Alec Morrissey

amorriss@bates.edu | he/they
Assistant Dean of Admission & Coordinator of Communications and Marketing

From an early age, Alec learned the transformative power of clear communication, close student-mentor partnerships, and radical inclusion. As a child with verbal apraxia, Alec struggled with articulating his thoughts, carrying on conversation, and making friends. In consistently meeting him where he was at, Alec’s peers, teachers, and speech therapists practiced humility, patience, compassion, and collaboration – all values cherished and instilled by the liberal arts. 

Naturally drawn to small, close-knit communities, Alec ventured from Ohio to attend Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he majored in sociology and anthropology, and minored in gender, women’s, and sexuality studies. When he was not running back and forth between office hour appointments, Alec represented his class in student government, danced awkwardly in student-run troupes, and worked as a tour guide in the Admissions Office. Whether walking frontward or backward, these interactions with prospective students and family members taught Alec that friendly, down-to-earth people and an intense academic environment are complementary, rather than antithetical. Alec’s commitment to model the equitable and accessible education he has received since childhood, paired with his desire to explore a new region of the country, brought him to Bates and southern Maine. In between snacking on almonds and making homemade kombucha, Alec loves discovering new candle scents and hammocking in the dense foliage.