{"id":171940,"date":"2026-02-12T15:16:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=171940"},"modified":"2026-03-25T10:58:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T14:58:18","slug":"in-the-news-february-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2026\/02\/12\/in-the-news-february-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"In the News: February 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Carrie Cushman talks Museum of Art\u2019s Marsden Hartley Legacy Project on Maine Public<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Carrie Cushman<\/strong>, director of the Bates Museum of Art, spoke about the museum\u2019s current projects on Maine Public Classical\u2019s State of the Art<\/em> radio show<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conversation with Heather McDougall, manager of music and people at Maine Public Classical, Cushman, who joined the museum in August 2025, discussed the excitement of arriving at Bates. The museum is preparing to launch the Marsden Hartley Legacy Project, an online digital catalog of all known paintings and ephemera by modernist painter and Lewiston native Marsden Hartley, which has been in development since 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really lucky that this is happening at Bates, and we will be the home of it and responsible for stewarding it into the future,\u201d Cushman told McDougall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Carrie
Carrie Cushman, director of the Bates Museum of Art, joined Bates in August 2025. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Bates Museum of Art was founded because of the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection, Cushman explained, comprising over 400 paintings and ephemera by Hartley \u2014 by far the largest collection of Hartley\u2019s work \u2014 which Hartley\u2019s niece donated to the college in 1955. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have people coming to the museum almost weekly requesting to see work from the collection, and many are artists who are looking for inspiration in this 20th century modernist who is finally getting his due,\u201d Cushman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Cushman\u2019s exhibition The Worlds of Ilse Bing<\/em> was featured in a list of February\u2019s best photography exhibitions<\/a> in the online magazine What Will You Remember?<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A
\u201c9 Wellington: First Floor Library with Orange Chair and View of the Livingroom\u201d by Shelburne Thurber (Courtesy of Shellburne Thurber)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The exhibition is on view through May 24 at Wellesley College\u2019s Davis Museum, where Cushman previously worked as the Linda Wyatt Gruber \u201866 Curatorial Fellow in Photography. Exploring Bing\u2019s rise to prominence, coinciding with 35mm photography\u2019s growing popularity, the exhibition \u201cbrings her work into conversation with her creative influences and with those who she influenced in the worlds of modern art.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Will You Remember?<\/em> also included the Bates Museum of Art\u2019s exhibition Shellburne Thurber: Full Circle<\/em>, co-curated by Thurber and Bates assistant curator Samantha Sigmon<\/strong>, in its February roundup. On view through March 21, the exhibition demonstrates how Thurber\u2019s photography has \u201cvisualized interior work that is private, domestic, psychological, or insular.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mara Tieken opines on rural schools, students in The Hechinger Report<\/em>; Women Writers, Women\u2019s Books<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Though public school closures and consolidations are becoming increasingly common, they rarely serve their intended purpose of saving struggling school districts money, writes Professor of Education Mara Tieken<\/strong> in an op-ed for The Hechinger Report<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For school districts with declining enrollment or decreasing state and federal funding, \u201cschool closures may seem logical,\u201d Tieken writes. \u201cClose schools, \u2018right-size\u2019 districts, save money. Problem solved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she explains, school closures require additional transportation and renovation costs, often leading to districts saving little to no money, while students’ test scores and future college and employment outcomes decrease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Associate
Associate Professor of Education Mara Tieken has extensively researched and written about rural schools and their students. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tieken has extensively researched and written about rural schools and their students. On Feb. 5, she published a piece about the process of developing her latest book \u2014 Educated Out: How Rural Students Navigate Elite Colleges\u2014And What It Costs Them<\/em> \u2014 in an op-ed for Women Writers, Women\u2019s Books<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While writing the book, which explores how students from rural places experience attending a small elite college, Tieken developed an approach to research characterized by slowly developing relationships with the students she was interviewing, she writes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe often think of research as a one-way process, a passing of \u2018data\u2019 from \u2018subject\u2019 to \u2018researcher,\u2019\u201d Tieken writes. \u201cBut that approach is neither ethical (in fact, it\u2019s often quite exploitative) nor useful. So much more can be learned when the relationship is actually relational.