Closing Dec. 13 is a major photographic exhibition at the Bates College Museum of Art offering alternative perspectives on the intriguing, dynamic Chinese cityscape. "Stairway to Heaven: From Chinese Streets to Monuments and Skyscrapers" showcases work by 17 Chinese artists who examine how economic reform, a new influx of personal wealth and rapid industrialization have changed the urban environment.

A break in training for Canadian Olympic gold medal rower Andrew Byrnes '05 provided a chance for current Bates rowers and other members of the college community to honor him with a banquet December 7th. Also on hand was Mike Ferry '97, the former Bates rower and 2000 U.S. Olympian.

Following its autumn-long appearance on Park Avenue in Manhattan, an eponymous metal sculpture of a Mao jacket was installed on Bates' own busy thoroughfare, Alumni Walk, on Dec. 5.

Frank Glazer, one of Maine's foremost pianists, performs music by composers spanning three centuries at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. The concert is open to the public free of charge, though tickets are required. For reservations, please call 207-786-6135 or email olinarts@bates.edu.

An expert in expressions of the ancient Yoruba religion in the African diaspora offers a lecture at Bates at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, in the Benjamin Mays Center, 95 Russell St. The speaker is Marta Moreno Vega, who teaches Afro-Caribbean religions and Afro Latino/a studies at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Open to the public at no cost, the lecture inaugurates the Arturo Schomburg Afro-Latino Speaker Series, presented by the Multicultural Affairs office at Bates. For more information, please call 207-786-8376.

The Brooks Quimby Debate Council recently sent six debaters to the prestigious Cambridge University Cleary Gottlieb Intervarsity Tournament, hosted by Cambridge Union Society.

President Elaine Tuttle Hansen provides more insight on the College's financial management and planning strategies

The Global Lens 2008 film series, a touring program of narrative feature films from Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia, concludes at Bates College this week with 7 p.m. screenings of the Chinese drama "Luxury Car" on Wednesday, Dec. 3, and the Indonesian film "Opera Jawa" on Thursday, Dec. 4, both in Olin Arts Center's Room 105.

Associate Professor of Psychology Michael Sargent explores the inconsistency between our stated, moral principles and the reasons that actually shape the judgments we make.

Thomas Wenzel, Charles A. Dana Professor of Chemistry, received a nearly $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to create an entirely online undergraduate curriculum in analytical chemistry that's distinctive in two ways.

Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap is one of three panelists who will discuss terrorism, homeland security and civil liberties in a Bates College presentation at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave.

One of the campus community's favorite gatherings, Bates' annual Harvest Meal is nearly upon us. The buffet dinner starts at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, in Commons. Dessert and a "Trashion Fashion Show," a green-minded event where Bates people display apparel they have made from discarded materials, follows in the Gray Athletic Building.

The Global Lens 2008 film series, a touring program of narrative feature films from Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia, continues in Bates College's Olin Arts Center this week with a 7 p.m. screening of the 2004 Indian drama "Let the Wind Blow" on Wednesday, Nov. 19, in Room 104.

The local NBC-TV affiliate, WCSH6, was there when local girls in grades 5 through 8 attended a fair at Bates intended to encourage engagement with math and the sciences.

The Global Lens 2008 film series, a touring program of narrative feature films from Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia, continues in Bates College's Olin Arts Center this week with a 7 p.m. screenings of the 2003 Lebanese drama "The Kite" on Wednesday, Nov. 12, in Room 104.

The Bates College Modern Dance Company performs works developed at the college by renowned guest choreographers in three concerts in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.: 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15; 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16; and 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17.

Directed by John Corrie, the Bates College Choir performs Benjamin Britten's popular "Ceremony of Carols" in concerts at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 15 and 16, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The Downtown Education Collaborative (DEC) officially opens its doors with a photographic exhibition about Lewiston from 4 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at its 219 Lisbon St. storefront center.

Peter Wong, a professor of mathematics at Bates, has received a grant of nearly $110,000 to support his research in topology.

The Global Lens 2008 film series, a touring program of narrative feature films from Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia, continues at the Olin Arts Center, Bates College, this week with 7 p.m. screenings of the 2006 Iranian drama 'The Fish Fall in Love' on Wednesday, Nov. 5, in Room 104, and 'Kept and Dreamless' (Argentina, 2005) on Thursday, Nov. 6, in Room 105.

