Bates Magazine, Spring 2024

Spring 2024

52

“One of my greatest takeaways is the skill to talk to any person in their time of need.” Page 38

26 Bates rises together to celebrate President Jenkins’ inauguration.

46 For Anthony Phillips ’10, a roadmap for life from a loving mother.

Stories, rhetoric, moments from Bates inauguration history.

OPENING THOUGHT: LUCIA PIZZARO

’24

Source: A spoken vignette by Pizarro, an English major from Cranford, N.J., about moving into the world after the easy familiarity of Bates, delivered at the Class of 2024’s Baccalaureate Service on May 25, 2024.

Greeting a total stranger means making a connection that, though not required, is both short and specific to a single moment. My suggestion is this: Make the connection. Look up from your thoughts and meet a stranger’s eye. Smile and nod. Sit in the small, important moment of mutual acknowledgement.

comments

Graduation Location

Thank you for the fun review and reflection (“Predictions, Catfacts, and photos from milestone Commencements,” BatesNews, May 23, 2024).

One correction: The caption for the picture of the 1949 graduation at the Lewiston Armory states, “Commencement was moved from the Chapel to the Lewiston Armory in 1949, seen here, and held there until 1970.” Actually, our Class of ’67 was the first to celebrate Commencement in Alumni Gym on campus, rather than the Lewiston Armory. Another first, U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine as our Commencement speaker, the first woman to be so honored at Bates.

Bruce Lyman ’67 Woodstock, Conn.

Uncommons

Thank you for this welldeserved tribute to the people behind Commons’ reputation as one of the best college dining programs in the country (“Slideshow: Students, chefs, and breakfast in Commons,” BatesNews, April 11, 2024).

I thought the Bates’ eating experience was fantastic back in the ’70s. Yogurt! Bagels! But really it was pretty pedestrian compared to today. The huge array of choices, the emphasis on healthy/local/sustainable, the sophisticated design, the natural light — mealtimes are one of the top reasons I never miss Reunions!

But what hasn’t changed, I’m so glad to see, is the warm, respectful relationship between staff, students, and administration. That has always been one of the things I value and honor most about Bates.

Marjorie McCormick Davis ’76 Mount Juliet, Tenn.

Thanks for sharing these behind the scenes stories. I always appreciated the dining staff, both for the excellent food and for the

welcoming and caring attitudes. I was raised knowing you can learn anywhere. My freshman fifteen came and went thanks to the healthy options available. Having a great home cooked meal made a great environment to learn in.

Wendy Meaden ’86 Indianapolis, Ind.

Story Power

I loved reading your story, Jonathan (“What It Took: Jonathan Adler ’00,” BatesNews, Feb. 2, 2024).

I graduated from Bates with a major in history and minors in Latin and education. Due to twists and turns in my own life story, I became a registered nurse and now work mainly with patients who are suffering from significantly life-limiting diseases, trying to help them navigate their goals of care at the end of life. It helps both my patient and me if I first listen to their story — I am very interested in the Health Story Collaborative and would love to champion it where I work. Thanks for what you do and for being you!

Cheryl Levesque ’80 Greensboro, N.C.

Finals Flashback

I still get flashbacks to when finals had to be taken in Alumni Gym (“Recalling when venerable Alumni Gym had a 6-foot growth spurt,” BatesNews, March 3, 2024). I can still smell the aroma of the rubber runners upon which your chair with a writing arm was placed. The students on either side of you were taking a different exam and there were proctors walking up and down the aisles. Not a pleasant experience!

Richard Brogadir ’69 Woodbridge, Conn.

Gym Membership

Yet another reason why I have been in love with Bates College since the day I met her in February 1975!

Dana Peterson Moore ’79 Baltimore, Md.

Bravo to Christine Schwartz and the Bates College Facilities and Dining Departments for making the Emergency Responders as comfortable as possible while sleeping and eating at Bates College during this last storm.

Rachel Walls ’99 Portland, Maine

From basketball to beds, that’s some Alumni Magic right there!!!!

Luann Hughes P’27 Rumson, N.J.

See pg. 13 for photo and story about Bates opening Alumni Gym for utility workers after a devastating April snowstorm. — Editor.

Two Takes

In this age when it seems nearly everything is moving to on-line format, I am very grateful for the in-print format of Bates magazine. I just finished the fall 2023 issue, finding in it so many articles of interest in a remarkable variety of fields, all of which remind me of what a special place Bates is. Please retain the printed format, and thank you for the great work!

Todd Wilson P’22 Cleveland, Ohio

I wanted to give you some feedback about this magazine. I find the font so extremely small the magazine is difficult to enjoy. I also find that there is way too much going on: too much text and short articles instead of selecting a few more in-depth articles. It feels overwhelming to pick this magazine up and try to read it. I have not reached out in the past, just put this magazine in the recycle bin.

Wendy Walsh ’89 Randolph, N.H.

Comments are selected from Bates social media platforms, online BatesNews stories, and email and postal submissions, based on relevance to college issues and topics discussed in Bates Magazine. Comments may be edited for length and clarity.

Email: magazine@bates.edu

Postal:

Bates Magazine

Bates Communications Office

2 Andrews Rd. Lewiston, ME 04240

Cristina Salazar ’24 (right) of San José, Costa Rica, and Commons staffer Sonia Roy, who is originally from Peru, have fun catching up on March 12, 2024. “I love being able to go into Commons and say hi to everyone,” says Salazar. “They feel like family to me and have provided me with a huge sense of belonging and home.”

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

‘The World Needs You’

w hat a year! during my first year as president of bates I experienced first-hand what I had previously only read or heard about, the sense of warmth and welcome on this campus. Even expecting it, being prepared for it by images like the ones in the pages of this magazine, and being immersed in how genuine it is was a revelation. So now I really know: a Bates embrace is powerful. Far and wide, Bates people care deeply about one another and about their communities.

In late May, our most recent graduates from the Class of 2024, who had mostly left high school and began college in the midst of COVID, were appropriately celebrated with cheers and love, fully embraced by a beautiful in-person commencement experience that was denied to them for high school. Two weeks later, our alumni descended onto campus for Reunion, embracing their classmates, friends, and this college with incredible affection and devotion.

I now know first-hand how Bates, with a laser-like focus, helps our students cultivate, develop, and carry into the world habits of heart and mind that empower them to live full lives of meaning and purpose.

This issue’s cover story focuses on such habits, as embodied by students and alumni of the student-run Bates Emergency Medical Services program. The story shows the program’s ongoing impact on the campus community’s well-being and its history of helping our students learn leadership skills and habits of service and civic duty that they take into the world as alumni.

On the night of the tragic mass shootings in Lewiston on Oct. 25, 2023, three student members of the Bates Emergency Medical Services team were working off-campus for the local ambulance service. They were among the medical first responders, as were alumni professionals who live and work in the Lewiston-Auburn community. Moreover, the greater Bates community of alumni and parents took notice of what they did, responding with philanthropy to strengthen and support the EMS program, for which I am grateful.

The impulse to serve — also reflected in this issue’s profiles of Anthony Phillips ’10 and Erin Reed ’08 — is not constrained. It transcends job titles and fields of employment. It reflects civic duty, which is embedded in the Bates mission statement, to cultivate among students the capacity for “informed civic action” and “responsible stewardship of the wider world.”

To become durable, lifelong habits, these imperatives must be taught, cultivated, modeled, supported, and encouraged.

In my inaugural address, I identified civic engagement as one of four cornerstones of the college’s work in the coming years, alongside innovation, opportunity, and leadership and well-being. More pressing than ever, civic engagement and preparedness — which, to me, broadly encompass the capacities of civil discourse, constructive dialogue, active listening, respectful debate, openness to different viewpoints, negotiation, and collective problem-solving — are essential to democracy and communities.

As I said to the Class of 2024 at Commencement, “the world needs you.” It needs more of Bates, what we represent and produce, and for us to be strong. Thank you, our great Bates community, for all that you do to rise to this call. This is a remarkable college, and I feel privileged to serve it.

garry

w. jenkins, president

The impulse to serve is not constrained. It is not limited to a job or to one sector of employment. It reflects civic duty, one that is embedded in the Bates mission statement.

Before Commencement on May 26, 2024, seniors help each other look the part. Aaron Ramos of Englewood, N.J., adjusts the cap of Devin Harris of Bear, Del.

PH YLLIS GRABER JENSEN

Make Way

Amelia Hawkins ’24, a studio art major from Sun Valley, Idaho, poses with the feel-good ivy stone that she designed for her class, featuring a duck and ducklings happily paddling in Lake Andrews, symbolizing hope and promise rippling into the future. A few minutes later, she helped Bates mason Ron Tardif (seen in the background) install the stone on Pettengill Hall.

STUDENTS

The thesis-binding event,

On Commencement morning, seniors gather atop Mount David to greet the sunrise.

The Class of 2024 numbered 437 at Commencement on May 26.

‘One Big Family’

It’s a college ritual like none other. (Trust us: We’ve checked.) Beginning in the winter and hitting a crescendo in the spring, Bates seniors take to public spots on campus to celebrate their senior thesis experience, joined by friends, faculty, and staff.

Whether on the Coram Library porch, the walkway in front of Hathorn, or the Ladd Library Terrace, the ritual is the same (as rituals tend to be). The senior, helped by a close friend (often a first-year student), places a print copy of their completed thesis into a rigid black binder. Then they seal the deal with a kiss, and cheers erupt.

These photographs by Phyllis Graber Jensen show two thesis-binding

said Aaliyah Moore ’24, gave her a chance to “bust out my Truman and my first-generation stoles.”

Left above: Moore and longtime friend Prinnes Wilson ’24 seal her honors thesis in Africana with the traditional kiss.

Left below: Maria Francisca Rocha ’24 (left) places her thesis into a binder that’s held open by firstyear friends Inês Reis (center) of Angra do Heroismo, Portugal,and Vlerë Azizi of Gjilan, Kosovo.

Four seniors and one young alumna won Fulbright Student awards this spring.

2BEATS is the student hip-hop dance group.

The Circus Club seeks to bring the “newly flourishing art form of circus” to campus.

events. At Hathorn on April 17, Aaliyah Moore of Phoenix and classmate Prinnes Wilson of Las Vegas got together to bind their theses: Moore’s in Africana and politics, and Wilson’s in psychology. “Aaliyah was one of the first people I met at Bates, and we’ve been like this ever since,” said Wilson, holding up his crossed fingers.

The event, said Moore to the cheers of the crowd, gave her a chance to “bust out my Truman and my first-generation stoles!” (In 2023, Moore won a coveted Truman Fellowship to fund her postgraduate studies.)

They paid tribute to each other, to those gathered, to family members who have supported them along the way, and their professors. Moore thanked her Africana adviser, Professor of English Therí Pickens, for “unwavering support, grace, and kindness [that] know no bounds.”

Nearby at Coram on April 29, three Bates friends celebrated their theses before a huge crowd, including teammates and friends from rowing, ultimate (the sport), Bollywood dancing, the South Asian Student Association, the Merimanders, and their major departments.

The trio — Livia Bernhard (mathematics and biochemistry) from Leicester, Vt., Mallika Jena (mathematics and economics) from Hong Kong, and Maria Francisca Rocha (mathematics and biochemistry) of Porto, Portugal

— invited 250 of their closest friends to attend their senior thesis-binding rituals on Coram’s steps.

Said Bernhardt, “It made Bates feel like one big family.”

Mallika Jena ’24 (right) gives a cheer after binding her thesis with first-year friends Josie Kim (left) of Santa Monica, Calif., and Rohini Kandasamy of Neshanic Station, N.J.

From left, seniors Livia Bernhard, Mallika Jena, and Maria Francisca Rocha pose with their bound theses as friends and supporters stand on the Coram porch.

CAMPUS

Campus concrete was pressure washed before Commencement.

Totally Cool

Garcelon Field was one of the campus places to be as Lewiston experienced a “deep partial” view of the solar eclipse, about 98 percent of totality, on April 8. Skies darkened, smiles brightened, and temperatures (noticeably!) dropped. Folks with (suitably protected) eyes to the sky included faculty, staff, and students, plus families with newly admitted students who were on campus to participate in Bates Beginnings, an Admission program that provides prospective students with a deeper, in-person feel for the Bates community. Yes, a totally cool way to kick off your Bates experience.

The pediment atop the Lane Hall portico was painted blue in May.

Conventional Project

A three-story brick building at 96 Campus Avenue, built in 1977 for the Society of the Sisters of Charity as a nuns’ convent, is being renovated into Bates’ newest residence hall. Located next to the Campus Avenue field, the new residence will open this fall, providing accommodations for 65 Bates students and a live-in Bates staff member.

The new renovation will give Bates added flexibility in managing residential facilities and facilitate the ongoing process of modernizing the college’s student housing.

Given the building’s original purpose as a group residence, only a light reno-

This three-story brick building at 96 Campus Avenue, next to the field hockey field, is being renovated into Bates’ newest residence hall.

DOUG HUBLEY

Some stumps from campus elms were fashioned into Den tables.

vation is needed — “light” compared to such recent campus projects as the construction of the Bonney Science Center and the makeovers of Chase and Dana halls, anyway.

“The building itself has really good bones — a lot of concrete block, which is great for a dorm building,” says Sean Landry, head of the design team for the Bates project at Lavallee | Brensinger Architects. “Generally speaking, the existing room setup works well.”

Casual hang-out spaces are key to the success of many Bates buildings.

“We want to build community, so community spaces are really important,” Landry says. “A lot of your best relationships are made in a residence

Clocking In

About 7 minutes before the eclipse peak on campus, Ruby Cramer ‘23 holds a pair of binoculars to project twin images of the moon-shaded sun (seen below as two crescents at middle left) onto the historic Class of 1932 Sundial on the Historic Quad.

The April 8 eclipse reached 98 percent of totality in Lewiston.

hall, so making those spaces special is something that we focus on.”

