilities planning, fiscal management and collaboration in college-wide strategic planning.”

Bonney added, “I have especially appreciated Elaine’s energy, warmth, professionalism and kindness. I know generations of future Bates students, faculty, staff and alumni will benefit from her significant contributions to the College.”

Among Hansen’s key accomplishments are stronger faculty salary support, new funding for curricular innovation, significant strides in diversity broadly defined within the student body, increasing student financial aid, enhancing the College’s culture of philanthropy through increased funding for every key college constituency, completing a thorough analysis of the College facilities including a comprehensive plan now underway for facility upgrades, and the completion of a college-wide strategic planning process for curriculum, research and student life that engaged faculty, staff and students.

Hansen has also received wide recognition for her leadership of the College during these uncertain economic times. Trustee Michael Chu, Bates Class of 1980 and current Bates parent, and Chairman of the Trustee Investment Committee noted, “President Hansen managed the College with skill and determination through the most turbulent economic times in recent memory. My fellow trustees and I are grateful for her adroit leadership that ensures that the college has the financial resources to support its strong and exciting future.”

Bates Trustee Scott Bierman, a member of the Bates Class of 1977 and current President of Beloit College said, “Elaine has brought an expansive, creative and principled approach to dispelling the myth that there is a trade-off between diversity and academic excellence. Colleges around the country now look to Bates for models of how to create successful academic environments for students from widely different backgrounds.”

‘I know generations of future Bates students, faculty, staff and alumni will benefit from her significant contributions to the College.’

Trustee Alison Bernstein, Bates parent, Spelman College’s Cosby Endowed Chair of Humanities and Comparative Women’s Studies, and formerly of the Ford Foundation, also praised Hansen’s leadership by noting, “Over the last nine years, President Hansen has strengthened the Bates community through her energetic advocacy for a more diverse student body. In this way, she innovatively led the college by reaffirming its historic mission and promoting the transformational power of differences.”

Valerie Smith, Bates Class of 1975, current Bates trustee, Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and Professor of English and African American Studies at Princeton University, also added, “Elaine Hansen’s tenure as Bates’ president has been characterized by visionary leadership, including her commitment to strengthening the faculty and major construction projects that have changed the face of the College.”

Bonney’s message also announced the appointment of Nancy J. Cable, currently Bates’ Vice President and Dean of Enrollment and External Affairs, as Interim President from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012, after which she will return to her position as Vice President and Dean. Cable, a member of  Phi Beta Kappa, earned a Ph.D. in the History of  Education from the University of Virginia and has previously served in senior leadership roles at Denison University, Davidson College and the University of Virginia.

Bonney noted, “Given Nancy’s senior leadership experience in exceptional colleges and universities, coupled with her deep commitment to the academic mission of the College and clear support for the work of our faculty and staff, the Board voted unanimously to appoint her as Interim President and, in doing so, the trustees have expressed their complete confidence in Nancy’s leadership capabilities.  We know that our Bates community will benefit from her experience, her skills and energy, and her willingness to serve the College as Interim President during this transition.”

Jill N. Reich, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, said, “Nancy Cable is an excellent choice to serve as the Interim President in the year ahead, and I know that Nancy and my successor, Pam Baker, will together provide the leadership Bates needs during this time.”

Bonney said that the Board of Trustees has begun to form a presidential search committee, and will shortly begin consultations with faculty, students, staff and alumni to develop criteria and to begin the search process.

Regardless of where you plan to apply, all are invited to learn about the college search and application process 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday Nov. 11 at 4 Andrews Road, Room G52 of Pettengill Hall.

The panel discussion, which is free and open to the public, is: “Understanding the College Search and Application Process.”