Paul Bloom, a professor of psychology at Yale, visits Bates College to offer a lecture exploring how humans think of bodies and souls at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, in the Keck Classroom (G52), Pettengill Hall, 4 Andrews Road.

Parents & Famiy Weekend 2008, held Oct. 3-5, offered a range of activities as well as a chance for students to re-connect with families and friends.

Spirits were high for the annual Bates Homecoming Weekend.

Hailed by The Boston Globe for its "fiercely committed performances," the Parker String Quartet performs in a Bates College concert, also featuring renowned pianist Frank Glazer, at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. A day later, an ensemble including members of the Borromeo String Quartet performs.

In a letter to the Bates community, President Elaine Tuttle Hansen outlines the College's financial management strategies, policies and priorities in the face of global economic turbulence.

Bates College senior Sulochana Dissanayake of Pita Kotte, Sri Lanka, directs the Bates theater department production of A Lie of the Mind, Sam Shepard's realistic portrayal of two American families.

The science around food, said Omnivore's Dilemma author Michael Pollan to a rapt Bates College audience on Oct. 27, "is basically where surgery was in 1650." Then he asked, "Are you ready to get on the table?"

Bates will screen "For the Love of Small Scale" and "Fowl Play," documentaries made by Bates students about Maine food producers, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, in Room 104 of the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.

Lina Kong, a sophomore from Rose Hill, Mauritius, presents her Phillips Fellowship-funded research in a talk titled "Crosscultural Study of Mauritian and Chinese Cultures through the Hakka Linkage" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, in Bates College's Skelton Lounge, Chase Hall, 56 Campus Ave.

The Global Lens 2008 film series, a touring program of narrative feature films from Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia, resumes at Bates College with the 2006 Argentinian drama "The Custodian" at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, Room 105 of the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.

The year 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of naturalist Charles Darwin and the 150th publication anniversary of The Origin of Species, the book in which Darwin set forth the theory of evolution. During the 2008-09 academic year, Bates College and the Lewiston Public Library are commemorating these anniversaries with "Darwin at 200," a series of events illustrating the importance of Darwin's theory to our understanding of life on Earth and to human culture.

The Global Lens 2008 film series, a touring program of narrative feature films from Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia, resumes at Bates College with the 2006 Filipino drama The Bet Collector at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, Room 104 of the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.

A concert featuring a saxophonist known for his work with banjoist Bela Fleck and a performance by pianist Frank Glazer and violinist Curtis Macomber highlight the Bates College calendar in the coming days.

Among the attractions at the forthcoming Bates' Homecoming Weekend is "Faces of Bates Across the Decades," a panel discussion exploring and celebrating experiences of the college's international alumni and alumni of color. The hour-long discussion begins at 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, in the Benjamin Mays Center, 95 Russell St. A reception follows. For more information, please contact Ashley Jewell in the Office of Alumni and Parent Programs at 207-786-6487 or ajewell@bates.edu.

Renowned Maine artist Dahlov Ipcar will be signing books to celebrate the Islandport Press' reprinting of The Little Fisherman, which she illustrated, from 10 a.m. until noon Thursday, Oct. 23, at the Bates College Museum of Art, 75 Russell St.

The Harward Center for Community Partnerships continues its 2008-09 Civic Forum series with a student panel discussion on possible outcomes and implications of the upcoming presidential election.

Newspaper columnist Bill Nemitz and two Iraq war veterans with political aspirations, Adam Cote and Alex Cornell du Houx, will take part in a Bates College panel discussion about the impacts of the Iraq War at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13, in the Keck Classroom (G52), Pettengill Hall. Titled "Revisiting Iraq: Five Years Later" and sponsored by the New World Coalition, a student organization at Bates, the event is open to the public at no cost.

Historian of science at the University of California, San Diego, Naomi Oreskes gives a lecture on the science of climate change and the notion of scientific consensus at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

The Edmund S. Muskie Oral History Project, a decade-long Bates College effort to preserve memories and impressions of people who knew the late U.S. senator and secretary of state, has been chosen to receive an important award from the national professional organization of oral historians.

Dances created by students and by visiting choregrapher Kellie Lynch are on the program for a Bates College Modern Dance Company concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St. Taking place during the college's annual Parents & Family Weekend, the event is open to the public at no cost. For more information, please call 207-786-6161 or visit the online box office.

Philosopher, author and producer Sam Keen gives a presentation titled "The Lasting Appeal of War and the Quest for a Moral and Erotic Alternative" at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9, in Chase Hall Lounge.