A large, high, sunlit chamber on the second floor was once the convent’s chapel, complete with organ. That lofty space will be partitioned into single and double student rooms whose lucky occupants will enjoy 12-foot ceilings.

After the building ended its run as a convent (when that took place is not clear), its owner, St. Mary’s Health System, shifted other services to 96 Campus Avenue and also provided space for a daycare center. Bates bought the building in 2021, initially using it for COVID isolation housing and then for Student Affairs staff and student organizations while Chase Hall was closed for its 2022–23 renovation.

When 96 Campus Avenue served as a convent, this space was a chapel. The lofty space will be partitioned into singles and doubles whose lucky occupants will enjoy 12-foot ceilings.

The terrace between Ladd and Coram is heated to melt snow.

A snapping turtle was seen in Lake Andrews on May 21.

JAY BURNS

DOUG HUBLEY

The courses with the shortest names are “Geometry” and “Genetics.”

Change for the Better

New approaches to teaching science and math disciplines at Bates, which were described in the Bates Magazine cover story in spring 2022, have led to dramatic improvements in the number of students who arrive with science and math aspirations and who graduate with such a major.

“This is exactly the kind of institutional change we want for our students,” said President Garry W. Jenkins.

Retention rates have especially improved among Black and Hispanic students and now exceed national averages, including those of peer institutions. For example, Black students at Bates are now over 50 percent more likely to earn a degree in a STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math) than they were in 2016, according to data from Bates and the National Center for Education Statistics.

April Horton, the Wagener Family Professor of Equity and Inclusion in STEM, emphasized that improvements aimed at marginalized students have led to better outcomes for all students. “Our classes are changed for everyone,” said Horton.

Bates’ changes in introductory STEM courses are particularly notable. Once characterized by a “weed-out” approach — lecture-based teaching, “cookbook labs,” and high-stakes exams — these courses now emphasize a growth mindset, skill-building, and active learning with real-world problems.

The shift is seen in how students themselves describe the STEM culture at Bates, said Horton, moving from words like “competitive” to “inclusive,” “collaborative,” and “supportive.”

A First-Year Seminar explores the psychology of wrongful legal convictions.

Giving Reasons

When Bates professor Anelise Hanson Shrout was in graduate school at New York University, she read how the Choctaw Nation, soon after being forced to migrate on the Trail of Tears, made financial donations to Ireland during the Great Famine.

The new knowledge inspired a research journey culminating in her new book, Aiding Ireland: The Great Famine and the Rise of Transnational Philanthropy (New York University Press, 2024).

Shrout, recently promoted to associate professor of digital and computational studies and history, argues that the Irish famine (1845−52) reshaped the concept of international philanthropy. Her book examines how some groups that provided aid to Ireland, such as Southern enslavers, tenant farmers, and Black congregants, were in fact motivated by local political interests, as groups sought to advance their own agendas while aiding distant suffering strangers.

Enslavers used donations to argue they treated enslaved people better than the British treated Irish tenants. Tenant farmers in New York saw their donations as protests against oppressive land policies. Donations from the Black congregants allowed them to juxtapose their own humanity with the barbaric treatment of Black people in the South. Regarding donations from the Cherokees and the Choctaws, “there are resonances about being subjects of colonialism and wanting to find ways to create a bridge between people who had experienced really similar things at the hands of the government,” Shrout said.

Seen here are first-year students Isabel Bettencourt of Peabody, Mass., and Serena Sharan of Monroeville, Pa., in the course “Lab-Based Biological Inquiry: Cellular Neuroscience,” taught by Associate Professor of Biology and Neuroscience Martin Kruse. The course typifies new approaches to teaching STEM fields by introducing students to real research questions early in their college experience.

This drawing of an Irish woman holding her baby was published in The Illustrated London News during the Great Famine with the caption, “Woman begging at Clonakilty,” a town in County Cork.

Faculty meetings are in Memorial Commons in Chase Hall.

‘Stellar Examples’

Faculty can request speaking time at a faculty meeting via a Google form.

Seven courses comprise a minor in earth and climate sciences.

Eight Bates professors received promotions, including tenure awards, effective Aug. 1.

“These professors are stellar examples of what the Bates faculty as a whole brings to this community,” said Malcolm Hill, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty.

“Each has the ability to balance phenomenal scholarly and creative work with a commitment to undergraduate education. Each has charted a career that keeps their myriad time investments well-balanced and their eyes on excellence and forward momentum.”

Promoted from assistant professor to associate professor, with tenure:

MEDFORD Sociology

HANSON SHROUT Digital and Computational Studies and History

WIESINGER Japanese

Promoted from associate professor to professor:

THIS JUST IN

A sampling of recent faculty-authored articles

Lion (Panthera leo) Movements in a Multiuse Area of the Eastern Panhandle of the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Publication: Journal of Mammalogy • Author: Eric LeFlore (biology) and coauthors • What It Explains: As lions roam outside protected areas, it’s critical to understand their interactions with humans and livestock in order to aid conservation efforts within protected areas.

A Path to Repair of the Past

Publication: Journal of Social Philosophy • Author : Susan Stark (philosophy) • What It Explains: The Trans-Atlantic slave trade was an egregious wrong that demands repair. This paper addresses some of the problems concerning reparations, arguing that it is possible and obligatory for people in the present to partially repair wrongs of the past.

Spatial and Spiritual Exile in Vergil’s Aeneid

Publication: Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae • Author: Henry John Walker (classical and medieval studies) • What It Explains: For the Greeks and Romans, exile was almost like death, but Vergil’s Aeneas validates this disturbing experience.

Implementing Decision Support Tool for Low Back Pain Diagnosis and Prediction Based on the Range of Motions

Publication: Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science • Author: Christopher Agbonkhese (digital and computational studies) • What It Explains: Personalized treatment recommendations for low back pain blending machine learning and expert knowledge could improve patient outcomes.

A Framework of Community-Engaged Vocational Research Methodologies from Liberatory Perspectives

Publication: Journal of Vocational Behavior • Author: Yun Garrison (psychology) and coauthors • What It Explains: The need for vocational research methodologies to address oppression and promote critical reflections and actions.

STEVE JURVETSON CC BY 2.0

A lion paces through water in the Okavango Delta of Botswana.

MARCELLE

ANELISE

JUSTINE

SENEM ASLAN Politics

JOHN BAUGHMAN Politics

JON CAVALLERO Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies

KATY OTT Mathematics

MICHAEL ROCQUE Sociology

THE COLLEGE

The Bates endowment includes 1,440-plus individually named funds.

Cherish Friendships

Friends and classmates Maya Karmaker (left), an environmental studies major from Bronx, N.Y., and Nissim Gurung, an economics major from Pumdibhumdi, Nepal, proudly pose with their Bates diplomas on the Historic Quad following the college’s 158th Commencement on May 26.

Numbering 437, the graduating class represented 36 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and 19 countries beyond the U.S. They were joined by honorary degree recipients Mary Louise Kelly, host of NPR’s All Things Considered; poet Richard Blanco; and President Emerita Clayton Spencer.

One of the nation’s foremost journalists, Kelly, the Commencement speaker, offered life advice, urging the graduates to be wary of when success becomes a non-stop treadmill and to hold tight to lifelong friendships forged at Bates. “The friendships you have made at Bates will matter to you. They will enrich your life for all the years ahead.

Cherish them. Fight for them.”

She also spoke about the obligations of a citizen in a free democracy “to educate ourselves on history. And geography. On the literature and art that bring beauty to our days. On the work of serious reporters and writers who strive to keep us informed on the state of our nation and our world.”

Only from such shared facts can productive discussions flow, she said.

“We are capable of celebrating strong and honest differences of opinion even as we respect a common set of facts. And I congratulate you here at Bates for finding ways to do that.”

The friendships you have made at Bates will matter to you. They will enrich your life for all the years ahead. Cherish them. Fight for them.

Pitch Perfect

Do you need to reduce stress by organizing your time? Or perhaps you’re craving a non-alcoholic drink? Or you’re keen on supporting college aspirations? If so, this year’s winners of the Bobcat Ventures pitch competition have you covered. Hosted in Commons on April 6 and judged by three Bates alumni

Stark-Chessa ’26 poses

Dining Services uses a device and software that tracks dish temperatures.

Time for Beds

After an early April snowstorm left hundreds of thousands of Mainers without power, and with local hotels full due to pre-solar eclipse tourism, Bates swiftly opened Alumni Gym and Commons to house and feed a few of the many utility workers aiding in the power restoration.

Seventy-five beds were set up, each with a Bates chocolate placed on the pillow as a gesture of gratitude.

Associate Vice President for Dining, Conferences, and Campus Events Christine Schwartz said the chocolates were a “symbol of welcome and thank you from Bates for the work that is being done.”

entrepreneurs, the annual student pitch competition featured 11 student teams competing for $15,000 in prize money. This year’s first-place winner was Aidan Stark-Chessa ’26 of Falmouth, Maine, and his partner and friend, Bowdoin student Seamus Woodruff. The team was awarded $8,000 for Honeysuckle, a cocktail alternative that seeks to take advantage of a boom in non-alcoholic drinks. “We use ginger juice and lemon juice,” said Stark-Chessa, who makes his own bitters out of gentian root “and a sort

Aidan

with his winning check and his product, Honeysuckle, following the annual Bobcat Ventures pitch competition on April 6.

Fall semester classes begin at 8 a.m. on Sept. 4.

The Bates president is the college’s chief executive and academic officer.

The academic year (July 1–June 30) is the same as the fiscal year.

of proprietary cocktail shrub, like a pickled fruit-juice, to create a sort of signature mouth-feel of complexity.”

“The horsepower that Bates students pitch with and present is just second to none,” said longtime judge Ben Schippers ’04, co-founder of HappyFunCorp, a software design and engineering firm.

“I mean, it’s really incredible.”

Schippers was on the ground floor of the program when it began in 2015. The pitches get stronger by the year, he said. “It’s really been this transformation

Through the Years

Among the many group photos taken during the May 4 installation ceremony of President Garry W. Jenkins was this portrait that collectively captures nearly seven decades of service to Bates.

From left are President Emerita Elaine Tuttle Hansen, the seventh Bates president (2002–2011); Claire Bell Schmoll, executive assistant to four Bates presidents; Jenkins; and President Emerita Clayton Spencer, the eighth Bates president (2012–2023).

The group embodies 68 years of service to Bates; Schmoll, who retired in June, accounts for 47 of those years, most of them as executive assistant to the president, starting with President Don Harward.

She joined the Bates staff in 1977 at age 18, right after her graduation from Lewiston High School, initially working in the mail room in Lane Hall, then the “secretarial pool,” then in the president’s office by 1990.

In May, the Bates Board of Trustees passed a resolution of appreciation for Schmoll, an expression typically reserved for retiring presidents and trustees, praising her “tireless work, vigilant attention to detail, and boundless dedication.”

At a farewell reception in May, Jenkins thanked Schmoll for supporting his and his husband Jon’s entry into the Bates community. “Immediately, you made me feel not only supported but welcomed. You helped me understand this place and all that I needed to know about its people and its history. Jon and I knew you were there to assist in every possible way, and I honestly can’t tell you much that has meant to both of us.”

arc from when we started all the way to now. It’s an incredible trajectory to see.”

Joining Schippers as judges were Pranav Ghai ’93, co-founder of CalcBench, a financial data platform, and Carine Warsawski ’07, founder of Trybal Gatherings, offering classic and out-ofthe-box Jewish summer camp experiences for young adults and their friends.

Organized by the Center for Purposeful Work with the help of alumni, faculty, and staff, Bobcat Ventures added a road show this year, traveling to the Boston area to

meet with the Bates Boston Business Network, which hosted a practice session for several of the entrepreneurs at the Cambridge Innovation Center.

This year’s second prize ($4,000) went to Tanvir Thamid ’26 of Dhaka, Bangladesh, for Edbridge Scholars, a program supporting South Asian students’ college aspirations. Third prize ($3,000) went to Thomas Davis ‘27 of Marblehead, Mass., with Chunk (It)!, a time-management platform that helps users better plan and predict their day, thus reducing stress.

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

RENE ROY

Ali Priganc ’24 of Richmond, Vt., a neuroscience major who is minoring in French and francophone studies, poses for a portrait in the French department lounge in Roger Williams Hall. The full quote above her is Montaigne’s “Je suis moy-mesmes la matiere de mon livre” — “I am myself the subject of my book.”

A RECENT STUDY

photography by phyllis graber jensen

We asked students what they like about their campus study spots. One liked “seeing friends and watching people coming and going.” Another liked how it’s “quiet, cozy, and homey.” And another really liked “views of campus and sunsets.” Really, what’s not to like?

SPORTS

The Athletics website offers questionnaires for prospective Bobcat athletes.

Magic Touch

In early March, the Bates women’s basketball team offered up 80 minutes of thrilling NCAA tournament action on their home court, delivering what the players call “Alumni Magic.”

“If you’re the opposing team when you walk into this gym, you don’t think that much of it. But once the crowd shows up, it’s just the most special. Alumni Magic is real,” said Elsa Daulerio ’26 of Harpswell, Maine.

In a rocking weekend, the women’s basketball team swept the first two rounds of the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championships in Alumni Gymnasium — drawing a packed crowd to the intimate 839-seat space.

By defeating Brooklyn College and Widener University, Bates advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 19 years, where they fell to Wartburg College in a 54–53 heartbreaker to finish the season at 24-6.

The Bobcat statue was created by Forest Hart, whose art graces the White House.

Elsa Daulerio ’26, a 6-foot-3 center from Harpswell, Maine, goes up for a rebound in Bates’ first-round win over Brooklyn College in Alumni Gym in the NCAA tournament on March 1.

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

President Garry W. Jenkins took a moment to join the student section during the NCAA games in Alumni Gym, the second time being beckoned by “We want Garry!” chants.

Senior Citations go to athletes who rise to a “very select, if not unique level.”

A new springtime Bates sports awards show, the CATSBYS, debuted in May.

