Week of December 13, 2021

Kristen Cloutier of the Harward Center sent a reminder that proposals for the $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace are due January 7.  The Davis United World Scholars Program, which funds a number of scholarships for students at Bates each year, has decided to re-fund this coming summer “Davis Projects for Peace” at the colleges at which they have scholarships, including Bates.  The awards will be made to a student or group of students at each college who design the most promising and do-able project, funded at $10,000 each, which they will implement during the summer of 2022 anywhere in the world.  Information and particulars on the project are available at the project website:  http://www.davisprojectsforpeace.org/

To be considered, a student or group of students should submit a written proposal of not more than two pages describing the project with a one-page budget by 4:30pm on Friday, January 7, 2022.  The Bates committee will submit their recommendations to the Davis office by February 7, 2022 and the Davis UWC Scholars Office will announce their decisions by March 7, 2022.

Garrett Leavitt from Dining wrote to announce that the Den will be closed from Thursday, December 9th until Sunday, January 9th. They will reopen with their regular 8am-3pm schedule on Monday, January 10th.

Jay Phillips of Facilities Services wrote with an announcement about our ongoing energy management plan for winter break.  Facility Services will once again be implementing building temperature set-backs during the winter break, starting December 18, 2021 and continuing through January 2, 2021.

 If you choose to come into your office to work over break please dress accordingly as heating systems will not be adjusted on an individual basis. Please refrain from using space heaters as they are extremely inefficient and can greatly increase the risk of fire. 

If you do have a need to work on campus through the holiday break and desire a temporary adjustment in temperature as an exception, please contact the work control office at the number or email below.  We are coordinating with the Dean of Students office should there be any student housing needs during this period.

Before you leave for the holidays, please make sure your windows are closed and latched, shades pulled, and your computers are turned off. Please do not power off networked laser printers or lab Computers as ILS will be responsible for powering off these devices.

Facility Services will convert all buildings back to their normal occupied temperatures in preparation for the return date of January 3rd.

Geoff Swift wrote to encourage us all to get boosted!  We are fortunate to be located near the Auburn Mall vaccine clinic, administered by Central Maine Healthcare, that has been administering over 700 doses per day. Walk-ins are welcome Tuesday through Friday, 8.a.m. – 5 p.m. for those ages 12 and up.  

  • You may find other locations for a vaccine or booster here.
  • All employees are eligible for two hours of paid leave for any vaccine dose.
  • All employees are strongly encouraged to be vaccinated and to get a booster shot.

Kathy Ostergaard of the Bates College Store wrote to announce that the College Store website is now live for textbooks orders.  She would like it if each of you would take a moment to check your course listings to make sure that your required course materials are listed correctly.

To do that, go to our website at textbook.bates.edu. The following steps will take you to your course:

  • Select Textbook Lookup (Under the Categories column on the right hand side of the page)
  • Select Winter 2022 Semester (under Academic Term)
  • Select Academic Department
  • Select Course
  • Select Section

If any of the textbook information listed is incorrect, please let me know as soon as possible so that I can correct it.  If we have not received any information from you regarding your course, you will see the following message:  Course materials have not been finalized for this section – please check back later!

If you have not yet sent in your adoption, please send me this information as soon as possible. I have included a link to our Google form here. If no text is required, please let me know so that I can add that information to your course.

Krystie Wilfong from the Library wrote to share links to the recordings from the CRL Membership Information Session for Faculty held on December 8.  The links can be found here:

Next, upcoming events.

Critical Learning, Radical Healing, and Community Engagement” 

Dr. Tessa Hicks Peterson
Tuesday, December 14
12-1:30 p.m.
Via Zoom
The Harward Center invites interested faculty members and our OIE colleagues to join the final meeting of this fall’s “Building Faculty Capacity to Address Racial Equity and Justice in Community-Engaged Learning” faculty learning community as we welcome Dr. Tessa Hicks Peterson to Bates for a virtual visit.   Register here