Bates College sophomore Carolyn Silva-Sanchez invites the Lewiston-Auburn community to see the judging of a contest for creative uses of recyclable bottles and cans. The 14 projects created by Bates student teams in the "Reuse, Rebuild, Reward!" competition will be displayed on the college's Alumni Walk, just west of the dining Commons, Central Avenue, from 11:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, coinciding with Parents & Families Weekend at Bates. Judging begins at 12:30 p.m.

Throughout October, the second floor of the New Dining Commons at Bates will house a traveling exhibit of photographs that celebrate the female athlete. Director of Athletics Kevin McHugh’s efforts brought to Bates a traveling collection of 15 photographs that are a subset of the major exhibit “Game Face: What Does a Female Athlete Look Like?” The original full exhibit has toured museums nationwide after opening at the Smithsonian.

President Elaine Tuttle Hansen has announced three appointments to the Bates College Board of Trustees: Steven A. Brown of Brookline, Mass., Sarah Risley Pearson of Evanston, Ill., and Jeremy M. Sclar, also of Brookline.

With topics including the effects of ethnic Chinese migration on Tibet and the outlook for farming in Norway, Bates College students who have conducted projects abroad supported by the college's Otis and Phillips fellowships will discuss their findings in evening presentations throughout October.

During four days in September, the Bates College Museum of Art will host both the world premiere of a documentary about artist Marsden Hartley and a symposium about Maine folk art.

Paul Rozin, a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, presents his findings on the moral, psychological and social factors involved in food choices in a lecture at Bates at 4:15 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29, in the Keck Classroom (G52) in Pettengill Hall, 4 Andrews Road.

The Harward Center for Community Partnerships inaugurates its 2008-09 Civic Forum series with a talk by a leading scholar-activist on democratic renewal and civic engagement.

Gary Taylor, George Matthew Edgar Professor of English at Florida State University, discusses "Shakespeare and the Origins of White Literary Criticism" at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, in Chase Hall Lounge, 53 Campus Ave.

A troupe celebrating Argentina's tango and a master of the modern musical mash-up offer decidely distinctive concert choices at Bates College this weekend.

For the seventh year, a team of Bates College students is coordinating a program that matches fellow students with volunteer opportunities in the Lewiston-Auburn region. The seven Student Volunteer Fellows at Bates during the 2008-09 academic year are seniors Jessica Adelman, Hiu Man Christine Chiu, Anne Fischer, Erin Gilligan and Julie Miller-Hendry; and sophomores Chelsea Pennucci and Diane Saunders.

A biologist who made national news with his research into the effects of a common pesticide on frogs will speak at Bates College at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave. Tyrone Hayes' talk is titled "From Silent Spring to Silent Night: What Do Frogs Tell Us About Human Health?" The first event in the 2008-09 College Lecture Series at Bates, the lecture is open to the public at no cost.

Michael Pollan, whose best-selling books scrutinizing the impacts of the "food-industrial complex" have fueled a nationwide fascination with Americans' food choices, speaks at Bates College at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27, in the College Chapel, College Street.

The year 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of naturalist Charles Darwin and the 150th publication anniversary of The Origin of Species, the book in which Darwin set forth the theory of evolution. During the 2008-09 academic year, Bates College and the Lewiston Public Library are commemorating these anniversaries with "Darwin at 200," a series of events illustrating the importance of Darwin's theory to our understanding of life on Earth and to human culture.

Craig Morgan Teicher '01 returns to Bates to read from his award-winning book of poetry, Brenda is in the Room and Other Poems, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, in Skelton Lounge, Chase Hall, 56 Campus Ave.

Bates' purchase of local food is helping Maine farmers and food providers. The investment earnings from a $2.5 million donation earmarked for Dining Services is being used strictly to buy more locally grown natural and organic foods.

Dance and song come together in two upcoming performances at Bates' Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. The remarkable dancer-choreographer-singer Janis Brenner offers a solo performance in Olin at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17. The following week, the 2008-09 Bates College Concert Series continues with a performance by the tango troupe called Pablo Aslan's Avantango at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26.

If any of the 550 or so members of the Class of 2012 wondered yesterday just why they were at Bates College, their academic home for the next four years, Margaret Imber had a straightforward answer. "You are here to fall in love," said Imber, featured speaker at the College's Convocation ceremony and an associate professor of classical and medieval studies.

