Stories about "convocation"
At Convocation, an embrace and promise for the Class of 2027: ‘You get to be who you want to be’

Friday, September 8, 2023 10:08 am

From the Bobcat cheers coming from the women’s soccer team to President Garry W. Jenkins’ promise to the Class of 2027 that Bates is a place where “you get to be who you want to be,” the resounding message at Convocation on Sept. 5 was that Bates is a community centered on caring and kindness. 

‘Your footprints are the only road,’ and other advice to the Class of 2026 at Convocation

Friday, September 9, 2022 10:26 am

Paths can get us to the right place at the right time. But they can also confine us, said Professor of Economics Daniel Riera-Crichton, who delivered the Convocation address on Sept. 6, asking the Class of 2026 to create their own route through Bates.

Picture story: Convocation and Memorial Tree Planting at Bates College

Friday, September 3, 2021 1:01 pm

Photographs by Phyllis Graber Jensen of two academic rituals of a new academic year, Convocation and the Memorial Tree Planting, on Aug. 31, 2021.

10 pieces of advice, for all of us, from a wisdom-filled Bates College Convocation

Friday, September 3, 2021 11:53 am

Convocation and Commencement bookend the year with a similar look and feel. Similar, too, in offering sound advice, useful to far more than first years.

The rhetoric of a Bates Convocation reminds us why we’re here

Friday, September 4, 2020 11:59 am

After a summer where the endless rounds of pandemic planning and announcements seemed to define the college enterprise, Opening Convocation offered welcome reminders of what we’re all about.

Lining up for Convocation, five Bates professors share what they’re excited to teach

Thursday, September 5, 2019 3:34 pm

A redesigned chemistry course, a class for costume designers, and the "exciting and frightening" relevance of constitutional law.

Convocation speaker Dolores Huerta to the Class of ’23: ‘We have the power’

Wednesday, September 4, 2019 4:04 pm

Not every Bates academic year begins with a legend of the American labor movement leading a chant of “Yes we can!”

Convocation, held at 11 a.m. today on the Historic Quad, “provided Bates with an opportunity to welcome the Class of 2022, to celebrate the opening of the college, and to consider, as a community, our shared goals and hopes for the academic year,” said President Clayton Spencer..Led by the College Mace Bearer Michael Murray, Phillips Processor of Economics, the Convocation procession included President Spencer, Student Body President Walter Washington '19 of Fleetwood, N.Y., and Associate Professor of History Joe Hall..According to Spencer, “the College has resuscitated what was once a Convocation tradition at Bates: asking the outgoing senior class to select a faculty speaker for the incoming freshman class.” In this case, the Class of 2018 chose Hall to address the Class of 2022 -- and the entire Bates community. His talk was titled, “Questions for Bates.”.Immediately following Convocation, members of the Bates community attended a brief tree-planting ceremony, on the Quad behind Carnegie Science, held in memory of those in the Bates community who died during the past year. The ceremony was followed by a lunch will be served on the Library Quad for the college community.
Video: For Walter Washington ’19, “it started with taking an opportunity”

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 11:09 am

An award-winning senior, Washington offers advice to Batesies just starting out.

Convocation 2018 remarks: Associate Professor of History Joseph Hall

Friday, September 7, 2018 10:24 am

Associate Professor of History Joseph Hall explores Bates’ complicated early history and its implications for us

Picture story: The academic year kicks off

Friday, September 7, 2018 9:03 am

See all the photography of Orientation Week, from Opening Day to Convocation to the women's soccer season opener.

Load more