{"id":111599,"date":"2017-11-30T18:32:40","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T23:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=111599"},"modified":"2023-01-20T15:43:58","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T20:43:58","slug":"look-what-we-found-james-reeses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2017\/11\/30\/look-what-we-found-james-reeses\/","title":{"rendered":"Look What We Found: All the stuff in James Reese’s office"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Reese has a museum\u2019s worth of gifts in his Roger Williams Hall office, all from Bates students he\u2019s mentored during his 40 years as a Bates dean.<\/p>\n

Seeing an office filled with objects often prompts visitors to ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s your favorite item?\u201d But Reese doesn\u2019t like to pick out just one, preferring to share why and how students offer him various tributes.<\/p>\n

Take the story of Mari Smith \u201985, an honors studio art graduate, and the painted self-portrait she gave to Reese.<\/p>\n

After he asked during her sophomore year, Smith quickly promised to give him a piece of her art. But it wasn\u2019t until the Friday before her Monday graduation that she walked into his office, then in Chase Hall, and offered him the painting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A self-portrait by Mari Smith \u201985, an honors studio art graduate, sits among other gifts from Bates students. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

He thought she had forgotten. \u201cShe said, \u2019I told you I was going to give you a painting, and here it is,\u2019\u201d he recalls. \u201cI appreciated the level of thought she put into honoring the request. She decided to bring in something that was significant to her, and I love that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reese is especially known for his support of international students, and that\u2019s why his office has a global feel. In fact, he\u2019s accumulated so many tributes that he can display only about a third of them at any one time.<\/p>\n

Some are on permanent display, while others are rotated in. Like a true curator, Reese has designated a spot to showcase new objects.<\/p>\n

We recently found him installing an origami sculpture. \u201cHanging this is one of those important moments for this new office,\u201d he says, recalling the student who, after suffering the death of a grandparent, had created the artwork to thank Reese for his support.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

James Reese, associate dean of students for international student programs, turns toward Shelley Palmer, administrative assistant in the Center for Global Education, as he hangs an origami sculpture in his Roger Williams Hall office. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

The sculpture moved with Reese from his prior office, in Lane Hall, where it had a prominent place, and Reese wanted a similarly special spot for it in his Roger Williams office, where he is associate dean of students for international student programs in the Center for Global Education, formerly the Off-Campus Study Office.<\/p>\n

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Reese’s origami sculpture was given by an appreciative student. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

When Reese arrived at Bates in 1977, he met two first-year international students. \u201cThey gave me items for the office on the first day that I met them, as is the custom in several societies around the world. I was familiar with that, so I thanked them and put them on my desk,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

When some older international students met Reese the following week, they saw the gifts and decided that they, too, wanted to participate. And so the ritual began in earnest. \u201cWhether it\u2019s a small item or not, something that\u2019s heavy or light, something that\u2019s expensive or not at all \u2014 I do want to make sure the representations continue,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

What the students say, and what they don\u2019t, as they offer their gift speaks volumes. Often, it\u2019s an exchange made in silence, not unlike Smith when she arrived with her painting, or one made with just a few words. Reese interprets each message, spoken or not, this way:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019This object is very important to me. I hope you understand that it\u2019s an important item, and I can\u2019t make you understand that. But I hope you do<\/em> understand it.\u2019 And then they give it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he glows.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Longtime dean James Reese won’t tell you his favorite office item. But he will tell you why and how students have made so many gifts to him during his 40 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":111611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[7,14,11012,11009],"tags":[9648,11321],"class_list":["post-111599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-faculty-staff","category-student-life","category-the-college","tag-james-reese","tag-look-what-we-found"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111599"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111661,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111599\/revisions\/111661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}