Bates College has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation to purchase seven scientific instruments that will enhance interdisciplinary collaborations among science faculty and research opportunities for students.

Ubiratan D’Ambrósio, an authority on the fields of ethnomathematics, math education and the history of mathematics, offers two talks at Bates College on Sept. 18. D’Ambrosio offers an informal look at 19th-century Brazilian mathematician Joaquim Gomes de Souza at 4:30 p.m. His second talk, Bates' annual Sampson Lecture, is titled "Ethnomathematics in a Global World" and begins at 7:30 p.m.

Led by a musician whom The New Yorker called "one of the most gifted bassists of his generation," the Avishai Cohen Trio opens Bates' 2008 performance season at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. The concert kicks off a season of performances at Bates that include dance, theater and musical offerings ranging from jazz to classical to the Top 40 mashups of Girl Talk.

Bates College graduate Andrew Byrnes and the Canada men's eight captured the gold medal on Sunday at the Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park, Canada's first medal in the event since 1992. Byrnes becomes the first Bates grad to win an Olympic medal.

Students at Bates worked this summer with visiting biology professor Ronald Barry to collect and analyze data about ticks that carry Lyme disease. Two biology majors, senior Elizabeth Rogers of Mansfield, Mass., and junior Nelish Pradhan of Kathmandu, Nepal, worked with Barry.

Despite wet weather, a steady trickle of Bates faculty and staff arrived between Pettengill Hall and the new dining Commons Aug. 7 to test drive two low-speed electric vehicles: a four-seater car and a small truck.

Showcasing diverse styles and perspectives, Different Voices features modern, jazz and improvisational works by U.S., Indian and Asian artists in residence at the Bates Dance Festival. Different Voices takes place at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Aug. 7 and 8, in Schaeffer Theatre, 365 College St., Bates College.

Ryan Bavis, an assistant professor of biology at Bates, has received a grant from a division of the National Institutes of Health for respiratory research to be completed during the next three years.

The 2008 Bates College Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series concludes with a performance by the Blue Hill Brass Quintet at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, in the Florence Keigwin Amphitheater at the college's Lake Andrews.

Edwin Thompson, a former Division I and professional baseball player from Maine, has been named head baseball coach at Bates College.

The 2008 Bates College Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series continues with a performance by the eclectic American folk duo Slattery and Stewart at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 31, in the Florence Keigwin Amphitheater at the college's Lake Andrews.

Known for introducing audiences to America's most promising talents, the Bates Dance Festival presents Zoe Scofield & Juniper Shuey, Seattle-based conceptual artists who perform the Maine premiere of "the devil you know is better than the devil you don't."

Squeezing the equivalent of two semester-long courses into just six weeks, the Hughes Summer Scholars Program is a real academic workout for the first-year students involved. "But the program really focuses on giving support and making sure that we have the resources we need to succeed," says Reid Christian, of Pownal, Maine, one of the 11 Bates students taking part in the second annual program.

The Bates Dance Festival presents a weeklong focus on the extraordinary performing arts of contemporary Africa. The week includes panel discussions with the artists, a screening of the acclaimed film "Movement (R)evolution," talks with noted dance scholar and filmmaker Joan Frosch, and "Africa/NOW," a performance by Nora Chipaumire and Gregory Maqoma, two exceptional African artists.

Shawna-Kaye Lester of St. Catherine, Jamaica, a 2008 graduate of Bates College, has won a prestigious and lucrative graduate scholarship from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.

The Bates College organization that cultivates solidarity among students of African descent, Amandla! has announced its officers for the 2008-09 academic year.

The 2008 Bates College Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series continues with a performance by family entertainer Mary Kaye and her sidekick, Professor Von Wienerschnitzel, at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 24, in the Florence Keigwin Amphitheater at the college's Lake Andrews.

The 2008 Bates College Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series continues with a performance by the world music duo Okbari and special guest Carl Dimow at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 17, in the Florence Keigwin Amphitheater at the college's Lake Andrews.

Hailed by critics and audiences alike as one of the hottest new troupe emerging on the national scene, Keigwin + Company returns to the Bates Dance Festival to perform two Maine premieres.

The Bates Dance Festival presents its 26th season of public events, July 15 through Aug. 9, 2008, on the campus of Bates College.

As part of a program to raise aspirations and increase awareness of college opportunities, 10 high school students from Maine's Wabanaki tribes visited Bates, Bowdoin and Colby colleges over three days in early July.

