Empowering the Bates Academic Experience Through Endowed Funds
Bates relies on the generosity of its community to build a strong foundation for its transformative academic experience through endowed funds. These permanent resources provide consistent and crucial resources that directly enhance the learning environment for our students and faculty.
By supporting faculty development, enabling innovative research, expanding access to resources like the library and technology, and fostering enriching co-curricular activities, these endowments ensure that Bates continues to offer a challenging, engaging, and ultimately empowering education for generations to come.
Ways to Support the Bates Academic Experience
The STEM Scholars Program
The STEM Scholars program is a four-year, cohort-based mentoring initiative designed to ensure that every student interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math has the support to succeed and graduate. By focusing on groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences — including first-generation students and those from rural Maine — Bates is redefining who can excel in STEM.
The Bonner Leader Program
The Bonner Leader Program connects Bates students with Lewiston organizations to tackle pressing local needs—from housing access to youth literacy. A new $400,000 matching gift from the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation offers a 1:1 match for every dollar given to the Bonner Leader Endowment through June 2029. Fully funded, this $800,000 endowment will secure $40,000 in annual support, ensuring future cohorts can gain hands-on civic experience while earning critical work stipends.
Bates Center for Purposeful Work
Purposeful Work helps students explore their values, interests, and strengths to align who they are with what they do. The four-year developmental approach of Purposeful Work delivers guidance and programs across the student experience that are integral to student success in life after graduation.
The Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning
The new Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning (CITL) at Bates aims to revolutionize education by empowering faculty to develop innovative and inclusive teaching methods. Rooted in the college’s dedication to academic rigor and the value of diversity, the CITL will ensure all students, across all disciplines, benefit from exceptional and equitable learning experiences.
Get in Touch
If you’re interested in learning more or making a gift, please contact:
Seth Williams
Director of Leadership Giving
swilliams2@bates.edu
207-755-5988