‘Exponential Effect’

This summer, Bates will replace the grass surface at Russell Street Field with synthetic turf, similar to Garcelon Field’s surface. Created in 2001, Russell Street Field is home to the men’s and women’s varsity soccer programs and includes a track that was resurfaced in 2022. “This will have a massive impact on the men’s and women’s programs,” said Joe Vari, head coach of women’s soccer.

Funded by donor gifts and college investment, the project will also add lighting to further expand opportunities for student use. When complete, Russell Street Field will join Garcelon Field as the college’s two multipurpose turf fields. (The Campus Avenue Field’s artificial surface is smoother and firmer, specifically optimized for field hockey.)

In recent years, the demand for playing space has spiked, especially since NESCAC now allows teams to hold a limited number of out-of-season varsity practices (e.g., lacrosse can practice in the fall, soccer in the spring). The imperative to have a playable surface early in the spring — and as late in the fall as possible — is high. “Two turf fields with lights alleviates pressure on everyone,” said Vari.

While the specific beneficiary of the new surface will be varsity athletics, “the project will improve the overall student experience in myriad ways,” said Geoff Swift, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer, in a letter to the campus community in January, including “increased durability, playability, and consistency for varsity soccer practice and game play; and more opportunities for other varsity programs, club, and intramural teams.”

“The project will have an exponential effect on the student experience,” said Jason Fein, director of athletics.

Back on the Water

In March, the markers of Maine’s mild and rainy winter were everywhere, including the Bates rowing teams getting onto the ice-free Androscoggin River on March 13, their earliest start ever.

The day before, the men’s and women’s teams gathered at the Traquina Boathouse along the shore to put out their docks, a team-building ritual with a practical outcome.

Like winter workouts on the erg machine, dock day is part of getting better and stronger, working together to walk dock sections into very cold river waters whose source is the stillsnowy White Mountains to the northwest.

“When you’re indoors, you’re working so hard for the expectation that you will get back on the water,” said Daniel Rodriguez ’24 of Longboat Key, Fla. On dock day, “everyone’s excited,” he said. “You’re getting in the water, and you realize how cold it is. But everyone’s under a consensus:

‘Oh my God, we get to finally go back out on the water.’”

Propane grills, but not charcoal, are allowed in the college’s tailgating areas.

Members of the All-American distance-medley team are, clockwise from top left, Ross Tejeda ’26 (1,200 meters), Truman Williams ’25 (400 meters), Calvin Capelle ’25 (800 meters), and Ned Farrington ’24 (1,600 meters).

Fast Finish

“If this is the pace we’re running, I’m a dead man,” said Ned Farrington ’24 of Cohasset, Mass., recalling the uncertain beginning to what became an AllAmerican performance at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships.

On March 8 at the Virginia Beach Sports Center, Farrington ran the anchor leg of the distance medley relay, an event where four runners complete four different distances, 400 meters to 1,600 meters.

Taking the baton to begin his 1,600 meters (about a mile), Farrington saw his competitors set a scorching pace.“But I just kept telling myself to make it to 400 meters (one lap) to go, and you’ll be fine,” he recalled.

With one lap to go, Farrington was eighth of 12 runners, “but it felt like they were coming back to me.” In the final 100 meters, he swept past four runners to secure fourth place, the second-best DMR finish ever for a Bates men’s team at NCAAs. Farrington ran the third-fastest mile split out of the 12 teams in the race.

A Bates soccer player dribbles the ball on the Garcelon Field turf surface during practice in 2021. Come fall 2024, soccer balls and soccer players will be moving over artificial turf at Russell Street Field.

Rowers haul sections of dock down from the shore and wade them into position in the river.

PETER STEENSTRA

PHYLLIS

ARTS & CULTURE

The Class of 2024 had 13 art and visual culture majors.

The theater department designed the stage for Garry Jenkins’ inauguration.

Egging Her On

Some topics explored in this year’s Senior Thesis Exhibition at the Bates Museum of Art were mundane — on purpose.

Avery Mathias ’24 of Needham Heights, Mass., one of eight studio art majors who exhibited their works in this year’s show, created oil paintings featuring chicken eggs to illustrate how one can find “intrigue and beauty in the mundane and ordinary.”

A single egg — fried or scrambled, in the shell or out — can evoke thoughts about health, life, routine, cooking, science, and sexuality, she says.

Mathias, also a biology major, sought to evoke a scientific perspective by painting the eggs larger than life, giving the impression of looking through a microscope. “To look at an object from a drastically different point of view made it infinitely more intriguing,” Mathias says.

At the launch of the two traditional Japanese boats on May 22, 2019, Grace Murnaghan ’20 handles the pole and Alex Platt ’22 is paddling before the watchful crowd assembled on the Lake Andrews shore.

PHYLLIS

253 alumni have doctorates in the arts and humanities.

The Tagliabue Prize for Creative Writing went to English major and Deansman Danny Liu.

From Puddle to Prop

Two traditional Japanese river boats, handcrafted by Bates students and launched into Lake Andrews five years ago, became props for the expansive re-creation of feudal Japan for the 10-part TV adaptation of Shogun, which debuted in February with episodes streamed weekly through mid-spring.

Back in 2019, Douglas Brooks, an author and expert in Japanese boatbuilding, led the Short Term course “Apprentice Learning: Building the Japanese Boat,” one of that year’s practitioner-taught courses arranged by the Center for Purposeful Work.

Brooks’ students built two long, narrow, flat-bottomed boats and then, in a ceremony reflecting Shinto tradition, guided them on a maiden voyage on the Puddle. From then until spring 2021, the two 21-foot boats remained in storage at Bates.

In the meantime, FX, a subsidiary of Disney, was ramping up production of a limited series based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel, which is set at the dawn of the 17th century.

Ladd Library has bound issues of LIFE magazine, 1940–1972.

For their sets, the filmmakers chose the rural west side of Vancouver Island, thick with wilderness, creating a town with a castle; a palace; and a coastal fishing village, replete with traditional Japanese wooden boats. To ensure the authentic presentation of those important props, the producers hired Brooks as a consultant. He provided Disney with traditional boat drawings that their scenic boat builders used to create a fleet of small

samurai warships. Disney also asked if there were any existing traditional Japanese boats available in North America. “I told them about the boats at Bates,” Brooks said.

In spring 2021, Disney reached out to Bates and negotiated a purchase.

A Watchful Eye

The college’s new Immersive Media Studio, located in historic Coram Library, was a busy crossroads for the arts this year, including a presentation of Beyond Midnight, a collaborative multimedia work by faculty members and students in the three departments: theater and dance; art and visual culture; and music.

A former classroom on the first floor, the IMStudio is now a windowless creative space with perfectly smooth and featureless walls coated with so-called 4K paint, aka theater-screen paint, and equipped with museum-quality projection and sound equipment. It was perfect for Beyond Midnight, which offered a dream-like visual and auditory experience featuring dance as well as video footage — including this

Jules Verne-esque octopus — taken during an undersea research expedition off Costa Rica last summer that Michel Droge, a member of the Bates art and visual culture faculty, joined as a visiting artist. Droge is seen at left in this photograph, sitting with Dan Mills, director of the Bates Museum of Art.

This image, taken on Oct. 5, 2021, shows the two Bates boats resting near the film’s re-creation of Osaka, Japan, in Port Moody, British Columbia, near Vancouver Island. (Photograph by Dean Eilertson)

PHYLLIS

GRABER

JENSEN

An online review of the Blue Goose said, “Great mix of locals and college students.”

A Cut Above

Last fall, Bates students partnered with local barbers and hair stylists to gain insight into the relationship between Blackness, community, and identity.

Rosa Storer of Taboo Hair Design, located about a mile from campus on Bates Street, was one of five local partners who welcomed students into their workplaces.

During the students’ conversation with Storer, she said that she enjoyed helping clients present their best selves to the world, and that styling hair “feeds her soul.”

The students were part of a project in their introductory Africana course that looked at the theme of “Seeing and Being Seen.”

The course’s final paper, co-authored by students and their professors, noted that barbershops and salons that serve Black customers have “historically done the vital work of celebrating Black culture and connecting communities.” Such places are what sociologists call “third places,” supportive and safe gathering spaces that are outside the home and separate from the workplace.

The project illuminated the diversity within the Black hair-care providers’community, with differences in gender, region of origin, racial identity, ethnicity, and country of birth. Such differences, the final paper said, “reflect the modern African diasporic population in Lewiston-Auburn.”

The course was co-taught by Charles Nero, the Benjamin E. Mays 1920 Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology Joshua Rubin, and received support from the Harward Center for Community Partnerships.

Fun and Games

Last fall, students in a new First-Year Seminar helped Lewiston public school educators test ideas about using educational robots to teach math lessons.

The educators found that math-based activities with robots, in this case Sphero BOLT robots, added an element of play that made students more resilient in the face of failure. “They are more willing to try again and again,” said Jennifer LaBonte, who coordinates technology coaches for Lewiston Public Schools.

In “Learning Math Using Crafts, Coding, and Games,” a new course taught by Professor of Mathematics Meredith Greer, students investigated how humans think about math at age 5, age 12, or age 18 through various activities including card games, crochet, origami, and age-appropriate computer coding.

The community-engaged project reflected Greer’s goal of teaching her students how to work as a team, which, in turn, helps them navigate feelings of

One can rent time on city-owned athletic fields.

vulnerability and isolation that can make adjusting to college difficult.

“Some of the goals were academic. Some of them were community-building,” said Greer. “I wanted us to enjoy our time together and be creative and talk about how we learn, how they learned things in the past, and, as they transition to college, how does that help them moving forward?”

Molly Scandrett ’27 of Cheshire, Conn., called it a “nice low-stakes, low-pressure way to get introduced to college.”

Scandrett also appreciated getting to work with Lewiston educators since she’s interested in studying education.

“They wanted our feedback as much as we wanted to use their robots. It was mutually beneficial,” Scandrett said.

From left, first-year students Michael Spencer of Mansfield, Texas, Carly Baker of Roxbury, Maine, Isabelle Benson of Norwich, Vt., and Nur Rajaie of Chicago interview Rosa Storer (right) at Taboo Hair Design in Lewiston.

From left, first-year students Darien Chiang of Quincy, Mass., Julian Tilney of Arlington, Mass., and Finn Sheehy of Burlingame, Calif., get a handle on how to program Sphero BOLT robots as they play a game of robot mini-golf in November in Chase Hall Lounge (one of the robots is shown near Sheehy’s right hand).

PHYLLIS GRABER J

The bowling center that suffered mass shootings last year reopened in May.

Lewiston maintains American flags at 11 locations.

Serving the Community

Varsity volleyball player Ami Evans ’26 of Honolulu teaches the volleyball serve to a young girl from the Lewiston community during a National Girls and Women in Sports Day program in the Gray Athletic Building. Held Feb. 3, the event drew local children to campus for an afternoon of team-based activities, empowerment stations, and sport-specific skill sessions led by Bates student-athletes.

In the summer, the city deploys a roadside grass mower.

What’s in a Name: Skinner

This Lewiston name belongs to a Boston businessman of the middle and late 1800s who sold cotton goods manufactured in Lewiston and who served as an early Bates trustee. The name, however, is perhaps more distinctive for not being affixed to any local building, lake, river — or, in this case, a street.

The Street

Familiar to Bates people (not only because it passes by Dairy Joy), Campus Avenue runs from the President’s House east past the Quad, past St. Mary’s Health System, and past Dairy Joy, all the way to East Avenue.

But when it was built in 1868 it was known as Skinner Street. The Lewiston Evening Journal called it “one of the best streets in the city” when it opened.

The Man

Skinner Street was named for Francis Skinner, a Bostonbased middleman who ran a “commission house” that bought cotton goods from New England textile mills and sold them to retailers. In the 1880s, he built what is today known as the Skinner Mansion on Beacon Street in Boston.

A few streets in Lewiston and at least two near campus were named for 19th-century investors in Lewiston and early supporters of Bates College. For example, Nichols Street is named for Lyman Nichols, and Bardwell Street is named for Josiah Bardwell, both investors in Lewiston mills.

The Change

In early 1915, the Lewiston Daily Sun reported that “a petition asking that the name of Skinner Street be changed to Campus Avenue is being circulated in this city.”

It’s unclear who or why the petition was circulated. Around that time the city was doing work to improve the street, including creating a new athletic field across from John Bertram Hall.

The Bates Student applauded the change in its Jan. 28, 1915, issue: “Students, faculty, alumni take note: by a decree of the Lewiston City Government, Skinner Street is henceforth to be known as Campus Avenue. We appreciate the change. Now let us all remember to make it a real change in fact as well as in theory.”

circa 1895,

This image,

shows the sitting room in Francis Skinner’s home at 266 Beacon St. in Boston. Campus Avenue was once named for Skinner, who served as a Bates trustee from 1868 to 1873.

THE WORLD

The top three study-abroad countries are the U.K., Denmark, and the Netherlands.

Yun Zhang of Anhui, China, was this year’s Senior Speaker at graduation.

Winging It

Costumed in the style of Carnival, Andrea Alfonzo ’27 of Cary, N.C., takes part in a late-March dress rehearsal for the popular annual Melting Pot Cultural Showcase, a celebration of the culture, creativity, and self-expression of Carnival season, sponsored by the Caribbean Student Association.

“I only photographed a brief part of the rehearsal but it was electrifying,” said Bates photographer Phyllis Graber Jensen. “You couldn’t miss the energy and vibrancy.”

The rehearsal was preceded by a series of workshops on framing, wiring, and feathering wings, and bathing-suit jeweling.

The CSA celebrates the Caribbean and its people, and seeks to integrate Caribbean students into the Bates community.

The annual Ramadan Banquet was April 5 in Memorial Commons.

Mask Task

Including the U.S., 20 countries were represented in the Class of 2024.