The New England folk music trio Hope Hoffman and Kittlish open the 2008 Bates College Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series with a performance at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 10, in the Florence Keigwin Amphitheater at the college's Lake Andrews.

The eighth annual Clean Sweep, the Bates College "garage sale" of appliances, furnishings, electronics and other goods donated by departing students, raised nearly $12,000 in proceeds that will be divided among 14 local nonprofit organizations.

Bates College has appointed Kelly Kerner as vice president for college advancement, a role that oversees the college's fundraising, alumni relations and communications operations.

Jonathan R. Furbush, assistant men’s basketball coach at Springfield College and former assistant coach and player at Bates College, has been named the new men’s basketball coach at Bates.

Commuters aren't usually encouraged to tool along with eyes closed, ears filled with Sinatra or The Dresden Dolls, and both hands off the wheel. But some 200 lucky Mainers can commute that way safely if they wish -- and help out the planet at the same time.

Bates' eighth annual Clean Sweep sale takes place this year from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 14, at the college's Underhill Arena, 145 Russell St. The sale is open to the public.

As the 2008 Beijing Olympics put China in the global spotlight this summer, a photographic exhibition at the Bates College Museum of Art will offer alternative perspectives on that intriguing, dynamic nation. "Stairway to Heaven: From Chinese Streets to Monuments and Skyscrapers" showcases work by 17 Chinese artists who examine how economic reform, a new influx of personal wealth and rapid industrialization have changed the urban environment. The exhibit appears from June 7 through Dec. 14.

An exhibition of delicate works on paper and handcrafted document boxes from the 18th and 19th centuries Maine opens Saturday, June 7, at the Bates College Museum of Art, located in Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St. "Flourishing Folk: New England Decorated Works on Paper and Document Boxes from the Deborah N. Isaacson Trust" represents Bates in the Maine Folk Art Trail, a collaborative effort among 11 museums and historical societies statewide to guide visitors to the best of Maine folk art -- work produced by ordinary people without professional training.

"This college's commitment to service and social change is in its DNA," literary scholar Pauline Yu told the graduating Bates College Class of 2008. "And now it's in yours."

Rebecca Herzig, associate professor in the women and gender studies program at Bates College, received a $57,344 National Science Foundation grant in April for work to be completed in the coming year.

Robert Feintuch, a member of the Bates College studio art faculty who is celebrated for his droll, evocative paintings, has received a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship.

Twenty individuals and organizations that received the second annual Bates College Harward Center for Community Partnership Awards, were recently recognized in a celebration at the Edmund S. Muskie Archives.

Three Bates College seniors and one alumna received 2008-09 grants for postgraduate research from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Dana Burgard of Kinnelon, N.J.; Allison Caine, a member of the Bates class of 2007 from Bar Harbor; Caitlin deWilde of East Hampton, Conn.; and Brandt Miller of Westfield, N.J., plan to pursue comprehensive studies in Europe, South America and Asia.

Bates commemorates the 14th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda with a screening of a new documentary film by genocide survivor Gilbert Ndahayo at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

The brackets are set for the eight teams who will compete for the NCAA men's tennis championship at Bates May 13-15. So are the 32 singles players and 16 doubles pairs who will play for those titles May 16-18, and they include Bates' Ben Stein and Amrit Rupasinghe.

The Harward Center for Community Partnerships, in conjunction with Alumni and Parent Programs and the Office of Career Services, presents a public interest career forum for current Bates students entitled "Beyond the Bubble: Batesies in Public Work" from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, in the Benjamin Mays Center.

Hungary's leading playwright, György Spiró, offers a talk called "Trends in Contemporary Eastern European Drama" at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 13, in Skelton Lounge, Chase Hall, at Bates College, 56 Campus Ave.

"Selfishness and greed have toppled many great empires in the past," Southern Poverty Law Center co-founder Morris Dees told a Bates audience on May 8. Unless fairness for all people prevails, he said, frustration among the disadvantaged here could rise to a tragic degree. "One day, there may not be one skyscraper left in this nation."

The Brooks Quimby Debate Council recently sent six Bates College debaters to the American Parliamentary Debate Association's national tournament at MIT, where teammates Brendan Jarboe '08 of Acton, Mass., and Matt Marienthal of Chicago advanced to the tournament's octofinals.

