1. Admissions Office sets new record
Once again the Office of Admissions has received an all-time record number of applications, beating the 2005 record of 4,506. To date, the College has received 4,627 applications for entrance in September 2007. The number will continue to grow as transfer applications arrive in early March. Applicants hail from 47 states and 89 countries. Applications from U.S. multicultural students totaled 562, an increase of 21 percent from last year's record high of 464. The Admissions staff wants to thank the students, alumni and families who helped in outreach efforts — more than 3,000 students were interviewed! Join Bates admissions staff in April in welcoming admitted students at receptions in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

2. Mount David Summit highlights student achievement across disciplines
More than 300 Bates students will take part in the sixth Mount David Summit, the college's annual celebration of student academic achievement. The event opens with ceremonies at 2:30 p.m. Friday, March 30, in the Perry Atrium of Pettengill Hall, where many of the day's events will take place. www.bates.edu/x156353.xml

3. Video of congressman's 'green tour' of Bates
"What I see happening here at Bates is definitely going in the right direction," said U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, during a "green tour" of Bates Feb. 20. Michaud saw a bench-scale biofuels process that converts used vegetable oil from Dining Services to a fuel that can be burned in furnaces for heat; heard how Bates is building its new student housing and dining commons to high standards in energy efficiency; and saw a dining services "scrim line," where scrap food is scraped and retained for recycling at a local pig farm. www.bates.edu/x156037.xml

4. Imaging and Computing Center comes online
Now open in a sleekly renovated section of Coram Library is the Bates College Imaging and Computing Center. Under construction since July 2006, the center enhances Bates' ability to teach visual presentation and interpretive skills that are nowadays as much the scientist's preserve as the artist's. Occupying Coram's first floor, the center assembles high-tech gear — from optical microscopes to large-format printers to 20 powerful black-cased Dells in a computing center — that enables students and faculty to capture, interpret and present in visual form all manner of information. www.bates.edu/x154445.xml www.bates.edu/x154949.xml

5. Class of 2007 chooses Peer Mentoring Program as Senior Gift
Each year, Bates' graduating class raises money for a Senior Gift. This year the Class of 2007 has chosen to raise money for a Peer Mentoring Program that will help attract and retain a more diverse student population. www.bates.edu/x155895.xml

6. Trade-agreement analysis wins prestigious book award for Bates sociologist
The Social Construction of Free Trade: The European Union, NAFTA, and Mercosur, an analysis written by Bates College sociologist Francesco Duina, has been named an "Outstanding Academic Title" by the editors of Choice magazine, published by the Association of College & Research Libraries. At 7 p.m. Friday, March 23, Duina is scheduled to present the book in a store appearance at Books Etc., 38 Exchange St., Portland, Maine. www.bates.edu/x155881.xml

7. Construction Update
It was a milestone of sorts for the new Commons project: the first use of plastic wrap in the kitchen. www.bates.edu/x156248.xml

8. Bates, Maine Music Society gather 260 musicians for all-Brahms concert
In a landmark event, Bates and the Maine Music Society will muster an ensemble of some 260 musicians for a performance of music by Johannes Brahms, including his monumental "Requiem," at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 31, in the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, 27 Bartlett St. It's the first-ever collaboration between the music society and the College. Choral groups from the high schools of Lewiston and Auburn are taking part in the program, as well, and Maine Gov. John Baldacci is scheduled to make opening remarks. www.bates.edu/x155880.xml

9. Endowment fund to support poetry is established in honor of Tagliabue
Bates has established the John Tagliabue Poetry Fund as a permanent endowment fund to support poetry at Bates. Tagliabue was a member of the Bates English faculty from 1953 to 1989. Details on the Tagliabue Poetry Fund are available at: www.bates.edu/tagliabue.xml

10. Did You Know?
The Bates Student Athlete Advisory Committee sponsored a contest to name the student cheering section at Bates athletic events. The vote was taken during a February dinner in Commons. Nominees were Cat Attack Pack, Cat Country, Cat Pack, Garnet Gauntlet, Garnet Incarnate, Bobcat Brigade, Bobcat Den, Paw Pack, The Vantage Point, The Catalyst and The Litter Box. The winner: Garnet Gauntlet, which squeezed past The Litter Box by just a few votes.

11. Bates People in the News
Quoting Alumni and Parent Programs Director Kimberly Hokanson, The Wall Street Journal used Bates as an example of colleges that don't cook their alumni-giving rates to boost their college survey rankings. For its series "The College Admissions Game," National Public Radio spoke with admissions dean Wylie Mitchell and Danielle Rettinger '07 about the SATs. And across the Atlantic, the prestigious medical journal The Lancet published a series of essays resulting from a discussion of the "medicalization" phenomenon, a discussion convened by Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies Rebecca Herzig. www.bates.edu/bates-in-the-news.xml