Speaking at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, following an Olin Arts Center screening of the documentary Food, Inc., Gary Hirshberg P’13 is president and “CE-Yo” of Stonyfield Farm, the world’s leading organic yogurt producer.

Hirshberg is the husband of freelance writer Meg Hirshberg and the father of three yogurt eaters, including Bates junior Ethan Hirshberg. Gary Hirshberg is the author of Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World (Hyperion Books, 2008) and a frequent speaker on topics including sustainability, climate change, the profitability of green and socially responsible business, organic agriculture and sustainable economic development.

Offering remarks at the dedication of Hedge and Roger Williams halls at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, Paul Marks ’83 was the first student to study Chinese at Bates. He is chairman and CEO of the aerospace materials maker Argosy International Inc.

Founded in 1988 and headquartered in New York City, Argosy is a leading global supplier and manufacturer of aerospace composite materials, supporting such major aerospace companies as Boeing, Sikorsky and Airbus.

Also on Thursday, George Mitchell offers the Bates Unbounded: Open to the World keynote address at 5:30 p.m.in the Chapel. Mitchell, who served as U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace from January 2009 to May 2011, is one of the most accomplished politicians and diplomats that Maine has produced in recent decades. In 2008 Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential persons in the world.

Mitchell received an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College and a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. He served as U.S. attorney for Maine from 1977 until 1979, and U.S. district judge for Maine in 1979 and 1980.

He was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1980 to complete the unexpired term of Sen. Edmund S. Muskie (a member of the Bates class of 1936), who resigned to become secretary of state. Mitchell was elected to a full term in the Senate in 1982 in a stunning come-from-behind victory.

Mitchell left the Senate in 1995 as majority leader after an illustrious career in that body. He led the successful 1990 reauthorization of the Clean Air Act, including new controls on acid rain toxins, and wrote the first national oil spill prevention and clean-up law. He was a key player in legislation including the nation’s first child care bill, the low-income housing tax credit program and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

From 1996 to 2000 Mitchell served as the independent chairman of the Northern Ireland Peace Talks. Under his leadership the Good Friday Agreement, a historic accord ending decades of conflict, was agreed to by the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom and the political parties of Northern Ireland.

Mitchell has published four books, including Making Peace (Knopf, 1999), an account of his experience in Northern Ireland.

The Presidents’ Fourth of July Declaration on the Civic Responsibility of Higher Education calls on Maine campuses to examine and expand their commitment to their communities. The presidents will join more than 450 campuses nationwide to respond to the growing cynicism and lack of trust among students about government and the political process. Several recent studies have highlighted the problem, including a 1998 report by the National Association of Secretaries of State which found less than 15 percent of college-age people voted in the last national election.

The declaration addresses two needs: the first for higher education to develop students to become responsible citizens and the second for campuses to be good citizens in their own communities. The document was developed as a call to action and adopted during a national meeting of college presidents held in Aspen, Colo., last summer.

According to Mitchell, “…higher education is the only institution in our society which has as its central purpose the continued reexamination of our society’s assumptions, the constant review of our past and the search for a better future.”

Donald W. Harward, president of Bates College and Maine Campus Compact co-chair says, “The declaration gives voice to our shared responsibility to ‘educate students for citizenship.’ Bates College’s mission and values echo this historic role in noting that ‘Bates graduates have linked education with service, leadership and obligations beyond themselves.’”

According to Theodora Kalikow, president of the University of Maine at Farmington and Maine Campus Compact co-chair, students “will be most successful if they leave an engaged campus that models best practices for its own growth and change, a campus community that reaches out into the wider world for active learning and teaching opportunities, giving and receiving through the work of students, faculty and staff.”

Presidents either signing the document today and/or submitting statements in support of the declaration include: Marylin Newell, Andover College; Donald Harward, Bates; Barry Mills, Bowdoin College; William Adams, Colby College; Joyce Hedlund, Eastern Maine Technical College; Barbara Woodlee, Kennebec Valley Technical College; Christine Vincent, Maine College of Art; David House, Saint Joseph’s College; Wayne Ross, Southern Maine Technical College; Sandra Featherman, University of New England; David Glenn-Lewin, Unity College; Peter Hoff, University of Maine; Theodora Kalikow, University of Maine at Farmington; Charles Lyons, University of Maine at Augusta; Donald Zillman, University of Maine at Fort Kent; John Joseph, University of Maine at Machias; Nancy Hensel, University of Maine at Presque Isle; and Richard Pattenaude, University of Southern Maine.

Maine Campus Compact is a consortium of 18 of Maine’s higher education institutions led by their presidents to integrate service and civic responsibility throughout the academic and student life goals of their institutions. Founded in 1994, Maine Campus Compact is affiliated with Campus Compact based at Brown University, with a national membership of more than 700 college and university presidents.

Read a transcript of the president’s remarks.