Scholarship in Action

New funding pushes Carolina González Valencia’s film toward the finish line

Photographers’ favorites 2025: Behind the viewfinder

Two first-year seminar classes join together for a dynamic, interdisciplinary final class session During the last week of courses for the fall semester, two instructors, two classes, and one rabbit gathered together for an interdisciplinary, interactive first-year seminar class session. It was easy to tell who was from which course. Students from “Beyond the Rainbow: Exploring the Language (and the Science, Art, and Culture) of Color” had all walked in sporting colorful hats. Joining them in a classroom in Dana Hall were students from “Sex in the Brain: The Neuroscience of Sex, Gender, and Hormones.” While it is typical for students to grow close in these small — 16 students maximum — seminars, this merging of the courses for a class session was a new idea, meant to create new connections between both the subjects and students as the semester came to a close. Lindsey Hamilton ’05, director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning, and Wells Castonguay, the center’s assistant director, devised the plan. Castonguay was teaching “Beyond the Rainbow” and Hamilton “Sex in the Brain.” Throughout the semester, each professor had heard students’ ongoing curiosity about the other’s course and saw an opportunity for the students to learn from each other.

Two instructors, 30 first-year students, and a bunny walk into a classroom: Interdisciplinary learning abounds

They are jumping for joy. Women’s varsity rowing teammates Oli Seline ’24 (left) of Delaware, Ohio, and Olivia Dekker ’24 of Bethesda, Md., high five it at the conclusion of their last-ever Bates lab in Bonney 360. The teammates are students in Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Geneva Laurita’s Short Term course, “Chemistry and the Arts.” Seline is a biochemistry major with a GEC in “Visible Ideas,” while Dekker is a biochemistry major with a minor in art and visual culture. The course explores the connection between chemistry and various topics in the arts and arts-related fields. The students learn about the chemistry behind these topics, exploring the literature behind various artistic practices, and applying hands-on techniques in the laboratory involved in various art processes This year, Laurita asked students to focus on the origins of color, different crafts, print making, jewelry making, dyeing, and art conservation. Laurita is the recipient of a major National Science Foundation grant of $581,984. The NSF CAREER award, considered to be one of the foundation’s most prestigious awards for faculty members who are just beginning their teaching and research careers, is based on both her scientific research in solid state materials and how she brings undergraduates into that vital area of scientific exploration. 3:18 What the particular lab was about...the lab handout. Kate Baumler, intern for Geneva’s NSF grant, wearing, black shirt Benji Richards, ’27, wearing tan shirt Finian Gunny ’27, gray pullover and blond hair Charlotte Maffie ’25 with pink tie dyed and hair in bun Sister Alice Maffie ’27 in t-shirt and pony tail Nina Greeley ’24 with hair in bun and pink t-shirt Riley Lund ’26 in gray sweatshirt Jahan Baker-Wainwright ’25 in green golf Rohini Kandasamy ’27 in dark tan Life is cool t-shirt and low bun Chemistry and the Arts S28, the origin of different crafts, print making, jewelry making, dyeing and art soncserv

Faculty member Geneva Laurita wins national teaching award

Everybody in the pool: The making of Metamorphoses

In the News: December 2025

The logics of acceptance: Francesco Duina in conversation about his new book and the sociology of economic inequality

Purposeful Work biopharmaceutical roadshow introduces students to dynamic career possibilities

Meet new faculty in chemistry, religious studies, and rhetoric

Clarisa Pérez-Armendáriz, professor of politics, receives Kroepsch Award

Meet new faculty in psychology, environmental studies, and anthropology

Drone photography operated and captured by Theophil Syslo on October 10, 2024. (Theophil Syslo | Bates College)

In the News: Oct. 10, 2025

Asha Tamirisa receives LEF Foundation award

Justin Baumann awarded funding from Maine EPSCoR

Eric LeFlore awarded funding for Bobcat research

Yun Garrison receives American Psychological Foundation award

Jason Castro receives NIH INBRE pilot funding

Sandra Goff receives NSF HEGS funding

Ryan Cole receives NSF EMBRACE grant

Meet new Bates faculty from physics and astronomy, classical and medieval studies, and mathematics