Six Bates students and their teacher pose wearing masks they painted in the style of Peking opera, the traditional Chinese theatrical art form characterized by elaborate costumes, stylized movement, singing, and martial arts.

Guided by Learning Associate in Chinese Veronica Huang, some of the students based their designs on pictures of Peking opera masks, and others simply designed their own.

“Different face colors represent different characters and personalities,” explains Huang. For instance, the color red on a mask suggests the character wearing it is “brave and loyal.”

Huang plans to hang the masks in Roger Williams Hall, home of the Chinese academic major, which is within the Program in Asian Studies.

“By making these Peking opera masks, students can experience traditional Chinese opera culture more vividly,” Huang says, “which will have a positive impact on their learning of Chinese language and culture.”

37 alumni have doctorates in foreign languages and literature.

Help in the Healing

Following a discussion in a Roger Williams Hall classroom, Bora Lugunda ’25 (left) of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, greets Chantal Kayitesi, one of three visitors to Bates last spring who shared stories with students about their lives as survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi of Rwanda.

Lagunda had asked the Rwandans how outsiders can best approach interviews with survivors to help document the history of the atrocity. “It’s not that hard,” said Jean Bosco Rutagengwa. “Survivors want to tell their story. It’s good when they share the details, because it helps in the healing process.”

A scholar and teacher of the genocide, Professor of French and Francophone Studies Alexandre Dauge-Roth organized the three-day event, “Rwanda 30 Years After: Trauma Healing of Genocide Survivors and Intergenerational Trauma.”

Bumthang, Bhutan

Showing two dogs playing among prayer flags atop a Bhutanese mountain, this photograph was taken by Nash Holley ’24 of Freeport, Maine, during a School for Field Studies program, “Himalayan Environment and Society in Transition.”

The image was featured in the annual Barlow Off-Campus Study Exhibition, mounted each year in conjunction with the Mount David Summit, the college’s annual celebration of student academic achievement.

Holley took the photo atop Kitiphu, a mountain in the Bumthang Dzongkhag (or district) of Eastern Bhutan.

“A group of us woke up early to hike the mountain. We made the summit, around 4,000 meters, as the sun rose, and were greeted by a group of friendly dogs who were living at a nearby monastery. As we sat down to eat our breakfast of a few leftover momos that we saved from the night before, they ran circles around us and chased each other with enthusiasm.”

NASH HOLLEY

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

Book suggestions from the college’s annual Good Reads summer reading list:

BOOKS

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Suggested by Jonathan Cohen, philosophy faculty : A story of someone born with non-binary genitalia that is woven into the tale of immigrant grandparents whose incestuous relationship makes the narrator’s rare genetic condition possible.

Art on My Mind by bell hooks

Suggested by Samantha Sigmon, assistant curator, Bates Museum of Art : Not just about art, the book brings up issues of racial and gender politics, as well as making you think about the importance of objects you have in your home.

Gay Like Me by Richie Jackson

Suggested by Kevin Michaud, officer, Campus Safety : An important guide for parents of gay children to understand the queer journey. I wish I had this book when I was young, to help my parents understand the complexity I struggled with as a gay kid.

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind Shunryu Suzuki

Suggested by Wayne Assing, director, Counseling and Psychological Services : A classic book on meditation, mindfulness, and learning to be fully present by a masterful Zen teacher who played a critical role in bringing Zen Buddhism to the West.

ASYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING

Before heading to the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships in March, Bates swimmers celebrate their coming adventure with a group tumble into Tarbell Pool.

CHANGES IN LATITUDE

Bates is located at approximately 44 degrees north latitude. Here are six cities around the world that have a similar latitude:

• Bordeaux, France

• Genoa, Italy

• Podgorica, Montenegro

• Bucharest, Romania

• Vladivostok, Russia

Two American-made cars have carried the name “Bobcat.” One was the forgettable Mercury Bobcat of the 1970s. What was the other?

Answer : The Marion Bobcat, advertised as “low hung, sturdily built, powerful and fast, ideal for long-distance runs in hilly, sandy, and rugged country,” was made by the Marion Motor Car Co. of Indianapolis the early 1900s. In 1914, you could pick in one up for $2,150.

Bobcat Squish Pillow $23.99 Let It B

A Jeopardy! clue on Jan. 9 asked contestants to place Bates, Beal, and Bowdoin colleges in “this state that does not begin with B.” April Marquet, a digital production artist from Oakland, Calif., gave the correct response. Later, a Bates parent posted on Facebook that her family “saw this live the other night. Fortunately, everyone watching in this house shouted out the answer simultaneously and correctly!”

squish

‘RISING TOGETHER’

After receiving the symbols of the presidency, President Jenkins accepts a round of applause. From left, Jeffrey Harmon, mayor of Auburn; Joan Gabel, chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh; Wendy Raymond, president of Haverford College; Jenkins; and Greg Ehret ’91, chair of the Bates Board of Trustees.

At his installation on May 4, President Garry W. Jenkins offered four cornerstones to guide the work of the college, to ensure its future strength, and to “uphold higher education as a public good in service to society and democracy”

STORY BY DEIRDRE STIRES

Shortly before the start of the installation ceremony for President Garry W. Jenkins in Merrill Gymnasium, Sarah Emerson Potter ’77, the retired longtime director of the Bates College Store, talked about the power of institutional rituals.

“Rituals are invaluable for the sense of intimacy and community that they create,” she said.

And so it went on May 4 as more than 1,200 students, faculty, staff, trustees, presidents emeriti, alumni, delegates, friends, and Jenkins family members turned out to welcome, praise, and appreciate the new president, making Merrill Gymnasium an epicenter of community, good cheer, and Bates pride.

The proceedings played out on a brilliantly illuminated stage, greenery along the perimeter and the Bates seal boldly in place above it all. As the academic procession arrived and took its place, the Bates College Orchestra performed Festive Overture, composed in 1944 by noted Black composer William Grant Still, who earned an honorary degree from Bates in 1954.

“I am moved beyond words by the warm welcome that you have offered me — here on this stage, on this day, but even from the very first moments that my joining this community became even a remote possibility,” said Jenkins, the

college’s ninth president. “This place — our college — is a place of warmth and welcome, and you have made that abundantly and beautifully clear.”

Jenkins’ installation took place six months after its originally planned October 2023 date, postponed due to the mass shooting in Lewiston on Oct. 25. As he welcomed the audience, Greg Ehret ’91, chair of the Bates Board of Trustees, asked for a moment of silence “in honor of the friends and neighbors we lost.”

Jenkins also spoke about Oct. 25. “There was tragedy in the events of late October. But there was also grace and beauty in the response. I know that this community will hold both of these truths as we continue to move forward into the future,” Jenkins said.

The sentiments resonated with the audience, especially with Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline, who, in offering the city’s welcome, said, “We were grateful for your partnership and outreach to our community during and after the tragic events of Oct. 25. Amid those dark times, you emphasized the strength of our collective support network, reminding us that our most valuable resource is our connections with each other.”

Offering the traditional welcome on behalf of academia was Wendy Raymond, president and professor of biology at Haverford College, Jenkins’ undergraduate alma mater.

At the head of the academic procession from Commons to Merrill Gymnasium are, from left, Chair of the Bates Board of Trustees Greg Ehret ’91, President Jenkins, and the procession mace bearer, Professor of French and Francophone Studies Mary Rice-Defosse.

“Through Bates and all that the Bates community represents, Garry’s ethical and impactful leadership, rooted in the liberal arts and an enduring set of values and humane capacities, will know no limits,” she told the audience. “Congratulations, Bates College, on being on the Jenkins journey!”

Other friends, former colleagues, and admirers, in public remarks and in interviews during the weekend, also pointed to a particular brand of inclusive leadership that Jenkins would bring to Bates.

“People think of transformational leaders as people who changed institutions or organizations, but that’s not [Garry],” said Donald Tobin, a longtime friend and former colleague of Jenkins at the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University. “Garry loves institutions and actions that transform people. He will not try to change Bates, but instead will seek to harness the power of Bates and see how it transforms the lives of its students.”

Ewing, professor of environmental studies and Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, congratulates President Jenkins during the inaugural procession.

“Long before the word became fashionable, Garry embodied inclusiveness,” said another friend and former colleague, Martha Chamallas, professor emerita of law at the Moritz College of Law.

“He’s a generous spirit who gives people leeway to make mistakes and he knows that not everyone is always their best self. But there is a difference between being tolerant and inclusive and being compliant. What makes Garry truly inclusive is that he actually has very little tolerance for people who aren’t kind, for people who lie, or for people who are dismissive of other people.”

As Jenkins started his address, he spent a few moments thanking many in attendance, with tearful appreciation to his parents, Garry and Leslie Jenkins, who, with other family members, sat in the front row just a few feet away. His parents instilled “a belief in the power of education, the importance of thinking for yourself, and the value

Holly

During the academic procession from Commons to Merrill Gymnasium, President Jenkins poses for a photo with delegate Eboni S. Nelson, representing the University of Connecticut as dean and professor of law.

RENE

ROY

PHYLLIS

I BELIEVE THAT WIN-WINS ARE BETTER AND MORE LASTING THAN JUST WINS; AND I BELIEVE THAT WE GO FURTHER AND ARE STRONGER WHEN WE LIFT ONE ANOTHER UP.

of building and supporting community, and community around you.”

Voice breaking, Jenkins told the audience that “this wouldn’t be possible without them.”

Jenkins said he chose “Rising Together” as the theme for his inaugural address because “I believe deeply in the power of collaboration and teamwork, because I believe that when people and/ or institutions join forces, opportunities multiply. Because I believe that win-wins are better and more lasting than just wins, and because I believe that we go further and are stronger when we lift one another up.”

Jenkins first spoke of the “improbable” historic firsts that exemplify Bates’ long-standing commitment to equality. Bates, he said, “was a radical notion from its very founding in 1855, six years before the Civil War, founded with a distinct vision of higher education: women and men, people of

President Jenkins’ mother, Leslie Jenkins, blows a kiss to her son after his heartfelt thanks to her and his father, Garry C. Jenkins (left). Holding her hand, at right, is Jon Lee, President Jenkins’ husband.

all races, learning together. Steadfast in the idea of what it meant to be fully human. But an outlier.”

It is a tradition of equity and inclusion that has continued, Jenkins assured. “In Bates I see the lived commitment to equity, to access, to belonging.”

Jenkins said that he recalled when “not too long ago, asking, would our nation’s most selective colleges ever be open to a Black president? To an openly gay president? Would that be possible? Was that a dream too big? I am glad that today, with places like Bates in the world, and with people like those who make up this community, no dream is too big.” A robust round of applause followed.

Today, Jenkins said, Bates remains a place where there is room for everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, political or ideological viewpoint, or background. “It’s all of us at that table — we thrive, we rise together,” he said.

Jenkins mapped out four key areas where Bates can better cultivate tomorrow’s leaders, areas he called “the four cornerstones.”

Innovation: Bates needs to draw on the innovation and flexibility that has made it a model in

such areas as inclusive excellence in education, environmental stewardship, and in integrating theory and practice in its courses, Jenkins said.

“As we move into our next chapter, we will need to draw on that innovation and flexibility to fully take advantage of our personal scale, to heighten even further the power of collaboration, meeting changing student interests and enrollment needs,” he explained.

Opportunity: Opportunity means access, Jenkins said, and Bates seeks to educate “the most promising students from a wide range of backgrounds.”

“We want Bates to be a place of opportunity for all,” he said. “And we will continue to open the doors of opportunity wider to highly talented students from all backgrounds, geographies, and family incomes.”

Leadership and Well-being: “We need to attend to the entire student experience, especially when it comes to leadership development and supporting well-being,” said Jenkins, who, as a law school professor and dean, became a nationally respected authority in leadership development, among other areas.

“In the years ahead, we must focus on thoughtfully and intentionally preparing our students to lead and serve for the benefit of industry, disciplines, organizations, and communities,” he said.

Civic Engagement: “The work of equipping emerging adults for the responsibilities of citizen-

With a united effort, Bates will successfully meet the challenges of our times, President Jenkins said in his address. “We know this because of what Bates was, what Bates is, and what Bates promises it can be.”

ship...has never felt more pressing,” he said. “In advancing this work, we help to uphold all of higher education as a public good in service to society and democracy.”

If Bates does a good job at teaching students skills and habits that allow them to support their communities as alumni, “and I think we do at Bates, our students benefit and so does democracy. They rise together.”

Growth in these areas will require further growth of the Bates endowment and “striving for the financial standing and security that allows us to fulfill our highest aspirations,” but Jenkins promised it would reap results.

“We will help make it so that Bates is even stronger and more distinguished at its 175th anniversary, a mere six years away, and also its 200th, and its 300th,” he said.

Before he closed, Jenkins circled back to the reminder that we live in troubled times: “the world is in conflict, in need. Violence, extremism, insularity, and hateful rhetoric are all too present. Higher education is under attack, vulnerable to government interference.”

He vowed that Bates will address all of these challenges and more — in one united effort. “We know this because of what Bates was, what Bates is, and what Bates promises it can be,” Jenkins said. He closed with a charge to the Bates community, likening their role to that of a runner in a hotly contested relay race. “Our predecessors…have carried us far, but they did not complete the journey. In any perpetual institution like a great college or university, you never do.

“But what we can do is accept, or grab, the baton that is passed to us. Embrace the work, the challenges that await us. Run as fast and as hard as we can during our leg of the race” to renew and strengthen Bates.

“That is our task. That is our privilege.” n

INAUGURATION STORIES

This QR code links to more stories and multimedia about the inauguration of Garry W. Jenkins.

Bates Student Government Co-presidents Dhruv Chandra ’25 (left) of Kolkata, India, and Rebecca Anderson ’24 of Boone, N.C., shared the delivery of the traditional student welcome.

RENE ROY

RENE ROY

Erin Reed ’08, executive director of the Trinity Jubilee Center, works on her laptop at a makeshift deskdesk — the day’s tasks include placing food and diaper orders and emailing the local housing authority about a client’s meal delivery.

