1. Commencement 2006 in words and images
Honorary degree recipients offered a wide variety of advice to 387 graduating seniors May 28. Listen to the speeches from four honorary degree recipients, view a slideshow, read the Baccalaureate litany and student speeches and more at the Commencement site: www.bates.edu/commencement.xml

2. 'My four years at Bates'
Each year, College trustees invite a variety of students to join them for a luncheon at their annual spring meeting on campus. After the meal, President Hansen invites students to offer thoughts on their time at Bates. See video clips of some of these reflections by Bates' students on the eve of becoming alumni. www.bates.edu/x115212.xml

3. Class of 2010 from 34 states, 29 countries
Admissions Office deans are very impressed with this year's applicant pool of 4,482 students – the second largest number of applications in Bates' history. The class of 2010 comprises 503 students from 34 states and 29 countries. In addition, 22 students will transfer to Bates this fall. The 525 new students include 10 percent U.S. multicultural students and 5 percent with non-U.S. citizenship. The top 10 states represented are Massachusetts, New York, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey. www.bates.edu/x114594.xml

4. Two seniors end Bates careers with NCAA championships
An already outstanding year in athletics at Bates ended with gusto – a pair of NCAA Division III national championships, won by Will Boe-Wiegaard and Keelin Godsey days before they graduated. Boe-Wiegaard, who was the national runner-up in singles a year ago, captured the 2006 Men’s Tennis Singles Championship in Fredericksburg, Va., defeating five top players in three days, four of whom had defeated him in their previous meetings. And in Lisle, Ill., Godsey won a second straight NCAA Division III championship in the women’s hammer throw, breaking his own Division III record in the process and ending his collegiate career with an amazing 16 All-America honors.
Boe-Wiegaard www.bates.edu/x117459.xml
Godsey www.bates.edu/x117561.xml

5. And the Reunion awards go to…
On Saturday, June 10, at the annual meeting of the Alumni Association during Reunion Weekend, the Benjamin E. Mays Medal will be awarded to Constance Berry Newman '56; the Helen A. Papaioanou ’49 Distinguished Alumni Service Award will be presented to Barry A. Greenfield '56 and to Lynn W. Willsey ’54 and Beverly Hayne Willsey ’55; the Alumni Community Service Award will go to Robert E. McAfee '56; and Charles E. Clark '51 will receive the Sesquicentennial Award.  For more information about what’s happening during Reunion Weekend, see: www.bates.edu/x80371.xml

6. Did You Know?
Graduates constitute about 20 percent of the clients of the Bates Office of Career Services. A parent of a 2002 graduate wrote to BatesNews that her son wanted to go to medical school, but his GPA and MCATs were not strong enough for the faculty to recommend him for admission during his senior year. Career Services and the Medical Studies Committee guided him step by step through the next three years: what courses to take at other schools, what job to hold, when to retake the MCATs, when finally to apply. "His applications and essays were reviewed by those advisers," the mother wrote, noting that her son is just finishing his first year of medical school "where he has almost a 3.8 GPA and is happier than he's been for years. That's support after graduation: top-notch, high-level, and life-changing." abacus.bates.edu/career/alumni/alumni.html

7. News from the Dean of Faculty
Read a Web update from Dean of Faculty Jill N. Reich on faculty awards, tenure and promotion decisions, new faculty in 2006 and more. www.bates.edu/x80017.xml

8. Bates boards biofuel bandwagon
Bates has taken another step toward environmental sustainability with an arrangement to heat some student residences with cleaner-burning biofuel. In March, Bates started heating 12 residential houses with a blend of petroleum heating oil and biofuel made from vegetable oil. A cleaner alternative to conventional heating oil and diesel vehicle fuel, pure biofuel is a renewable, domestically produced resource. www.bates.edu/x117462.xml

9. Archive materials show changes in women's rights
The past retains its power to surprise today's students, as Alison Vander Zanden '06 learned. Doing research for the course "Sociology of Gender," Vander Zanden delved into the regulatory "Bates Blue Books" and advice booklets that prescribed the limits of student life. Seeking to explore ways that social forces form gender identity, Vander Zanden wondered what the Bates of past years said about how female and male students should behave. www.bates.edu/x117461.xml

10. The 10th summer reading list
Each year, Bookstore Director Sarah Potter '77 encourages Bates faculty and staff to submit their recommendations for summer reading. Check it out: www.bates.edu/summer-reading.xml

11. Bates People in the News
"I'm going to ride the wave" toward a pro career on the court, Will Boe-Wiegaard '06 told the Portland Press Herald after winning the NCAA Division III men's tennis singles final on May 22. Similarly triumphant were seniors Kate Gatti and John Bauer, covered by The Lowell Sun as they neared the end — Hathorn Hall — of their 2,500-mile bike ride from Florida. Meanwhile, U.S. News & World Report talked to Rebecca Goetz '00, a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard, for an article about grad students who blog, and The Wall Street Journal discussed the energy-stock outlook with top mutual fund manager Dan Rice '73. In the San Francisco Chronicle, a Bates ball cap-adorned Karl O. Mills '82 was lauded at a dinner in his honor as he prepares to finish his four-year-term as president of the San Francisco Opera. www.bates.edu/bates-in-the-news.xml