Morris Dees, founder and chief trial counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center, will deliver a keynote address, "With Justice for All in Our Multicultural Nation," at 4 p.m. May 8 in the Bates College Chapel. Hosted by Bates College President Elaine Tuttle Hansen, this second annual Presidential Symposium on "Unswerving Values, Changing Times" is free and open to the public.

Scientist and playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak, a Mellon Learning Associate at Bates College, will discuss his critically acclaimed play, Baghdad Wedding, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

Award-winning poets Pamela Alexander '70 and X. J. Kennedy P'86 and '94 read from their work in celebration of the inauguration of the John Tagliabue Poetry Fund at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 4, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave., Bates College. A book signing and reception will immediately follow the reading, and the public is invited to attend at no charge.

Bates College seniors and alumni who applied to law schools for matriculation in autumn 2007 enjoyed a 74 percent acceptance rate, vs. the national average of 66 percent.

Jennifer-Kate Linton, a Bates senior from West Redding, Conn., has achieved a rare distinction: She has been accepted by seven different postgraduate programs in veterinary medicine, including five in the United States.

Yellow "Bates Field Day" T-shirts could be seen bouncing all over the Bates campus on Sunday, brightening a mostly overcast and slightly drizzly spring day. Brighter still were the smiles on the faces of some 200 local children and 100 Bates student-athletes, who clearly had a ball playing an array of games together for an afternoon.

Spring has sprung at Bates College, and students are taking advantage of the weather by flinging Frisbees on the Quad, relaxing by the Puddle . . . or digging for bodies at three campus "crime scenes" during Bates' annual five-week Short Term. Short Term, an integral part of Bates tradition since 1966, began as a way to enable students to graduate in three years instead of four. But it quickly grew to become one of the most beloved times of campus life, effortlessly blending dynamic creativity with academic rigor.

The Bates College dance program hosts "Home and Away," a performance featuring dance program director Carol Dilley and colleagues from Portland and Boston, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, in Bates' Marcy Plavin Studio Theater, on the second floor of Merrill Gymnasium, 141 Russell St.

Jessica Adelman, a Bates junior from Waban, Mass., is one of seven undergraduate students across the state to receive the Maine Campus Compact's 2008 Heart and Soul Award. The award, now in its seventh year, honors students who have demonstrated a commitment to using campus-based resources to address community needs.

Bates College awarded Androscoggin Scholarships for the 2007-08 academic year to four local students, including a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bates established the Androscoggin Scholarship in 2004 to increase financial support for its students from Lewiston, Auburn and surrounding Androscoggin County communities.

Spring's happy arrival after a long winter manifests itself in myriad ways, which is one way to explain the giddy reactions to the new dining Commons, open since Feb. 24. As one smitten student blogger noted, "If it were legal to marry an inanimate object I clearly would have tied the knot by now."

A plan by three Bates students to offer Tanzanian street children a survival alternative to a pervasive sex-for-food trade has won a $10,000 award from the 100 Projects for Peace program.

Many members of the Bates and local communities came to Pettengill Hall on March 28 to view and enjoy the sixth annual Mount David Summit.

A philanthropic leader, a molecular biologist, a climate researcher and a literary scholar will receive honorary degrees and speak at Bates College's 142nd commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 25, on the college's historic Quad, at Campus Avenue and College Street.

Seven studio art majors at Bates College show work from their yearlong thesis projects in the annual Senior Exhibition, which opens with a reception at 7 p.m. Friday, April 4, in the Bates College Museum of Art, 75 Russell St. The exhibition runs through May 24 in the museum's Bates Gallery. Opening at the same time is "The Kimono and Traditional Japanese Culture: Investigating Kimono through Ukiyo-e in the Bates College Art Museum Collection," which runs through July 19 in the museum's Synergy Seminar Gallery.

Curated by a Bates senior, an exhibition of woodblock prints highlighting the roles, variety and importance of kimono patterns in the Japanese genre called "ukiyo-e" opens with a public reception at 7 p.m. Friday, April 4, at the Bates College Museum of Art, 75 Russell St.

A Bates graduate from Chicago is one of 49 students across the country to receive a 2008 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, a $25,000 grant that supports a year of independent research abroad. Jordan Williams, who graduated from Bates in December 2007, will use the award to research the graffiti cultures in Germany, Brazil and South Africa.