‘Much Is Owed’

Erin Reed ’08 on a journey of compassion, community, and loving Lewiston

STORY BY DEIRDRE STIRES

PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

A sheaf of work keys hanging from her waist, Reed checks a clipboard for names of clients who registered for the food pantry’s weekly distribution of free groceries.

ON A 22-DEGREE DAY last November, Erin Reed ’08 arrived at the Trinity Jubilee Center in Lewiston at 5:30 a.m. to help unload some 4,000 pounds of food from a Good Shepherd Food Bank truck.

Two hours later, bundled in ski pants and a hoodie, Reed, the center’s executive director, stood outside patiently checking in people who came to collect cardboard boxes full of free vegetables, fruit, cheese, and frozen catfish to help feed their families.

After another two hours, Reed finally came inside the soup kitchen to work on her laptop. She looked around for somewhere to sit, since a doctor was using the center’s only office to provide free health clinics. She grabbed a metal chair and set up shop in a large hallway where grocery boxes were being packaged, her lap serving as a makeshift desk as she typed away. It proved the perfect setting.

Draped over a large stack of diapers behind Reed was a blanket adorned with rainbows and unicorns — a backdrop that stood in stark contrast to the difficult, life-altering social work Reed does here for those in need.

“I’ve watched the impact of what Erin has done and what the place has meant to Lewiston as part of the fabric of this community,” says Kim Wettlaufer ’80 of Lewiston, the former director of Trinity Jubilee Center, who is still an avid volunteer. “There are a lot of demands. People come here with extreme circumstances. Their needs are great. It needs someone who is evenkeeled, someone with a calm exterior.”

Reed is all of that, but her job is far from easy.

So what did it take for Reed to serve the most vulnerable in our community in the early days of COVID when all of her volunteers suddenly quit because of the public health crisis, or following the Lewiston mass shooting during the shelter-in-place order, or during any one of Maine’s frigid winters the past 10 years?

When asked, Reed evokes the idea of compassion, an awareness of the needs of others, and the desire to help those in need.

“I think of the quote ‘To whom much is given, much is required.’ To me, I’m someone who was born in the U.S., I’m healthy, I have a solid family. All that puts me ahead of 90 percent of the people in the world. I don’t know how, when you work in a place where everyday you see life is way more precarious

than we like to think, how you don’t help,” Reed says.

Part of that compassion comes from the fact Reed’s grandparents were Irish immigrants, coming to the U.S. from County Cork and County Tyrone. In Detroit her grandmother was a domestic worker and her grandfather held a manufacturing job in the auto industry.

“The reality is, no one else will do this. No one else will cook lunch for the community every day, no one else will do paperwork to get kids out of refugee camps. What we do is not fun or easy

but we can’t just walk away,” Reed says. “It’s hard to go home at the end of the day. My clients can’t get jobs until I help them get a work permit. If their landlord is asking for a rent check and their kids are hungry, an hour of my time could change their life.”

Since Reed took over as the center’s executive director in 2014, she’s grown the center’s reach, increasing the staff from one to four full-time employees and the number of families the Center’s Food Pantry helps feed each week from around 100 to upwards of 200.

Reed welcomes clients outside Trinity Jubilee, located in the basement of historic Trinity Episcopal Church but set to move to a new downtown building next year.

“I think of the quote ‘To whom much is given, much is required,’” says Reed.

Reed talks with Kim Wettlaufer ’80, her predecessor as director of Trinity Jubilee and now an avid volunteer.

“She’s taken it to a whole new level.”

The center now helps an average of 100 people a year find jobs and it annually serves a total of 4,000 individuals in the Lewiston area.

Moreover, with the successful conclusion of a major fundraising campaign in sight, the center will break ground on a new downtown home: a two-story, 11,000-square-foot, $4.9 million center.

“We’ve raised over 80 percent of our project total and hope to break ground in October,” Reed says.

When construction is completed, the work of providing a food pantry, soup kitchen, day shelter, and resource center will move from the basement of historic Trinity Episcopal Church, located at the corner of Bates and Spruce streets, where the nonprofit has rented space since 2001. Once affiliated with the church, the center is now independent.

“She’s taken it to a whole new level,” says Wettlaufer.

Part of what led Reed to find her work at the center was her years at Bates, before she graduated with a degree in sociology in 2008.

Reed found the Trinity Jubilee Center within 48 hours of arriving on campus when her AESOP trip went there to

volunteer in the soup kitchen. Afterward, she would ride her bike down to help at the center in whatever way she could. Then she served the Harward Center for Community Partnerships as a student volunteer fellow, coordinating Bates volunteers at the Trinity Jubilee Center.

Reed still works with the Harward Center, guiding student volunteers and those looking to job-shadow. Darby Ray, the Harward Center’s director, called Reed a “transformative leader.”

“She’s amazing not only because of the impact she and her team have, but because they are profoundly relational and humble. There’s not enough of that today,” Ray says. “Erin is one of the most humble and understated leaders in our community. She’s not about the fanfare or the attention. She’s about supporting the vulnerable members of our community.”

Reed says the Bates philosophy of trying and exploring inspired her to believe she could do anything she wanted. She belonged to nine clubs and organizations at Bates.

“It was amazing being around people who were so curious and so engaged. The culture on campus was that

“She’s amazing not only because of the impact she and her team have, but because they are profoundly relational and humble. There’s not enough of that today.”

if you were excited about something, go for it. Learn all about it, get involved, don’t be intimidated, just jump in. That was a great mindset to send us out into the world with,” Reed says.

But when Reed reflects on her time at Bates, she also calls her younger self naive for how she tried to help the world simply by joining in protests for social justice causes. In the end, it was a single fundraiser her junior year that showed her a better way.

A friend who worked in Commons was helping to raise funds for another Commons employee who was getting treatment for breast cancer. Reed joined the effort, helping to organize the sale of homemade fudge outside Commons to raise money for the sick woman. Not long after, while studying in the dining hall, she looked up to see the young woman she was helping. They had never met.

“She was still pretty sick. It was so sweet watching everyone come from behind workstations and fuss over her,” Reed says. “It really drove home to me what matters: helping out other people in your own community. You can make a big difference by putting your energy there.”

Almost 20 years later, Reed lives that experience every day. Everywhere she goes, she sees people the center has helped.

“Going shopping can take a very long time,” she says with a laugh. “In every department there is someone who we helped get a job. They are so excited, they want to thank you. They want to

tell you about their kids. That’s been a constant for years.”

In the end, what it takes for Erin Reed to charge into a 12- or 14-hour work day — an all-too common experience for her — is knowing herself and the kind of meaningful work she needs to do, work that embraces our shared humanity.

“This is my place in the world,” she says with a shrug. “I don’t know how I could get up every day and do something I didn’t really believe in. If people come and ask you for help, how could you say ‘No’?”

As an example, Reed shared a story of a local man who is on oxygen and lives in his car. He regularly comes into the center and asks for help, handing over his oxygen machine to Reed or others on the center staff so they can plug it in and charge it for him, usually while they are busy helping other clients.

“He’s always very grateful. It’s a huge thing for him. He doesn’t have anywhere else to do that,” Reed says. “You don’t realize how kind and how resilient people are.” n

WHAT IT TOOK

This profile is part of the Bates News series “What It Took,” in which Bates people share what it took to develop their inner strength, resolve, and resilience in the face of life’s challenges.

“This is my place in the world. I don’t know how I could get up every day and do something I didn’t really believe in,” says Erin Reed ’08, executive director of the Trinity Jubilee Center, located in downtown Lewiston.

‘They’re Doing It’

Posing during their shift at

are

gain experience by working part-time with the local ambulance service.

United Ambulance near campus

Bates EMS co-chiefs Ned Friedman ’24, at right, of Park City, Utah, and Noah Bachner ’25 of Weston, Conn., who is reflected in the window. BEMS members often

Founded in 1995 by four students with a budding interest in EMT work, Bates Emergency Medical Services, grounded in caring for one’s community, is integral to how Bates supports the well-being of its campus BY DEIRDRE STIRES

During the summer after her first year at Bates, Paige Magid ’24 of Washington, D.C., was on vacation in New Orleans with her dad when they passed a restaurant just as an employee ran outside yelling for help.

The hostess was having a seizure and the staff didn’t know what to do. Creighton Magid simply pointed at his daughter and said: “She’s an EMT.”

“They had me come into the restaurant, and I saw this lady on the floor with her eyes open and her lips turning blue,” Paige Magid recalls. “I went over and took her pulse. Her jaw was clenched and people tried to open it and I told them, ‘No, no, no. You’re going to (injure) her. You need to go about this in a different way.’”

Magid’s quick action helped to keep the woman in stable condition until paramedics arrived. She relied on training she’d just received during her first Short Term, after which she

Annie Li ’24 (left) of Oslo, Norway, and Noah Jaffe ’25 of Scarsdale, N.Y, practice placing a cervical collar on their “patient,” Emily Scarrow ’25 of Washington, D.C., during a BEMS training session in Commons.

Bates EMS co-chiefs Noah Bachner ’25 (left) of Weston, Conn., and Ned Friedman ’24 (right) of Park City, Utah, flank Maggie Gill ’27 of Tenants Harbor, Maine, who was shadowing the pair during their work shift at United Ambulance in Lewiston.

became nationally certified as an emergency medical technician. Magid is part of a new generation of volunteers for Bates EMS, the college’s all-volunteer, student-run, state-certified emergency medical service.

BEMS, as it is called, was founded by four Bates students in 1995. Since then, the service has become an integral part of supporting the well-being

of Bates people while simultaneously training and inspiring students, hundreds of them over the decades, to provide life-saving medical care.

At its core, say BEMS alumni, the service is about fostering a life philosophy grounded in caring for one’s community. In addition to medical knowhow, BEMS teaches such powerful life skills as listening

PH YLLIS GRABER JENSEN

The value that I see in BEMS is the educational component. You can apply that level of commitment and growth and learning to anything else you do in life, even if you put your license aside after Bates.

— NED FRIEDMAN ’24

carefully to others, responding with empathy, slowing down to take note of your surroundings, and, fundamentally, how to harness the kind of rock-solid courage needed in emergencies, and not just medical ones.

“One of the best things it taught me was how to listen to people, through looking and listening to your patient. We do not do that very well as humans,” says Madeline Bruno ’17, who is now a geologist but kept and used her EMT certification when she served on a volunteer ambulance crew just after college.

Today, there are more than 250 college and university EMS services across the country, and most are student-run, according to the National Collegiate EMS Foundation. But not all are state-licensed like BEMS, which means it adheres to the regulatory procedures and policies of state-certified ambulance crews, a distinction that makes it unique in Maine.

At any given time, BEMS numbers around 30 members,  many of whom also work parttime on local ambulance crews such as United Ambulance in Lewiston, near the Bates campus on Russell Street, and others in surrounding towns like Lisbon, Turner, Monmouth, and Durham — adding another layer of learning as they form connections in local communities.

“The way you get to know your community is really, really unique,” says David Kingdon ’98 of Wailuku, Hawaii, one of the four founders of BEMS 28 years ago. Now a paramedic on

the island of Maui, he served as a first responder coordinating medical care during the wildfires of August 2023.

“It builds confidence in handling stress and crisis. It’s also about just having one’s worldview opened up a bit, even for those who don’t go into a related field. It’s a great way to know your town at a deeper level.”

It’s also a way to know your college on a deeper level, says Magid. “BEMS has shaped a lot of the way that I see Bates. It was a lot of fun, but it also was sort of a leadership role. I’ve had to be in some really serious situations. I’ve shown up at a call early in the morning where someone was unresponsive. It turned out to be fine. But that was definitely scary.”

Magid didn’t come to Bates planning to study medicine, and she took Bates’ Short Term EMT course on a whim. But after responding to about 30 EMS calls on the Bates campus, she’s been imbued with a can-do sense of civic duty that has helped her discover a purposeful career path. Graduating with her Bates double major in biology and theater, Magid now will pursue a master’s of public health in chronic disease epidemiology at Yale.

Nearly 30 years after it was founded, BEMS continues to evolve and offer students more. Most recently, there has been a significant shift in making BEMS more accessible to students, regardless of their ability to pay for training.

Three years ago, a donor came forward to fund the Short

Term EMT class to make it free for all 16 students taking the intensive, 40-hour, three-week course, which previously cost $1,500 to $3,000 per participant. Bates hopes to continue to underwrite the cost of the course, says Blake Reilly, associate dean and director of operations and administration in Student Affairs who helps to oversee the BEMS program.

In addition, students now receive academic credit for taking the EMT course, like all other Short Term courses. “Both of those changes have been crucial to creating a more diverse service and lowering the barriers to access, because it’s a very expensive course, as well

Noah Bachner ’25 readies a United ambulance during his shift on March 31, 2024.

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JENSEN

PHYLLIS

as time-intensive. And now students who take the course don’t miss out on getting academic credit,” Reilly says.

Bates donors have noted how BEMS impacts the community in other ways. After three members of Bates EMS, in their part-time work with United Ambulance, were among the first medical responders to the mass shootings in Lewiston on Oct. 25, 2023, a Bates alumni family established a $100,000 endowment to support BEMS operations, including the cost of training.

And in April, donors again came to the rescue, as a Bates family offset the $62,000 cost of a new Bates vehicle. The 2022 Ford SUV, similar to a Ford Explorer, replaces an aging 2007 Toyota Highlander, affectionately known as “Heidi the Highlander,” used by generations of Bates students.

“This family has an appreciation for what these students do for our community, and in their communities as Bates alumni,” says Geoff Swift, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer, who oversaw the purchase of the vehicle. “And we were thrilled that they were interested in supporting this vehicle for the students.”

While the BEMS vehicle doesn’t transport patients to the hospital, it does need to arrive quickly on the scene, carrying all the gear typically needed to aid victims of medical emergencies, from backboards and medications to equipment that provides breathing assistance.