Meet new Bates faculty in biology, environmental studies, and religious studies

The importance of the liberal arts: President Garry W. Jenkins in conversation with the Maine Trust for Local News

Associate Professor of Economics Sandra Goff receives NSF grant to study how, why landowners conserve their properties

Pulling mussels: Bates researchers spend the summer studying Maine’s disappearing shellfish

Opening Convocation at 11 a.m. Sept. 2, 2025, on the Historic Quad, followed by In Memoriam: Tree Planting Service. Processional Welcome by President Garry Jenkins Mace Bearer Mary T. Rice=DeFosse Greetings by Zach Richards ’26 and Mohammad Zayd ’27, Co-Presidents Convocation Address “A College for Coming Times” Rebecca Herzig, Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies Benediction Raymond Clothier, Interim Multifaith Chaplain Memorial Tree Planting Alongside Gomes Chapel on College Street, in memory of those in the Bates community who died during the past year. The tree was designated with a yellow bow.

With messages on the power of pluralism and hope, Convocation welcomes new students to Bates

President Garry W. Jenkins wins Maine Black Excellence Compass Career Award

Harward Center wraps up 2024–25 year with grants, awards honoring community engagement

Outside-the-box Batesies: Meet five DIY students who created their own majors

At Bates, a ginkgo seedling carries survival from 1945 Hiroshima to today

Slideshow: This Month at Bates

Bates College announces senior leadership transitions

Double gold: Two Bates STEM standouts earn prestigious Goldwater Scholarships 

Bates announces faculty promotions, including tenure awards, for 2025

Bates Faculty in the News: Therí Pickens’ debut poetry collection gains media attention and sparks a busy spring, on and off campus

Bates Faculty in the News: April 25, 2025

Joanne Roberts to join Bates as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty

A day in the life of a ‘helluva building,’ Ladd Library at Bates College

Photo E. LeFlore

LeFlore studies lion movements in Botswana to understand the keys to their survival

Bates’ newest major, digital and computational studies, blends computer science with critique, community engagement

Mark Lewis Tizzoni examines early Christian communities in Roman Africa in a new paper

Picture Story: Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull,’ between avant-garde and traditional

Bates College transitions endowment management to Investure

Bates named a Fulbright Top Producer for 14th straight year

Keiko Konoeda’s new work examines how a sense of competence or incompetence impacts engagement in digital storytelling

Ryan Bavis, Bates Helen A. Papaioanou Professor of Biological Sciences, posing in his Bonney Science Center laboratory and office. Bavis is collaborating with his friend and colleague Peter MacFarlane, assistant professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine on their discovery of a novel animal model mimicking sudden infant death syndrome. Last year, the National Institutes of Health awarded the scientists a $2.8 million grant to study the model over five years. MacFarlane is the project’s principal investigator, and $307,495 is allocated to Bates. Dr. Richard Martin of Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital and professor at CWRU’s School of Medicine is also a co-investigator on the project.

Two scientists, a friendship, and a problem to solve: Ryan Bavis, Peter MacFarlane receive $2.8 million NIH grant to study sudden infant death syndrome

Slideshow: This Month at Bates

Mara Tieken

Mara Tieken

MLK Day keynote: Why nonviolent protest has become less successful (when it might be needed most)

Associate Professor of Education Mara Tieken, winner of the 2024 Kroepsch Teaching Award, teaches students in her course “EDUC 231 - Perspectives on Education” in Pettigrew 30 on January 16, 2025. EDUC 231 - Perspectives on Education This course introduces students to foundational perspectives (anthropological, historical, philosophical, psychological, and sociological) on education and helps students apply these perspectives to contemporary schools and classrooms. The course considers several large questions: What should be the purpose of education in a democratic society? What should be the role of the school? Who should participate in making decisions about schools? In what ways do schools reflect and perpetuate larger social inequities, and, alternately, how can they contribute to a more just and inclusive society? Students must complete at least thirty hours of fieldwork.

