\u201cLife doesn\u2019t always follow plans, and this wasn\u2019t part of mine,\u201d McGrory said in the Globe\u2019s story. \u201cBut pretty much my entire career has been tied to the Globe, proudly so, and I\u2019m honored to return and play what I hope will be a helpful role during this complicated moment in the region and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During McGrory\u2019s earlier years as editor, the Globe won three Pulitzer Prizes. During his time away from the newspaper, McGrory served as chair of the journalism department at Boston University and established a local reporting initiative that paired student reporters with professional news organizations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
McGrory was lauded in an article in WBUR<\/a> for his willingness to step back into the role of editor, replacing Nancy Barnes, who was editor from 2023 until she stepped down in December. “Brian’s passion for the Globe and his love of Boston are deeply intertwined,” Linda Henry, CEO of Boston Globe Media, said in a statement shared with WBUR. “We are thrilled to welcome Brian back and look forward to the work our world-class newsroom will continue to do under his leadership.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n In late December, Associate Professor of Anthropology Joyce Bennett<\/strong> was quoted extensively in an EL PA\u00cdS<\/em> story<\/a>* about Maya weavers fighting back against the appropriation of their ancestral designs by global manufacturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne woman told me she could still feel her mother\u2019s hands over hers when she wove,\u201d Bennett told EL PA\u00cdS<\/em> reporter Ana Rodr\u00edguez \u00c1lvarez. \u201cThat is the spirituality behind the textile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n Bennett, who chairs the Anthropology department, has done extensive research on Maya women in Guatemala, interviewing over 130 weavers, and tracked their attempts to protect their traditional weavings through intellectual property rights. She is the recipient of a Fulbright U.S. Scholars award in 2022-2023 and an Engaged Research Grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, also in 2022-2023, which supports that work. She brings this work into the classroom at Bates, where students have supported some of the work and even presented it with Bennett at academic conferences, including the Northeastern Anthropological Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In recent years, the National Women\u2019s Weaving Movement of Guatemala has been pushing back on the way national and international manufacturers, often fast fashion brands such as SHEIN, have reproduced traditional designs without recognizing their creators or paying them for their designs. The organization of weavers takes issue with their traditional designs being reproduced in international markets without recognition or benefit to the communities that create and safeguard them over time. The article notes that in Guatemala, the issue is complicated by the lack of a legal framework that recognizes the collective ownership of these textiles, something that Bennett\u2019s ongoing work analyzes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGlobal fashion wants inspiration,\u201d Bennett told EL PA\u00cdS<\/em>. \u201cBut what it often does is extraction. They take designs that have been collectively protected for centuries and register them as their own. It is a silent but devastating violence.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n *Spanish translation assistance from Bennett<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Associate Professor of Physics and Chair of Physics and Astronomy Aleksandar M. Diamond-Stanic<\/strong> was a guest on Maine Calling<\/em> for a show on \u201cWinter Light\u201d<\/a> on December 19, 2025 in advance of the winter solstice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diamond-Stanic, whose research focuses on the evolution of galaxies and the growth of supermassive black holes through cosmic time, was joined on panel by Sarah Tuttle, host and producer of Maine Public Classical and Jessica Miller, host of Weekend Edition and radio operations announcer for Maine Public. <\/p>\n\n\n Host Jennifer Rooks kicked off the conversation with the question \u201cWhat do you do to appreciate the winter light?\u201d in advance of the winter solstice. Diamond-Stanic weighed in with an astronomy-based perspective, giving context to the movement of the sun and explaining this season from the perspective of light and heat. \u201cEarth\u2019s orbit is\u2026 in an ellipse. When you\u2019re a little bit closer [to the sun], earth is also moving a little bit faster,\u201d he said. Diamond-Stanic explained that the way that we feel the sun \u201cis connected to the exposure to sunlight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked to discuss different cultures that mark the solstice in a notable way, Diamond-Stanic noted his own experiences drawing from his Serbian heritage. Slava, he explains, is a celebration near solstice. He described it as a way to celebrate something that we are all experiencing but do not have control over. \u201cComing together in moments of otherwise darkness to bring light is really human [tendency],\u201d Diamond-Stanic says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In September, Diamond-Stanic appeared in another Maine Calling<\/em> show, on that special quality of \u201cMaine light\u201d <\/a>that has attracted artists for centuries, once again breaking down the scientific perspective for the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ben Wolking \u201929<\/strong> recently gave a TEDx talk<\/a> about grit and overcoming uncertainty in the face of a life-changing event. The talk, and his story was covered <\/a>by the Lake Okeechobee News<\/em>. Wolking discovered that he had an undiagnosed heart condition last fall when he passed out in a pool during Bates swim practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the following months, he wrestled with recovery and reimagining his future as doctors told him he may never be able to competitively swim again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI found tremendous meaning in the striving itself \u2013 \u2026 obsessively working with coaches to modify practices to my new limitations, the 8 p.m. bedtimes to be well-rested for the 5 a.m. swims, the grueling practices alongside my teammates, even the soreness after a long day in the gym \u2013 that\u2019s what I looked back on most fondly,\u201d Wolking said in his TEDx talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He learned how to clearly develop and craft a message as a student in Florida 4-H, Lake Okeechobee<\/em> reports, during which he completed various projects and presented in front of Florida legislators and leaders at the state capitol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of different ways you can develop that resilience through 4-H,\u201d Wolking told Lake Okeechobee<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those underlying themes that goes through all the different projects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barnaby Wickham \u201994<\/strong>, cyclist and Bates grad, gained recent media attention for a pastime that grew into something larger. The Associated Press<\/em> ran a story about Wickham and his hubcap art<\/a> on Dec. 16. Wickham, who lives in Baltimore, began collecting discarded hubcaps that he found on his rides around town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What began as a small project has become a large installation of Snoopy standing 16 feet tall by 21 feet across in his front yard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked to explain what motivates him to create art from these collected hubcaps, Wickham told the AP . \u201cI think it\u2019s sort of the excitement of the hunt, for one thing. I love to cycle. I love Baltimore. I love to go out in Baltimore, and there\u2019s just enough hubcaps and other things like car grills to be interesting, but not so many that it\u2019s too easy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/01\/image-2.webp\")
Associate Professor of Anthropology Joyce Bennett in El Pa\u00eds<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Associate Professor of Physics Aleksandar M. Diamond-Stanic on Maine Calling<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"They](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/01\/250627_Physics_Reading_Tea_0341.webp\")
Bates student’s TEDx talk covered in Lake Okeechobee News<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/01\/wolking.webp\")
The Associated Press<\/em> covers Bates alumnus’ unique art project<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/01\/image-3.webp\")
Sun Journal<\/em> publishes alumnus dispatch from Madagascar<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/01\/image.webp\")
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/01\/image-1.webp\")