“This car has increased space to carry gear, and we plan to design the trunk in a way that will make it easier to access our gear on a call,” says Ned Friedman ’24 of Park City, Utah, who

We are sort of a big-small community. We are a really tight-knit community. So we were able to work cohesively, which was lovely. — PETER TILNEY ’99

“People feel that they can call us,” says Aleisha Martinez Sandoval ’26 (left) of Edinburg, Texas, posing with Aoife Spiesel ’26 of South Orange, N.J., while staffing the annual Puddle Jump in February 2024.

served as BEMS co-chief this past academic year. “That will reduce wait times.”

BEMS was started in the 1995–96 academic year by four students who all earned their EMT certification in high school and wished to continue as EMTs in college. Its beginnings were modest. “We didn’t even have a basic vehicle the whole three years that I was there. Most of us were on foot or on bicycle,” says Kingdon.

Since then, all four founders have remained devoted to a life in medical and community service.

Kingdon, who spearheaded the founding effort, is currently a special operations and flight paramedic with Maui County EMS and is also a professor of emergency medical services with the University of Hawaii. He has hosted several Purposeful Work interns in the past, including Friedman this spring.

Another BEMS co-founder, Michael Schlechter ’99, went into business after Bates and now volunteers his time as chief of his Connecticut hometown’s EMS, which earned state “Volunteer Agency of the Year” honors in 2023.

Peter Tilney ’99 earned a medical degree from the University of New England and is now an emergency-room physician in Lewiston as well as the medical director of LifeFlight of Maine, the state’s air-ambulance service.

And Pete Linkroum ’99 of Baltimore is an acute nurse practitioner in the Department of Palliative Medicine at MedStar Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore.

BEMS could have remained a private service, similar to what many other colleges and universities offer. But the four founders wanted it recognized by the state of Maine, even though as a non-transporting service it would primarily serve the Bates campus community.

“Here we are over 25 years later, and it’s still an active ser-

get a quicker response calling Campus Safety than calling 911. Especially with BEMS, they have a quick response time.”

vice and a vibrant organization,” Kingdon says. “These may be young people, but they’re very mature and very responsible, and totally capable of serving and, frankly, running a small EMS service. I think it’s important that everyone acknowledge that.”

Since its inception, BEMS has been run by student co-chiefs with programmatic support from Student Affairs. This spring, co-chiefs Friedman and Noah Bachner ’25 of Weston, Conn., met weekly with Blake Reilly and Brenna Callahan, the associate director of health and services for Student Support, to develop leadership and training opportunities.

In addition, the co-chiefs also now check in with Dennis Russell, United’s education manager and paramedic program director, who came on as a Bates advisor in 2016 to help monitor the service’s compliance with constantly changing state protocols.

Each year, about 30 BEMS volunteers commit to a min-

imum of five 24-hour shifts a month, including one weekend shift. During those days on duty, they remain on campus and carry radios and medical gear with them while going about their normal routines of attending class, dining in Commons, and sleeping in their residence hall.

Dispatched through Campus Safety, most of the calls students respond to are minor health issues. But they have responded to car accidents on the roads around campus, helped administer bandages to stop bleeding, and cared for head injuries. In one instance, they provided CPR when a student had a seizure and stopped breathing.

Their response time to the roughly 120 calls they answer during the school year averages just three minutes. “That’s excellent,” says Paul Menice, director of Bates Campus Safety, and is the reason he can direct the campus community to call Campus Safety for a medical emergency. “You will

BEMS also works at campus events, from Puddle Jump to Commencement. On May 4, they assisted Campus Safety to provide support at President Garry W. Jenkins’ inauguration.

“They add another layer of (campus) safety and another first responder in an emergency situation,” says Menice, who has seen the EMS program grow stronger during his 35 years of service at Bates, which began even before the program’s founding. “For us, it’s been great having them as a partner. They’re showing up — and they’re doing it.”

Once a month, the students train with Campus Safety in mock scenarios to stay sharp for an actual emergency. The co-chiefs meet regularly with Reilly, Callahan, and Russell to plan training sessions, simulations, and events, like one held in early February when BEMS partnered with Campus Safety to showcase the work done by Maine first responders. The event featured a LifeFlight of

Peter Tilney ’99, a BEMS co-founder, discovered his calling as an emergency-room physician at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston and the medical director of LifeFlight of Maine. He was at the center of the medical response to the mass shootings of Oct. 25, 2023.

Maine helicopter landing on Bardwell Field.

About 70 percent of the BEMS students go on to work in a medical field, according to Student Affairs. The exposure to emergency medicine is topshelf. But many BEMS alums say the life skills they learned are applicable in ways beyond the walls of a hospital.

“In my career up to this point, one of my greatest takeaways is the skill to be able to talk to people, any person, in their time of need,” says Jillian Sheltra ’19 of Portland, a BEMS alumna who is a paramedic for LifeFlight, a nonprofit and Maine’s only air ambulance service. “Without that, I don’t think I would have ever developed personally. For that, I definitely credit BEMS.” This summer, Sheltra heads to Tufts University School of Medicine.

After she joined BEMS, Sheltra went on to work part time for United Ambulance, assisting veteran EMTs of 20 and 30 years. The medical care she witnessed those seasoned EMTs provide left an impression not just for its medical dimension, but in how it offered an intimate view of humanity seldom seen by modern medical practitioners. “You go into people’s homes. That is an incredibly unique perspective. I absolutely loved that piece of it,” Sheltra says.

Sophie Love-Webb ’24 of Lewiston, a former co-chief who worked part time for United, says working on the local ambulance was invaluable for getting her outside the “Bates bubble.”

“It made me feel a lot more balanced as a student at Bates. I felt like I had a community in Lewiston. I had friends in Lewiston. I felt like I understood the Lewiston community a lot better. I left campus often,” says Love-Webb, now a full-time EMT at United.

BEMS was a big reason Aleisha Martinez Sandoval ’26 of Edinburg, Texas, chose to come to Bates. Sandoval moved away from her family in Mexico City at age 15 so that she could attend a Texas vocational school where she could serve on an ambulance and get her EMT certification.

As a high school senior she

Jillian Sheltra ’19, a paramedic for Maine’s LifeFlight air ambulance service, heads to medical school this fall. BEMS gave her the ability to “talk to any person in their time of need.”

already had the goal of pursuing a career in medicine as a physician.

“I really like that it’s something that we have here. People feel that they can call us. Most of the people in the service genuinely care about what they do. It gives you a good connection with people who are passionate about something you like,” Sandoval says. “I’ve known that this is my thing for a long time.”

Many BEMS students who went on to careers in medicine didn’t know when they came to Bates what their path would be. But the service effectively serves as a broad funnel helping to guide students toward different pursuits in medicine, health, and wellness.

“We all come from different majors: environment, politics, biology, pre-med,” says Ethan Baker ’24 of Jackson, N.H.

For Friedman, who majored in politics, EMT service has been a powerful source of finding purposeful work, including working as a part-time advanced EMT with United and at Durham Fire & Rescue. This spring, he also job-shadowed Kingdon, the paramedic in Maui. Now Friedman plans to become a full-time firefighter and get a master’s in public health or emergency management work.

BEMS has provided Friedman a path to gain practical skills, “the intricate world of emergency medicine, which teaches you, quite literally, how

to save someone’s life.” He also values its transferable skills like leadership and how to commit to something you care about.

“The value that I see in BEMS is the educational component, putting in time and effort to learn and grow your skill set,” he says. “You can apply that level of commitment and growth and learning to anything else you do in life, even if you put your license aside after Bates.”

His co-chief Bachner agrees. “Even for someone who just drops into BEMS for a short time, it teaches great life lessons. It teaches you how to interact with people, how to stay calm, what you have in common with other people — just generally making yourself a useful human being.”

There are also BEMS veterans who pursue fields of work or study unrelated to public health and safety. The service helped them find their way, too.

After she graduated from Bates with a geology major in 2017, Madeline Bruno volunteered on a local ambulance crew during a two-year fellowship for the Island Institute, which helps support the public health and wellness and the sus-

JILLIAN SHELTRA

tainability of island communities along the Maine coast. Bruno says the experience of giving back to a community on Islesboro in that way was invaluable.

“I really got to know the community and, I think, some really vulnerable parts of the community,” she says.

Bruno lives in Augusta now and works for the engineering firm WSP in environmental remediation in remote parts of Maine, where commanding the skills of an EMT brings added value to her team.

“It’s really nice to have 38 subcontractors on a job site in a remote area and if something happens I can say: ‘Call 911, obviously, but call me, too. I can help,’” Bruno says.

Mike Schlechter, a BEMS co-founder and an EMT since age 16, initially planned to become a rabbi to serve his community in a meaningful way. He ended up going into management consulting with a focus on employee experience design and digital transformation — but never stopped being an EMT.

Today Schlechter is the volunteer chief of service of Weston (Conn.) Volunteer EMS,

In my career up to this point, one of my greatest takeaways is the skill to be able to talk to people, any person, in their time of need.

— JILLIAN SHELTRA ’19

where he oversees a crew of 77 volunteer EMTs, one of whom is Noah Bachner, the current BEMS co-chief. “Being a rabbi ended up not being the path for me, for myriad reasons. Being a volunteer EMT was — and is,” Schlechter says. “For me, it’s always been about community service. That’s still true. Since I was a teenager, it’s been a big part of me and my identity.”

Fellow BEMS founder Pete Tilney wasn’t sure when he arrived at Bates if he wanted to go into medicine, or even if he

David Kingdon ’98, a BEMS co-founder in 1995, is a paramedic in Hawaii. He stands amidst debris on the island of Maui following the deadly August 2023 wildfires.

Becoming a Bates EMT, he says, gave him “confidence in handling stress and crisis.”

was cut out for it. Helping to get BEMS off the ground and doing EMT work as a student proved to him he had what it took.

Some 25 years later, Tilney then proved how well-suited he was for the life of an emergency-room physician. On the evening of Oct. 25, 2023, when a gunman brought unthinkable horror to Lewiston, Tilney got the news on his commute home to Kennebunkport, Maine. He turned around and returned to Central Maine Medical Center, where he quarterbacked the LifeFlight response and the EMS crews that called from as far away as Boston to offer assistance in the triage effort.

Professionals like Tilney know that there’s no such thing as “it can’t happen here.”

“Oct. 25 was awful, but it’s what we train for,” Tilney says.

“The amazing thing is that people’s training and awareness really came together, and so we were able to take care of the community at large. We are sort of a big-small community. We are a really tight-knit community. So we were able to work cohesively, which was lovely.”

He added that the fact he works in Lewiston is directly related to the experience he had working for BEMS.

“BEMS gave me that foundation and appreciation for emergency medicine. I wouldn’t be doing this 25 years later if I hadn’t discovered at Bates that I really enjoy doing it,” he says. “And I wouldn’t still be working in Lewiston if I didn’t care about the community.” n

‘Full of Love’

With a roadmap for life drawn by a loving mother and grandmother, Anthony Phillips ’10 has always asked, ‘How can we make other people’s lives better?’

BY DEIRDRE STIRES

ANTHONY PHILLIPS ’10 and his mother, Ann Phillips, sit for a family portrait in Philadelphia circa 2010.

ANTHONY PHILLIPS

Anthony Phillips ’10 recalls taking the bus as a child from North Philadelphia to an elementary school in a predominantly white community and noticing how the streets were cleaner in that neighborhood, how the homes had lawns.

Phillips says that back then there were clear indicators of housing redlining and other forms of systemic racism at work. The corner of Philadelphia where he grew up, Phillips says, was rife with violence, undesirable homes, and drug deals taking place out in the open. The stark contrast made Phillips wonder on those bus rides in his childhood how two areas in such close proximity could be so different.

“I always wondered why my neighborhood did not look as beautiful as other neighborhoods when it came to resources. I was always concerned about why this was happening in my neighborhood. So that made me think about the inequity, right? In my own city, one neighborhood looked beautiful, and another neighborhood looked like it needed a lot of support.

“But what I did love about my neighborhood at the time: It was full of love,” Phillips says. “We had neighbors who looked after each other. We had neighbors who loved to chat and laugh with one another. We had great block parties and festivities.”

At the center of Phillips’ childhood were his mother and grandmother, who taught him that values like kindness, integrity, and hard work could lead to a good life. They served as living examples of the joy found in helping others. He admired their industry, grit, and determination and their unremitting commitment to education. He has followed their example to this day.

PHILLIPS SPENDS TIME with his uncle, John Phillips, and a cousin, Ashley Poitier, following the Class of 2010’s Baccalaureate Service on May 29, 2010.

LEFT: ON JUNE 2, 2023, Anthony Phillips posted this photograph of his mother, Ann Phillips, on his Instagram account. He wrote: “Ann Phillips would’ve been 70 years old today. Thank you, Mom.”

So in 2022, when Phillips was encouraged by his community to run for a seat on the 17-member Philadelphia City Council to serve the northwest section of Philadelphia where he grew up, he answered the call. With no electoral experience, Phillips won a seat at the table in Philadelphia City Hall in a special election and he won the regular election a year later. And in his first 15 months in office, Phillips proved his commitment to serving those in need.

Phillips says that his roadmap for life was drawn by his grandmother and mother.

“My grandmother was my second parent. I never even met my father until I was 21 years old,” Phillips says. “But my mom always surrounded me with people that could be impactful in my life. She always said to me, ‘Hey, I want you to hang out with Mr. Cleave and Mr. James. They ended up being these 70-year-old men who were my mentors, who taught me how to play checkers, but also encouraged me. They’d be like, ‘Hey, I like the way you speak. I like the way you dress. I like the way you treat your family.’ They gave me positive affirmations.

“Growing up we didn’t have much materially. But I forgot sometimes that we were poor because we were rich in so many other ways. Ever since third grade, I was this person who was immensely concerned about how we can make other people’s lives better.”