Teaching teachers: Associate Professor of Education Mara Tieken receives 2024 Kroepsch Award for excellence in teaching

7–8pm | MLK Day Spoken Word Festival Presentation: The Multifaith Chaplaincy celebrates the voices that propelled the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with performances from poets, spoken word artists, and musicians. The second annual MLK Day Spoken Word festival brings together powerful poetry and soulful song around the theme “Bending Toward Justice: Peace and Nonviolence.” Featured artists for the evening are acclaimed poet and co-executive director of Maine Inside Out, Joseph Jackson, and beloved singer Kenya Hall whom Rolling Stone dubbed a “soul powerhouse.” Students Misaki Fukushima ’25, Ahmednoor Hassan ’27, Bora Lugunda ’25, and Oleksii Sverbyvus ’28 will also perform pieces at the festival. Location: Gomes Chapel Program Welcome: Raymond Clothier Spoken Word: Joseph Jackson Music Kenya Hall Poetry: Oleksii Sverbyvus ’28 Poetry/Dance Misaki Fukushima ’25 Spoken Word: Ahmednoor Hassan ’27 Poetry: Bora Laguna ’25 Spoken Word: Joseph Jackson Music: Kenya Hall

Slideshow: Hour by hour on MLK Day 2025 with Bates faculty, staff, students, and friends

Drone photography operated and captured by Theophil Syslo on October 10, 2024. (Theophil Syslo | Bates College)

Bates College to team with QuestBridge to enhance access and experience for low-income students

Headshot of Nathan Lundblad

Nathan Lundblad

Photo of J. Cavallaro

Jonathan Cavallero’s new work examines the impact of race and gender on television directors.

Faculty in the News: Michael Sargent’s research spotlighted on Hidden Brain

Fall foliage on the Bates campus Historic Quad, Hathorn Hall

Bates announces nine faculty appointments to endowed professorships

dressed up woman voting in a very showy way

Takeaways after the 2024 U.S. election from three Bates politics professors

Faculty in the News: Michael Rocque on the decline in hunting and a shift in ‘what guns mean and what they symbolize’ in the U.S.

Ryan Bavis

unhoused person in an encampment outside.

Faculty in the News: Philosophy professor Paul Schofield on homelessness being a ‘unique form of injustice’

Moments from Convocation on September 3, 2024., 2024. (Theophil Syslo | Bates College)

Opening Convocation at Bates offers timeless and timely advice to the Class of 2028

Associate Professor of Biology Larissa Williams teaches students in Bio s39f a lesson on “uses of Genetic analysis to understand the population of dynamics of crabs in Maine.” They met in Bonney 370 laboratory and received instruction on how to use a pipette, including closing their eyes in preparing to click the instrument. The course’s instructor is Jesse Minor ’00, a lecturer in biology.

Bates biology professor and three young graduates publish ‘worrisome’ research findings of a common industrial chemical’s harmful effects

Nick Balascio

Ida Piedmonte

Jamie Haverkamp and Sandra Goff

Associate Professor Carrie Diaz Eaton teaches in front of a chalkboard

Carrie Diaz Eaton

Larissa Williams

Ryan Cole

Stephen Engel: As we mark Pride 2024, remember our predecessors’ fight and demand for recognition

Bates announces faculty promotions, including tenure awards, for 2024

Aleks Diamond-Stanic and Jeff Oishi

Patrick Otim

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Geneva Laurita teaches CHEM 108A - Chemical Reactivity/Lab on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. A continuation of CHEM 107A. Major topics include thermodynamics, kinetics, equilibrium, acid/base behavior, and electrochemistry. Laboratory: three hours per week.

National Science Foundation awards $582K grant to Bates chemistry and biochemistry professor

My Last Year: ‘Trying to get too much done in too little time’

Bates in Brief Academics: Fanny Dickens, retiring professors, new professorships

English Lillian Nayder, with the help of Bates music faculty colleague James P. Parakilas, is about to give Fanny that introduction, or reintroduction, through the voice Fanny was known for in her day: the music, both vocal and instrumental, that she composed and performed for admiring (and often paying) audiences.

High time for performance of works by a different Dickens

Oprah selection sparks Dickens discussion with Nayder in Wall Street Journal

Bates professor reveals real story of Charles Dickens' wife in new book

Lillian Nayder, associate professor of English, explores Victorian lives