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 13 years that Tieken spent researching and writing the book taught her to be a more patient teacher, she says, with an expanded awareness of the struggles that her students from rural backgrounds may be facing. The book culminates with suggestions for how academic institutions can better support rural students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll those recommendations that I make in the book\u2019s final chapter?\u201d Tieken writes. \u201cI have to do them, too, and I feel obligated\u2014in a really good way\u2014to encourage others to do them, as well.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caylin Carbonell \u201912 gives public talk exploring daily life, labor dynamics in colonial New England<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Caylin Carbonell \u201912, an assistant professor of history at Bowdoin College, gave a public lecture about labor dynamics in colonial New England households, Wiscasset Newspaper<\/em> reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A
Caylin Carbonell, assistant professor of history at Bowdoin College (Courtesy of Caylin Carbonell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The talk, entitled “Laboring Lives and Hidden Stories in Colonial New England,” was the second installment in a series of free online lectures hosted by the Lincoln County Historical Association, based in Wiscasset, Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carbonell shared insights on \u201cthe daily lives inside colonial households as the country was beginning to take shape, with a focus on laborers, often a diverse group ranging from enslaved and indentured people to hired workers, including Indigenous, African, and European women and men.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also discussed the challenges of uncovering the stories of 17th and 18th century laborers from incomplete or nonexistent records. Carbonell, who majored in history at Bates, is currently working on a book manuscript that closely explores daily life in colonial New England households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boston Globe, Sun Journal<\/em> cover MLK Day at Bates<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Boston Globe<\/em> reported on a workshop<\/a> held during Bates\u2019 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day,  \u201cFrom Silencing to Empowerment: Exploring Anger, Justice, and Post-traumatic Growth Among Refugee Women and Women of Color,\u201d led by Yun Garrison<\/strong>, assistant professor of psychology, and Fowsia Musse from Maine Community Integration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the workshop, Garrison and Musse presented a framework of healing from trauma that they developed by examining the experiences of refugee women. For Musse, herself a refugee from Somalia, and other Somalian refugees and immigrants living in Lewiston, the workshop was particularly topical, the Globe<\/em> reports; Musse said that anxiety caused by the Trump administration\u2019s immigration deportation agenda led her to reflect on past trauma from her immigration experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
Fowsia Musse (left) of Maine Community Integration and Yun Garrison, assistant professor of psychology, talk during the workshop they led, \u201cFrom Silencing to Empowerment: Exploring Anger, Justice, and Post-traumatic Growth Among Refugee Women and Women of Color,\u201d during Bates’ MLK Day observance. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen something traumatic happens, how do we hold both anger and peace at the same time? Because sometimes they are pulling us in opposite directions,\u201d Garrison said. \u201cMaybe love and healing can bridge this. I do not know, but that\u2019s what I\u2019m sitting with right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lewiston Sun Journal <\/em>also covered the day\u2019s keynote address<\/a> given by Myisha Cherry, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cherry’s address \u2014 \u201cWhat Do We Do With All This Fear?\u201d \u2014 explored the day\u2019s theme of \u201cLove, Anger and the Struggle for Justice\u201d by closely examining and interpreting MLK\u2019s writings and words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sun Journal<\/em> quoted from President Garry W. Jenkins\u2019 introductory remarks addressing the day\u2019s theme, sharing his interpretation of how love and anger may intersect in the pursuit of justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would rather spend my days in a space of love rather than a space of anger,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cBut we don\u2019t always get to make that choice. \u2026 In linking these two, we have to wrestle with how they exist together \u2014 both in tension and in harmony.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Monday,