Phillips’ maternal grandmother, Evelyn Phillips, started her life as a sharecropper picking cotton in Marion, S.C., in the 1940s. His mother, Ann Phillips, worked full time as a case worker and office manager for the Philadelphia public works

PHY L LIS GRABER JENSEN

IN THIS CIRCA 1997 FAMILY PHOTOGRAPH, Anthony Phillips is the little boy at upper right, with a fly swatter, sitting outside his first home, in North Philadelphia, with family during a block party. His mother, Ann Phillips, is next to him, and his grandmother, Evelyn Phillips, is behind him. The neighborhood had troubles but “it was full of love,” says Anthony.

department, then at night and on weekends added a second, part-time job at Walmart and Caldor.

Together they provided the means to move from North Philadelphia to a nicer home in a safer neighborhood in the northwest section of the city. And in the brick row house where the two women together raised Anthony and his sister, Latrisha, they filled their home with academic rigor, life lessons, and love.

Latrisha Chattin earned a doctorate and is the head of middle school at Benchmark School, a private school in Media, Pa. Anthony is completing his doctoral dissertation, examining whether the Black church still serves the needs of Philadelphia citizens.

Phillips recalls how his mother first taught him about the realities of being a Black man in America after he went on a field trip in third grade to Baltimore’s Black Wax Museum. He walked into the replica of a slave ship hull and saw the wax representations of Black slaves, and went home confused.

“I said, ‘Mom, I saw the craziest thing ever: Black people were enslaved. Did you know they were in chains?’ My mom said, ‘Well, that’s the way things were. And, in some ways, that’s the way things still are today.’ And I said, ‘Well, we’ve got to do something about that.’ So my journey to action came from what I call this African American history moment in my life,” Phillips says.

Soon after, at his mother’s suggestion, Phillips became a junior deacon at his church, Triumph Baptist Church. While he was in middle school, he started a nonprofit called Youth Action with two friends to involve young people in social activism to encourage positive change in their neighborhood. All the while, he researched and read about the Civil Rights Movement. When he learned

But what I did love about my neighborhood at the time: It was full of love ,” Phillips says. “We had neighbors who looked after each other. We had neighbors who loved to chat and laugh with one another.

that Benjamin Mays was Martin Luther King Jr.’s mentor at Morehouse College, and that Mays went to Bates, Phillips decided to apply.

At Bates, he double-majored in philosophy and African American studies (now Africana) and was a Benjamin Mays Scholar. During his junior year, he joined a Bates exchange program to study at Morehouse College. As a senior, he completed a Bates honors thesis detailing the conflict within the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee between Black integrationists and Black nationalists.

Along the way, he sought out and found mentors at Bates, such as Professor Emeritus of History Hilmar Jensen and Charles Nero, the Benjamin E. Mays Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies.

Nero says Phillips was intellectually very curious. He attended and helped at many of the events hosted by the Multicultural Affairs office that existed at the time. It was no surprise to Nero when Phillips chose to double-major in African American studies and philosophy.

“I thought for him that was a really good choice because he wanted to know not only about the specific experiences of Black people and African American people, but he also wanted to have an understanding about what it is that appeals to people about power,” Nero says. “I think that combination of studies allows him, at a personal level, to think about how to engage in power and how to use power for the benefit of Black people.”

After graduating in 2010, Phillips headed to Yale for a master’s in Black religion in the African diaspora. Just as he was getting started, his mother died unexpectedly from complications during an asthma attack, only three years after the death of his grandmother. Anthony Phillips was just 21. Still, he forged ahead.

“I think about the fact my grandmother was a sharecropper from South Carolina where she had to pick cotton in the fields. And my mom sacrificed with basically no money to provide food and resources for her kids. That inspiration helps push me forward,” he says.

Their example kept Phillips focused on service. As he began doctoral studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, he joined the program Student Bridges to help provide education and access to underrepresented students in western Massachusetts. In 2018, Phillips joined TeenSHARP, based in Wilmington, Del., to help prepare talented Black, Latino, and low-income students for success at selective colleges and universities.

And in hard times, he found strength in his faith.

“When I’m down and when I feel as if things are not going well, I also get my inspiration from God. The church is what gives me purpose, every Sunday,” says Phillips, who worships at Salem Baptist Church, a historically Black church in Abington, Pa.

“When I drive the church bus for the seniors, they are always encouraging me, saying, ‘You’re doing a good job, keep it going.’ Those seniors on that church bus, they inspire me, too.”

Nero pointed out that Phillips is now both a political leader as well as a leader in his Black church, which historically has been a significant, supportive community to Black people in the United States.

“He’s a churchgoer, a religious person, a spiritual person, and he’s also made decisions to be in a majority Black religious situation. So I think that’s

ANTHONY PHILLIPS TEACHES a fifth-grade student about Martin Luther King Jr. during an MLK Day Read-In at Martel School in Lewiston in 2010. Phillips’ sweatshirt says: “Young. Black. Talented.”

My grandmother was a sharecropper from South Carolina. And my mom sacrificed with basically no money to

provide food and resources for her kids. That inspiration helps push me forward .

also about his commitment to Black people and recognizing the church as a site of power,” Nero says. “The church is a place that is empowering. It celebrates the community, and especially in the context of white supremacy, Black churches have been a place where Black people celebrate themselves.”

When Phillips won the 9th District seat in 2022, it galvanized him. He vowed to improve education, neighborhood vitalization, and infrastructure — promises that yielded results.

Immediately, he worked to improve the livability of the district by introducing legislation to ban tractor-trailers from parking in residential areas in the city. When the ordinance passed, he introduced legislation to bypass the time-consuming studies needed to install speed bumps around schools, to slow traffic near schoolyards. That passed.

“My colleagues on the city council loved it so much, they asked about the rec centers, libraries, senior centers, and areas with vulnerable populations,” Phillips says with a booming laugh. “When you work with children, you have to have a whatever-it-takes approach to getting things done.”

In January, Phillips introduced legislation to ban ski masks so residents would feel safer in an area with high crime. It drew criticism on social media and was ridiculed for being a waste and unnecessary. That ordinance passed.

“You’ve got to keep moving. I’m always looking for the next big piece of legislation,” Phillips says.

ANTHONY PHILLIPS SITS IN THE DRIVER SEAT of a minibus belonging to his church, Salem Baptist. Phillips often drives senior church-goers to service. “Those seniors on that church bus, they inspire me, too,” he says.

ANTHONY PHILLIPS

Having grown up in North Philly, Phillips says he knows intimately the kind of inequality that exists, even between neighborhoods a few miles apart. Step by step, he hopes to tip the scale toward those in need.

Phillips’ Instagram account — @phillipsdist9 — is full of the programs and the kind of change he

When Phillips won the 9th District

seat

in 2022, it galvanized him. He vowed to improve education, neighborhood vitalization, and infrastructure — promises that yielded results.

AS A NEW MEMBER OF THE PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL, Anthony Phillips worked with police on New Year’s Eve in 2022 to identify tractor-trailers that were parked illegally in residential neighborhoods. Phillips has advanced new laws cracking down on the practice.

seeks. One video from last January shows him at night out on a street in North Philly during a snowstorm looking for roads that need to be plowed. In it, he asks residents to call and report any.

Another post shows him working with a group offering a free recycling drop-off for old electronics. Wearing a poncho while working in the rain, Phillips cheers in the post, “We get stuff done!” n

WHAT IT TOOK

This profile is part of the Bates News series “What It Took,” in which Bates people share what it took to develop their inner strength, resolve, and resilience in the face of life’s challenges.

PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCILOR Anthony Phillips is shown at his desk in Council Chambers in City Hall.

PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL

ANTHONY

PHILLIPS

PRESIDENTIAL

PLACE

Bates’ second president, George Colby Chase, was inaugurated the same year the infamous Dreyfus Affair erupted in France.

At his inauguration, the college’s fourth president, Charles Phillips, called out Big Business as “a real danger to our competitive system.”

And a few decades later, President Don Harward’s inauguration kicked off the long-running Bates tradition of Gala.

Bates inaugurated its ninth president, Garry W. Jenkins, in May.

everything else.

Bates’ founder and first president, Oren Cheney, did not have an inauguration, but he did almost everything else, creating Bates from scratch, first as a seminary (like a high school), and then transforming the school into a college and serving as president for 30 years.

With coverage of Jenkins’ inauguration presented elsewhere in this issue, here is a look back at some of the facts, insights, images, and quotes from past Bates inaugurations.

GEORGE COLBY CHASE (1894–1919)

Date of inauguration: Sept. 22, 1894

Location: Chapel, then located in Hathorn Hall Musical highlight: Provided by the Bates College Band, deemed “excellent” by The Boston Globe. Inauguration fact: Outgoing President Cheney was overcome by emotion and was “obliged to suspend” his remarks several times, according to reports.

“The chapel was exquisite,” reported the Morning Star newspaper. “Garnet (ever dear to Bates) and pink furnished the color effects upon a beautiful background of palms and rock ferns. Everywhere the hand of the artist was apparent.”

As founder, President Oren Cheney didn’t have an inauguration, but he did almost

Bates President George Colby Chase poses in front of Rand Hall, circa 1915.

President Clifton Daggett Gray poses for a portrait around the time of his 1920 inauguration.

Theme of the inaugural address: Chase spoke about the rapid pace of scientific discovery, noting that “the word ‘scholar’ in 1894 ought to mean far more than in any preceding year of the world’s history.”

Quote from the address: “The college of our day should…anticipate in its curriculum that world in which its students are to live,” Chase said. A Bates education “must not be narrowed to the wants of the specialist.” The curriculum “must make provision for all the student’s faculties...[to be] trained to observe, to classify, to feel, to reflect, and to act.”

What Bates students said: “President Chase has come into the presidency as a leader of men comes

to the front,” wrote the editors of The Bates Student in October 1894.

“Today, Bates breathes the spirit of rapid growth. There is a new relation between the classes, between the students and the faculty, and between the [literary] societies. All have taken on another air, and with this quickening spirit, improvement adds another charm.”

Other news in 1894: In Chicago, wage cuts and poor working conditions at the Pullman Palace Car Co. triggered a widespread railroad labor protest that turned violent. Its ending marked the first time that a federal injunction was used to break a strike.

CLIFTON DAGGETT GRAY (1920–1944)

Date of inauguration: June 23, 1920

Location: Chapel

Musical highlight: Processional music was the march from Aida by Verdi.

Inauguration fact: The Lewiston Brigade Band led the singing of the hymn “Integris Vitae” to close the inauguration.

Theme of the inaugural address: Gray described how the ideals of Bates’ founders have become firm traditions that he pledged to strengthen.

Quote from the address: “It has been the constant and studied policy of Bates to spare no effort to be helpful to students struggling with poverty. There were to be no cliques and no secret fraternities, for these were thought to be undemocratic and…their presence at Bates, where so many were working their way through college, could serve no end.”

“We have seen that President Gray has put his heart and soul into his work. We know that our Alma Mater is being guided well.”

The Bates Student on Oct. 1, 1920

Music has been a constant at Bates inaugurations, starting with the College Band, posing in front of Hathorn Hall, circa 1891. The band performed at President George Colby Chase’s installation in 1894.

“The material resources of Bates College are still seriously limited and she is poor, compared with the wealth enjoyed by some institutions of learning, but she is rich in her noble ideals and tradition, rich in the affection of those who have learned to love her in proportion as they have sacrificed for her welfare, rich in the useful lives of her sons and daughters who throughout the length of this land and across the seas are exemplifying the high ideas of consecrated service to state and nation which they learned in these halls.”

What Bates students said: “A new force, a strong and vital force, is behind the interests of the college. We have seen that President Gray has put his heart and soul into his work. We know that our Alma Mater is being guided well,” reported The Bates Student on Oct. 1, 1920.

“We can help the college by observing its traditions and living up to its ideals. We can aid President Gray by abiding by the rules and making it unnecessary for him to be forever on the lookout for infractions.”

Other news in 1920: In the U.S., the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by the states on Aug. 18, enfranchising 26 million American women in time for the 1920 presidential election.

President Charles Phillips (left) holds a copy of the college charter, one of the symbols of the office, presented to him at his inauguration on Nov. 15, 1944, in the Chapel. At right is William Skelton, chair of the Bates Board of Trustees.

NATIONAL PHOTO CO./LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

President Clifton Daggett Gray’s inauguration in 1920 was the same year as ratification of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. Here, famed National Woman’s Party activist Alice Paul sews a star onto the party’s ratification flag, representing another state’s ratification of the amendment, as other activists look on.

CHARLES FRANKLIN PHILLIPS

(1944–1966)

Date of inauguration: Nov. 14, 1944

Location: Chapel

Musical highlight: “The Lord Is My Light,” by Robert E. Speaks (1873–1948), an American composer and hymn writer known for his contributions to Christian music. The processional march was by Jean Baptiste Calkin, and the recessional march by Karl King.

Inauguration fact: Due to World War II, ceremonies were modest and brief, just half a day. Participants included Navy personnel with the V-12 training program stationed at Bates.

Theme of the inaugural address: An economist, Phillips spoke about the vital importance of smallbusiness entrepreneurship as an economic driver in the approaching post–World War II economy.

Quote from the address: “The present-day American does not need to be told that he is living in an exchange economy in which Big Business plays a dominant role,” Phillips said. “It is a...Gillette safety razor and blade with which he gets his setting-up exercises. It is a glass of Sunkist orange juice which he downs prior to his Bond Bread toast and his Maxwell House coffee.

“So great has been the success of Big Business that college men and women in the years before the war were becoming its employees without carefully appraising the advantage of being their own employers. This trend represents a real danger to our competitive system. It also represents a danger to the college man or woman who fails to achieve the personal advantages of being his or her own boss.”

What Bates students said: Phillips’ speech, reported The Bates Student, was as “sound a speech as most of us expected from our new president who we know is ‘on the ball.’ Statistics were brilliantly handled and ideas expressed strong and hopeful.”