Student choreographers will put their work to the test of public performance in Bates College Modern Dance Company concerts at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 28; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 29 and 30; and 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 31. The company has assembled two distinct programs and will perform each of them twice. The four performances take place in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

The seventh Mount David Summit, Bates College's annual celebration of student academic achievement, begins with festivities at 2:30 p.m. Friday, March 28, in Perry Atrium, Pettengill Hall, 4 Andrews Road (Alumni Walk).

The 76-voice Bates College Choir, accompanied by a 21-piece orchestra and directed by John Corrie, presents the second and third parts of Handel's popular oratorio "Messiah" in performances at 8 p.m. Friday, March 28, and Sunday, March 30, in Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Barbara Brown Taylor, Butman Professor of Religion at Piedmont College, will give a presentation titled "Sabbath: Self-Care or the Mending of the World?" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 2, in the Bates College Chapel.

The Harward Center for Community Partnerships has awarded three Publicly Engaged Academic Project grants to Bates faculty members, the first of two rounds of awards for 2007-08

Members of Bates College's award-winning Brooks Quimby Debate Council present a lively public discussion about censorship and First Amendment rights at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m. in the college's Olin Arts Center Concert Hall.

The Institute for Responsible Citizenship has selected Anthony Phillips, Bates Class of 2009, as one of 24 young men to participate in its summer leadership program in Washington, D.C.

The Right Rev. Steven Charleston, president and dean of Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., recently visited Bates College to speak and present the annual William Stringfellow Awards in Justice and Peace.

Jonathan Adler '00, who researches intersections between psychotherapy, personal identity and the stories we tell about ourselves, offers a lecture on his work at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 18, in Bates College's Pettengill Hall, Keck Classroom (G52), 4 Andrews Road (Alumni Walk).

George W. Cole, formerly a top executive in the field of interactive voice technology and now head of a boat service supporting a Maine island community, has joined the Bates College Board of Trustees.

The Bates College Office of Multicultural Affairs presents "LOVE," an exhibition, lecture and reception featuring Arturo Lindsay, professor of art and art history at Atlanta's Spelman College.

Amandla!, the African American student organization at Bates College, presents its seventh annual Black Campus Conference on Saturday, March 15.

Bates senior Noah Gauthier claimed first place in the men's weight throw Friday at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships, winning his first national championship and the first by a Bates athlete since 2006.

Ruth Charney, vice president of the American Mathematical Society, presents two lectures at Bates on Friday, March 14. Charney gives a talk titled "The Large Scale Geometry of Groups" at 4:30 p.m. in Room 104, Hathorn Hall, 3 Andrews Road (Alumni Walk). In the college's annual Richard W. Sampson Lecture, she addresses the topic "From Robotics to Geometry: Building Models with Cubes" at 7:30 p.m. in the Keck Classroom (G52), Pettengill Hall, 4 Andrews Road.

About a year after visiting Bates to see how the college is making itself more sustainable, U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud returned on March 7 for lunch and a tour of Bates' new, "green" dining Commons.

At Bates, a new group of male students, faculty and staff of African and Latino descent take their name — the Mays Men — from the revered Morehouse College president Benjamin Elijah Mays '20, a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr.

"I like to meet people where they're at," says roots musician Corey Harris '91. At the moment, Harris is talking about how he will teach his master class the next day. But the quote also does a good job describing how Harris' week as a Bates learning associate played out.

About 1,000 Bates people put the new dining Commons to the test over dinner on Monday, Feb. 25, Dining Services director Christine Schwartz estimated the following day. It was the first dinner served at the facility with the entire campus community back from winter break. (The Commons had served the first board plan meal Sunday night and offered a limited menu during break week.) Schwartz was pleased — and her staff, she said, loves their new workplace.

For the second year in a row, the Corporation for National and Community Service named Bates College to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction for exemplary service efforts and service to disadvantaged youth.

Martin Andrucki, Dana Professor of Theater at Bates, directs the college theater department production of "Measure for Measure," William Shakespeare's dark comedy about sex, public morality and private hypocrisy.

With the theme "Musical Legacies of South and Southeast Asia," Bates College students and faculty, as well as internationally esteemed performers, present the college's World Music Week from March 5 through March 15.

F. Sherwood "Sherry" Rowland, who shared a 1995 Nobel Prize for his ozone-layer research, discusses his work in atmospheric chemistry and environmental advocacy in a Bates College event at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave.

Jeffrey Brown, a senior correspondent for PBS's NewsHour, discusses his work and the state of the media in a Bates College presentation at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 5, in Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Ave.

