{"id":152192,"date":"2023-03-10T10:26:27","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T15:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=152192"},"modified":"2023-09-07T09:22:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T13:22:16","slug":"president-elect-garry-w-jenkins-first-remarks-listening-with-intention-and-care-learning-from-others-and-learning-with-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2023\/03\/10\/president-elect-garry-w-jenkins-first-remarks-listening-with-intention-and-care-learning-from-others-and-learning-with-you\/","title":{"rendered":"President-elect Garry W. Jenkins\u2019 first remarks: ‘Listening with intention and care, and learning with you’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Not surprisingly, the largest group of attendees at this week\u2019s big campus event \u2014 President-elect Garry W. Jenkins\u2019 first remarks, live and in person, on Tuesday \u2014 were students, and they began filing in just a few minutes after 4 p.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They quickly filled the bleachers in Alumni Gym after noshing on snacks provided by Dining Services. Heads were on a swivel, looking to spy the main attraction. Among the crowd were members of the men\u2019s basketball team, repping the team nicely in their Bobcat sweatshirts. We asked them to describe the vibe in a word. The first couple of words dribbled out, the rest came like a fast break:

\u201cOptimism.\u201d
\u201cExcitement.\u201d
\u201cSupport.\u201d
\u201cCommunity.\u201d
\u201cOpportunity.\u201d
And finally: \u201cSpirit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That mini word cloud, capturing the promise of a historic Bates moment, set the stage, or the court as it were, and a few minutes later came the first smattering of applause as Jenkins walked into the gym. Then more and more applause, and then a standing ovation, everyone fully aware that the college\u2019s next president was in the house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Students begin to take notice as President-elect Garry Jenkins, following Andrea Bueschel ’90 at left, enters Alumni Gymnasium for the welcome event on March 7. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With everyone settled, the program kicked off with remarks by Bates Board of Trustees Chair John Gillespie \u201980 and by fellow trustee Andrea Bueschel \u201990, who co-chaired the Presidential Search Committee with trustee Greg Ehret ’91. Their words included giving thanks to the search committee and to Spencer, who will step down as president on June 30, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gillespie noted that while the day appropriately celebrated a coming chapter in Bates history, \u201cit should not go unsaid that our current chapter \u2014 the one that began with a similar announcement, at a similar event, in late 2011 \u2014 has been one of stunning achievement, innovation, and growth for Bates. All under the inspired leadership of President Clayton Spencer. Clayton, you have our most profound and heartfelt thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Watch the full video of the welcome event for Garry Jenkins on March 7.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Bueschel offered a ringing endorsement of the work of the 17-member search committee<\/a> from her professional perspective as a senior vice president and chief of staff to the president at Rutgers University. \u201cThis committee worked amazingly well together over the course of five months \u2014 as well as or better than any I\u2019ve ever experienced,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery single one of our committee members did a brilliant job of representing Bates in all its many dimensions. And in the end, they reached consensus \u2014 unanimous, authentic, thrilling consensus \u2014 about who the right person was to become Bates\u2019 next president.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then she introduced Jenkins, first summarizing his credentials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n