Myisha Cherry, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside gave the keynote address \u2014 \u201cWhat Do We Do With All This Fear?\u201d \u2014 to kick off Bates’ MLK Day observance. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In sharing MLK\u2019s thoughts about fear, Cherry explained that not all fear was negative; it can, in fact, be harnessed and transformed into a powerful force for change, the Sun Journal<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe should be maestros as opposed to mere masters of our normal fears \u2026 and we should transition that normal fear into courage,\u201d Cherry said. \u201cCourage is just not doing something in spite of your fear, it\u2019s taking your fear and matching it up with confidence \u2026 and engaging in action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Sun Journal<\/em> reported, Cherry linked this healthy fear to MLK\u2019s nonviolent protests and actions, urging all in the audience to use their \u201cnormal\u201d fear to advance causes they care about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we should do with this fear is make something beautiful out of it,\u201d Cherry said. \u201cThis is a time of fear for lots of us \u2026 Turning to King has been illuminating, and I find that fear doesn\u2019t mean that we are weak, it doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019ve given people the upper hand. It means that we\u2019re sensitive to injustice. It means we value the people we\u2019re fearful for and we value the principles that we are scared we are going to lose.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian Shankar Adler featured in DownBeat<\/em> magazine\u2019s cover story<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Brian Shankar Adler<\/strong> \u2014 percussionist and Bates instructor of drum set, tabla, and other hand percussion \u2014 and Grammy-award winning soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom released their debut album once like a spark<\/em>, DownBeat <\/em>magazine reported<\/a> in their February issue\u2019s cover story, \u201cMaking music in the moment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The magazine used the stage at Olin Concert Hall as the setting for a photo shoot with the two musicians, who have performed extensively in Lewiston and Portland, Maine as a duo.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A
Grammy-award winning soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom (left) and Brian Shankar Adler \u2014 percussionist and Bates instructor of drum set, tabla, and other hand percussion \u2014 play together in Olin Arts Center. (Courtesy of John Doyle\/DownBeat)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe played each other\u2019s compositions, and the music came alive instantly,\u201d Adler told DownBeat<\/em>. \u201cOver the years, we built up a hefty book of tunes and a musical language with which to communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without chorded or bass instruments, the brass-drum duo is a rare one, DownBeat<\/em> reported. The combination makes for a unique, melodic sound, with roots in jazz, North Indian Hindustani, and Indonesian musical traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way I see it, music is interconnected and has the power to communicate beyond borders,\u201d Adler told DownBeat<\/em>. \u201cListening to and playing jazz, it\u2019s evident that the music has roots beyond America and arms that extend to virtually every corner of the world. When approached with open ears, curiosity and a sense of respect for the traditions, the possibilities for exchange are really limitless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art New England<\/em> reviews current exhibition at the Bates Museum of Art<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

On Feb. 5, Art New England<\/em> ran arts writer Carl Little\u2019s enthusiastic review <\/a>of \u201cPrecision and Expression: American Studio Ceramics from the E. John Bullard Collection,\u201d the current show at the Bates Museum of Art, co-curated by Assistant Curator Samantha Sigmon and Lecturer in Art and Visual Culture Susan Dewsnap. \u201c…Bullard sought diversity and individuality in his acquisitions,\u201d Little writes. \u201cHe also embraced humor and joy: many of the pieces will prompt a smile.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Roberto Lugo, Fighting Shirley Cup<\/em>, 2023, is currently on display at the Bates Museum of Art.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Calling it an \u201centertaining and enlightening exhibition,\u201d Little highlighted an \u201cexquisite vessel\u201d by Mark Bell, \u201cSpherical Vase,\u201d ca. 2011, which he said \u201cexemplifies the Blue Hill, Maine, artist\u2019s seamless style.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little also explained the motivation behind Bullard\u2019s generous gift to the museum. \u201cThe collector\u2019s longtime ties to Haystack and the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, Maine, inspired his gift, as did the college\u2019s ceramics program led by Susan Dewsnap, who co-curated the exhibition and accompanying catalogue,\u201d Little writes. \u201cBullard envisions future students exploring and learning from these singular objects. That vision is already happening: interns at the Bates Museum researched artists for the catalogue and labels.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A selection of recent mentions of Bates people in the news, including music and arts achievements, coverage of Bates MLK Day observance, and op-eds on rural education from a Bates professor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":171957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":["yunkyoung-garrison","mara-c-tieken"],"_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":[7,1],"tags":[12442,1363,138,12362,165,10830,6135,6889,7227,9087],"class_list":["post-171940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-batesnews","tag-alumni","tag-bates-college-museum-of-art","tag-education","tag-faculty-in-the-news","tag-history","tag-lewiston-auburn","tag-music-tag","tag-performing-and-visual-arts","tag-psychology","tag-visual-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171940","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\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171940"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172278,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171940\/revisions\/172278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}