Musician Corey Harris, who played a key role in Martin Scorsese's 2003 PBS television series The Blues, performs at Bates at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The Harward Center for Community Partnerships hosts the third and final installment of its Civic Forum series at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 27, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives with a panel titled " Reimagining the North Woods: The Changing Environment of Maine."

The Bates College men's squash team defeated the University of Rochester Sunday at Harvard for their their first Hoehn Cup and the No. 9 final ranking in the College Squash Association. Meanwhile Ricky Weisskopf '08 earned college squash's highest individual honor, the Skillman Award.

Stephen Lattanzi, a Bates College senior from Winchester, Mass., is one of two winners of a regional competition in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, held Jan. 29- Feb. 3 at Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Mass.

With the official opening just weeks away, the new dining Commons passed a milestone early on Feb. 7: the arrival of its first truckload of food. The Performance Food Group semi backed into the Commons' truck bay, on Central Avenue, shortly after dawn as an overnight snowfall tapered off.

The 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance at Bates College focused on "Modernizing King: Old Roots, New Struggle." Each year, Bates observes King's birthday by suspending regular classes and focusing community attention on special programming throughout the day.

In winning the 2008 Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching, writer-in-residence Robert Farnsworth won praise from current and former students, including two alums who are prizewinning poets themselves. Farnsworth will deliver the Kroepsch address, "Psst!: Poems Teach Themselves," on Feb. 13.

The Bates Energy Action Movement and the Sierra Student Coalition, the student chapter of the Sierra Club, co-sponsor the Maine State Climate Summit at Bates College from Friday, Feb. 8, through Sunday, Feb. 10. Students attending high schools, colleges and universities in Maine are invited to take advantage of this opportunity to discuss and act on issues and ideas, ranging from wind power to eco-art, that pertain to climate change.

Bates College presents Harry Allen, a New York jazzman whose tenor sax work was called "nothing less than perfect" by guitarist John Pizzarelli, in concert at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Paul D. Miller, the musician, essayist and media artist also known as DJ Spooky, presents a live performance of his internationally renowned multimedia project "Rebirth of a Nation" at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, at Lewiston Middle School, 75 Central Ave.

Michael Hyde, winner of the 2005 Katherine Ann Porter Prize in Short Fiction for his short story collection What Are You Afraid Of? (University of North Texas Press, 2005), reads from his work at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, in Skelton Lounge, Chase Hall.

The Bates College Office of Multicultural Affairs presents a lecture and panel discussion titled "Does Your Identity Fit Your Genes?" at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 4, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archive.

Bates College has been awarded $1 million to enhance the integration of scholarship and research into the lives of the college's 180 faculty members. The grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City will be used specifically to support year-long sabbaticals. Given the intense focus on teaching and collegial service at Bates, these leaves for research are essential to the scholarly vitality of the faculty.

To expand dialogue among Bates College students about Palestinian-Israeli relationships, the Office of the Multifaith Chaplaincy announces a two-week series of events, "Art and Alterity: Beyond the Other as Enemy in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict."

In recent weeks we've learned what Dining Services director Christine Schwartz likes about the new dining Commons. Now it's the turn of Paul Farnsworth, Bates' project manager for the building.

A Bates consensus emerged after the January 1998 ice storm. "It takes a true sense of community to survive a disaster such as this one," in the words of the editors of the 1998 Mirror.

A slide show reviews 2007 at Bates

The Rev. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., Morehouse College professor of religion, is the keynote speaker for the 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances at Bates College. Classes at the college are canceled and special programming is scheduled throughout the day with an emphasis on the theme "Modernizing King: Old Roots, New Struggles."

The Harward Center for Community Partnerships hosts the second installation of its Civic Forum series at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 16, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave., with a panel titled " Reimagining Globalism: Maine in the World's Economy."

A student serving on a food advisory committee once told Christine Schwartz, Dining Services' director, that anticipating a meal at the current Memorial Commons is like getting psyched up for battle. "You pretty much have to fight your way through Commons now" because of the way the space is arranged, Schwartz said. All that will change when the new Commons opens in February.

Due to deteriorating road conditions caused by the ongoing snow storm, the administrative offices of the college will close at 1 p.m. today, Jan. 14.

The Brooks Quimby Debate Council hosts an American Parliamentary Debate Association Tournament at Bates College, Jan. 18 and 19.