1. Gift of $2.5 million helps inspire food-awareness initiative at Bates College
An unusual donation of $2.5 million to Bates College has boosted the college's already high use of local, organic and natural food. www.bates.edu/go/news/2008-09-01a

Check out ways that Bates students, faculty, staff and alumni are part of a movement to pay attention to the food we eat and the food systems that we use. Join the discussion on a blog at the Bates Contemplates Food Web site. www.bates.edu/go/news/2008-09-01b

2. College commitment to sciences helps land instrumentation award
Bates College has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation for the purchase of scientific instruments that will enhance interdisciplinary collaborations among science faculty and research opportunities for student www.bates.edu/go/news/2008-09-02

3. Parent, alumni weekends bookend October
Please plan to join us Oct. 3-5 for Parents & Family Weekend. Parents, grandparents, siblings and friends are invited to sit in on a class, talk with a coach, eat in the new dining Commons, cheer on a Bates team and dive into life on campus. www.bates.edu/go/news/2008-09-03a

On Homecoming Weekend Oct. 24-26, alumni can plan for a volunteer leadership conference; attend "Faces of Bates Across the Decades" to learn about and respond to Bates' recommitment to diversity and inclusion; attend a Reunion planning workshop for classes ending in '4 and '9; and enjoy the 50th anniversary celebration of the Merimanders a cappella group. More Homecoming weekend activities. www.bates.edu/go/news/2008-09-03b

4. Bates researchers count Lyme disease ticks in Maine woods
Bates students 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. In the face of increasing reports of black-legged ticks and Lyme disease in Maine, the threesome sought to measure tick densities, tick burdens on small mammals and the proportion of immature ticks that are actually infected with the Lyme disease bacterium in noncoastal Maine. The research was supported by a grant to Bates from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. www.bates.edu/go/news/2008-09-04

5. Student research fund to honor Pribram, Ruff
More than 100 alumni, colleagues, family and friends gathered in Perry Atrium Aug. 9 to celebrate the teaching careers of physics professors Jack Pribram and George Ruff, who recently retired after a combined 77 years of service to Bates students www.bates.edu/go/news/2008-09-05

6. Expert in ethnomathematics, math history to give Sampson Lecture
Ubiratan D'Ambrosio, 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. www.bates.edu/go/news/2008-09-06

7. Dazzling season of performances at Bates begins in September
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. www.bates.edu/go/news/2008-09-07

8. Bates People in the News
The press was watching as Bates alums made their mark in the Beijing Olympics. Top sports agent Peter Carlisle '91 found himself commenting to all manner of media after his client Michael Phelps made history by winning eight gold medals in swimming. Also in the gold was Andrew Byrnes '05, who rowed with the triumphant Canadian men's eight crew. Other Batesies in the news included Sally Ehrenfried '89, who finds satisfaction exercising a philanthropic mission for a prominent software firm, and biologist Paul Barrett '80, who hopes to reverse the fortunes of a fish facing extinction. www.bates.edu/go/news/2008-09-08