Topics include:

* Making the Most of Your College Search and College Visits
* Familiarizing Yourself with the Application Process
* Selective College Admission
* Interviewing Tips
* Financial Aid Basics
* The Student Perspective: the Search, the Application and What I Wish I Knew

Panelists include:

* Nancy Cable, Vice President & Dean of Enrollment and External Affairs
* Leigh Weisenburger, Acting Director of Admission
* Jared Cash ’04, Senior Associate Dean of Admission & Director of Operations
* Johie Farrar ’03, Associate Dean of Admission, Communications & Outreach
* Tom Esponette ’11, Senior Admission Fellow, Edward Little High School, Class of 2007

A reception will immediately follow the panel.

For more information, please contact the Bates Office of Admission: 207.286.6000 or admissions@bates.edu

Established in 2005, the Garcelon Society supports the Androscoggin Scholarship Fund to ensure talented and deserving students from Androscoggin County have access to a Bates College education.

Bates College has appointed Nancy J. Cable as vice president and dean of enrollment and external affairs, a newly created position overseeing Bates’ offices of admissions, student financial services, communications and media relations, and career services.

“Nancy Cable brings us the expertise, national reputation and leadership skills needed to engage all Bates constituencies in advancing the mission of the College,” Bates President Elaine Tuttle Hansen said in making the announcement. “She is the leader Bates needs to present the vitality of the current academic and co-curricular program to a global audience of prospective students and faculty and extend the College’s reach and presence in the landscape of higher education.”

In accepting this position, Cable said that Bates “is uniquely well-positioned to meet its founder’s challenge: for Bates to be a ‘college for coming time.’ This historic challenge calls forward college-wide communications, admissions, career services and financial-aid efforts to enroll the most talented and deserving prospective students through Bates’ hallmark personalized approach to student recruitment. I am privileged to be joining Bates faculty, senior leadership, trustees and students in this important work for the College’s future.”

According to Bates Trustee Chair Joseph T. Willett, “This position was created to work with the senior leadership to enhance the college’s culture of inquiry, evidence, and transparency and help us tell the Bates story in a strategic way.  In Nancy Cable we have found a talented and seasoned administrator who will collaborate effectively with the College’s many constituencies.”

Cable served most recently in executive fundraising roles at the University of Virginia and with its academic partner, Semester at Sea. She has served as Virginia Engineering Foundation vice president for development and associate dean for development of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. In these roles, she secured funding for a nanotechnology science facility, numerous scholarships, the Desmond Tutu Program in Global Understanding and for the inauguration of a faculty lectureship and student scholarship program in China-U.S. relations for Semester at Sea.

Between 1992 and 2005, Cable served Davidson College as vice president and dean of admission and financial aid. She led a college-wide effort to advance selectivity, diversity and faculty involvement in the admission and financial aid process, and provided a tangible link between student recruitment and fundraising through the inauguration of several national scholarship programs.

Cable previously served as a vice president at Guilford College and held several administrative and faculty positions at Denison University.

A native of Ohio, Cable holds a bachelor’s degree with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Marietta College, a master’s in education from the University of Vermont and a doctorate in educational history from the University of Virginia.

Known for her efforts to strengthen socioeconomic diversity within the fields of admissions and financial aid, Cable has served on a variety of national boards and committees related to higher education, including the College Board, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education Task Force on Admissions, the College Board Committee on Selective Admission Criteria and the National Merit Scholarship Selection Committee. She has been a board member of Marietta College and the Cannon and Asheville schools in North Carolina. She has served as a guest speaker and lecturer at colleges and secondary schools nationally.

Cable will begin her service at Bates Feb. 22.

On Jan. 1, 2010, Bates’ current Vice President for External Affairs William C. Hiss, Bates class of 1966, assumes the position of executive director of international advancement and lecturer in Asian studies. Hiss will work with the Office of College Advancement to strengthen the interaction between Bates and the worldwide community and to promote Bates’ reputation internationally as a leading liberal arts college. His efforts will support deeper connections with Bates alumni, parents and friends outside the United States, with an immediate focus on Asia.  An expert on the history of Bates, Hiss will also continue to develop multimedia presentations about the College’s past for audiences on and off campus and to work with the Garcelon Society, which raises scholarship funds for Androscoggin County students at Bates.