Other news in 1944: In Washington, D.C., the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, aka the G.I. Bill of Rights, was signed into law, putting higher education, job training, and home ownership within the reach of millions of veterans returning from World War II.

In his inaugural address, President Charles Phillips said that Big Business, in the form of companies like Bond Bread, threatened small business entrepreneurship, the real driver of U.S. economic health.

MICHAEL

THOMAS HEDLEY REYNOLDS (1967–1989)

Date of inauguration: Oct. 7, 1967

Location: Alumni Gymnasium

Musical highlight: “Royal Fireworks Music” by Handel during the academic procession.

Inauguration fact: An inaugural conference held the day before the installation explored how colleges are responding to changes and innovations in secondary school curricula, such as a focus on critical thinking and student engagement.

Such changes, said a speaker, should prompt colleges to evaluate their own curricula, give students a greater role in curricular planning, and do a better job understanding students’ “motives, fears, and abilities.”

Theme of the inaugural address: With growing unrest over student life and freedoms on college campuses, Reynolds said that the unencumbered authority of colleges to choose how they govern residential life was being encroached on — harmfully — by outside interests.

Quote from the address: “The destruction of the right to influence students outside the classroom is being taken up as a cause by student groups throughout the land, and the movement threatens to sweep away an important educational influence in college,” Reynolds said.

“If the nature of freedom is primarily intellectual, [then] the place where systems of ideas are studied, learned, evaluated, conceived, perhaps created is indeed the true home of freedom.”

Newly appointed President Hedley Reynolds (left) accepts congratulations from his predecessor, Charles Franklin Phillips, in the president’s office, circa 1967.

What Bates students said: Having become a bit restless with social restrictions that were the norm just a decade before, the editors of The Bates Student sounded an optimistic note in their editorial on Oct. 4, 1967, shortly before Reynolds’ installation.

“Several measures have concretely illustrated that Dr. Reynolds is willing to allow the students a role in determining the direction of the college, socially and otherwise. We congratulate Bates and Dr. Reynolds at the inauguration of a new administration, and we hope the spirit of innovation and enthusiasm continues.”

Other news in 1967: In Washington, D.C., the March on the Pentagon drew tens of thousands of demonstrators on Oct. 21–22 to protest the Vietnam War and America’s escalated involvement.

DONALD WEST HARWARD (1989–2002)

Date of inauguration: March 31, 1990

Location: Merrill Gymnasium

Musical highlight: Commissioned by the Board of Trustees, “Fanfare, Toccata, and Prayer” was composed by Associate Professor of Music William Matthews and performed by the Inaugural Brass.

Inauguration fact: An Inaugural Gala, held the night of the inauguration, became an annual campus tradition.

Theme of the inaugural address: The words and language we use to describe liberal learning help to achieve continuity and connection.

Quote from the address: “High-quality colleges intentionally structure a variety of persisting tensions among the conversations that take place there,” Harward said.

“The tensions are vitalized by insisting that the alternative or opposing elements in the conversations

President Donald Harward talks with students outside the Chapel on the morning of his inauguration, March 31, 1990, after an alumnistudent debate.

President Hedley Reynolds’ inauguration in 1967 took place two weeks before the March on the Pentagon, a landmark moment of the Vietnam War era. Here, a demonstrator offers a flower to a military police officer near the Pentagon on Oct. 21, 1967.

Right: President Don Harward’s inauguration in March 1990 took place the same month as the infamous Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist in Boston. Stolen works, still unrecovered, included The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Rembrandt’s only seascape, seen here.

are supported and strengthened — the tensions are not resolved [but] are celebrated. Colleges cultivate the power of opposition, of challenge, of disagreement, of doubt, of alternative, of a second opinion, of suspicion, of critical suspension of belief — of ideas.”

What Bates students said: A reporter for the Student pressed Harward about the cost of the inauguration. “I am convinced that the [inauguration planning committee] has tried to put together a meaningful inaugural event without involving great costs,” Harward said, noting that ideas such as flowers around campus and canopied walkways between buildings were scuttled.

Other news in 1990: In Boston, 13 pieces of art, including works by Vermeer and Rembrandt, were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on March 18. Unsolved, it is considered one of the largest and most famous art thefts in history.

PRESIDENTIAL PLACE

ALBERT

ELAINE TUTTLE HANSEN (2002–2011)

Date of inauguration: Oct. 26, 2002

Location: Merrill Gymnasium

Musical highlight: The original ode “I Dwell in Possibility” was composed by William Matthews, who had been appointed Alice Swanson Esty Professor of Music in 1997. Its text was drawn from the Emily Dickinson poem of the same name, and it was performed by the Bates College Orchestra and the Bates College Choir.

Also performing was the Bates College Gamelan, playing music of a traditional ceremonial procession of the court of Sukarta, Java, in the 13th century.

Inauguration fact: The college’s oldest alum at the time, Ida Taylor Sperber of the Class of 1920, age 104, attended the inauguration and gave her opinion of the new president. “I think she’s fine, and I’m glad we have her,” she told the Portland Press Herald

Theme of the inaugural address: Hansen spoke about Bates being a place of reflection and possibility.

Quote from the address: “We’ve done a superb job at Bates of creating a culture of engagement, of making and finding time for expanding possibilities through doing more,” said Hansen.

“But we have not yet fully admitted, let alone solved, the widespread problem of fostering a culture of reflection….We need time alone and time with others that is undisciplined time — time to listen, speak, think, imagine.

“What I am talking about is endangered because it looks like unproductive time, the rarest of commodities in a world that measures everything by its outcome. American culture is obsessed with

measurable achievement, the bottom line, with ranking and competing.”

What Bates students said: “Students don’t see the ‘important’ work our presidents do,” wrote Student editor-in-chief David Weliver ’03 in his Oct. 29 column, such as “allocating unheard of amounts of money to keep the institution running.”

What students do see and take notice of are “small tokens” from the president — a greeting with a smile on the Quad, a surprise sighting in Commons, or an answer to an email. “The trivial things we notice shape our collective opinion.”

Other news in 2002: In Lewiston, the mayor’s infamous request in October 2002 that leaders of the city’s growing Somali community discourage friends and family from moving to the city sparked anti-immigration sentiment. In response, a major statewide movement, known as Many and One, culminated in a standing-room-only rally in Merrill Gymnasium on Jan. 11, 2003.

President Elaine Tuttle Hansen’s inauguration in October 2002 took place about 10 weeks prior to a massive statewide rally, hosted by Bates in Merrill Gymnasium, to confront a wave of anti-immigration sentiment in Maine.

President Elaine Tuttle Hansen accepts the presidential collar from Tahsin Alam ’04 (left) and faculty member Rachel Austin at her inauguration in October 2002.

PHYLLIS

GRABER

JENSEN

PHYLLIS

GRABER

JENSEN

AVA CLAYTON SPENCER (2012–2023)

Date of inauguration: Oct. 26, 2012

Location: Merrill Gymnasium

Musical highlight: This was the third inauguration featuring music composed specially for the event by William Matthews, Alice Swanson Esty Professor of Music. His composition was performed by the Bates Orchestra and Bates Choir. Selected by Spencer, the text was drawn from Wallace Stevens’ “The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm.”

Inauguration fact: Inauguration events included the naming of the chapel in memory of the late Rev.

Peter J. Gomes ’65, D.D. ’96, on Oct. 25. The official delegate representing Davidson College was Spencer’s father, Sam Spencer, who served as president of Davidson from 1968 to 1983.

Theme of the inaugural address: Spencer told the audience that life presents us all with “questions worth asking,” such as: What is our purpose? The job of Bates College is not to supply all the answers to these questions, said Spencer, “but it is our job to create the conditions under which our students will be inspired to ask them for themselves.”

President Clayton Spencer’s inauguration in 2012 took place a few weeks before a landmark vote approving gay marriage in Maine. This image shows the “River of Pride” flag at the annual Portland Pride parade in June 2019.

and daughter, Samuel and Clayton Spencer, pose together following her installation as president on Oct. 26, 2012. As president emeritus of Davidson College, the late Sam Spencer served as the official Davidson delegate.

Quote from the address: “Learning here occurs in community,” Spencer said. “We are situated in a particular place, with a particular culture, and a particular set of human beings who come to know each other face to face. Just as all great novels are parochial novels, so the most complete kind of human learning takes place in community, with the solidarity of companionship and the challenge of truth.”

What Bates students said: “Not only did the ceremony move us to tears, but Commons also outdid themselves with the cuisine this weekend!” noted the Student’s “Bates Rates” feature.

Other news in 2012: Along the Eastern seaboard, Hurricane Sandy, aka Superstorm Sandy, one of the largest and most destructive storms in U.S. history, made landfall on Oct. 29, and, in Maine, the state voted to approve gay marriage in November.

“The job of Bates College isn’t to supply all the answers to these questions, but it is our job to create the conditions under which our students will be inspired to ask for themselves.”

Clayton Spencer on Oct. 26, 2012

Father

RENE ROY

Who, What, Where, When?

Send your Bates news, photos, story ideas, comments, tips, and solutions to magazine@bates.edu.

Correction

An ad in the Fall issue provided an incorrect date for this year’s Back to Bates gathering. The event, Bates’ Homecoming and Family Weekend, takes place Sept. 27–28. We regret the error.

1886

The story of 19th-century evangelical leader Frank W. Sandford resurfaced in January in The Working Waterfront and Bangor Daily News newspapers. The latter profiled Sandford, founder of a religious community in Durham, in its Maine-focused series “Hard Telling Not Knowing.” The piece detailed Sandford’s efforts to prepare humanity for Christ’s Second Coming — such as the establishment of the community called Shiloh, as well as a variety of harmful practices such as the deaths of Sandford followers by malnutrition on voyages of proselytization.

1920

Dr. Benjamin Mays was profiled in February in a community newspaper in Minneapolis. Insight News columnist Chuck Hobbs sketched the highlights of Mays’ impactful career and led the piece with words from the great civil rights figure: “The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn’t a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream...Not failure, but low aim is sin.”

1941

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENT

Margaret Rand alpegrand@aol.com

1947

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS SECRETARY/ TREASURER Jean Labagh Kiskaddon jean.kiskaddon@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Vesta Starrett Smith vestasmith@charter.net

1949

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY Carol Jenkinson Johnson rollincarol@comcast.net

CLASS PRESIDENT Bud Horne budhorne@gmail.com

CLASS VICE-PRESIDENT Beverly Young Howard

Rachel Eastman Feeley reports that “after many years of teaching piano I’m semi-retired, with one student. Hope to see some ’49ers in June!”...The late U.S. Army veteran Lewis L. Millett was recognized as Veteran of the Day by Aerotech News and Review Renowned among military Bates alumni, Lewis was honored by the publication on Nov. 15 for a “unique career in the military” that spanned 1938–1973 and earned accolades including the Medal of Honor and the Silver Star, a Distinguished Service Cross, two Legions of Merit, and four Purple Hearts. He is recognized for leading the U.S. military’s last major fixedbayonet charge, in Korea in 1951. Though “injured by a grenade, he remained on the battlefield until he ensured that the goal of the charge had been accomplished,” writer Khaled Maalouf noted. Lewis died in 2009.

1951

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENT

Bill Dill wmrdill@gmail.com

Jean McLeod Dill

CLASS VICE PRESIDENT Wilfred Barbeau whbarbeau@gmail.com

Betty Kinney Faella and Tony were in Venice, Fla., during the winter — “escaping Rhode Island’s ice and snow. We are blessed with family and good health, still able to travel, looking ahead to three family weddings plus submarine veterans’ gatherings.”...Norma Reese Jones has “fond memories of Chase Hall dances, Winter Carnival, field hockey, and Rand Hall dinners.” She met her husband-to-be, the late Austin Jones ’50, at Bates and they married in the college chapel.

1952

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS SECRETARY

Marilyn Coffin Brown mcbrown13@verizon.net

CLASS PRESIDENT

Webster B. Brockelman Jr. weborjen@aol.com

1953

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS Ginnie LaFauci Toner vatoner207@gmail.com

Dick Coughlin dcoughlin@maine.rr.com

1954

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

Class secretary-treasurer for 30 years, Jonas Klein has — “with some reluctance” — retired from that office. “It has been an honor and a delight, and I leave the responsibility in hope that classmates keep in touch with friends…and with Bates.”

1955

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENT Beverly Hayne Willsey stonepost@cox.net

CLASS VICE-PRESIDENT Merton Ricker mertr33@gmail.com

A former Sunday editor at The Berkshire Eagle, Ruth Haskins Bass continues to write op-eds for the paper. (She’s also a novelist.) A resident of Richmond, Mass., her bylines have ranged from late-season gardening to a Florida nature refuge, and from trends in voter turnout to possible legal responses to mass shootings like October’s tragedy in Lewiston.... Bev Hayne Willsey shares two feel-good Bates stories. “My youngest son, Jamie ’89, is a biker. In September, he and some biking friends went to watch the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal,

where the best bikers in the world race. Driving up, Jamie discovered that Craig Pepin was Bates Class of ’88. Craig’s father, Reid Pepin, was in my class and I had met Craig at the calling hours for Reid. After Reid and Ann Hoxie Brousseau had each lost their spouses, they found each other,” and those two, and Lynn Willsey and Bev, became friends. “Of course, Ann was my roommate for all four years.” Story No. 2: Bev attends a Congregational church in South Glastonbury, Conn., and after 32 years “our wonderful minister retired.” The new minister arrived Oct. 2: Jeff Braun ’90! He’s easy to get to know, Bev says — “when I first met him, he was wearing garnet socks with Bobcats on them.”...Hal Hunter reports that five years after the passing of Beverly, his wife of 50-plus years, he has a new live-in partner. “I encourage others like me to do the same.”... Cal Jodat and Dorothy spent all of 2023 in Arizona. They did live at their second home, in Dewey, for half the year to avoid record heat in Phoenix, but even there “three days in August hit 100 degrees.” In September, immediate and extended family gathered to celebrate Cal’s 90th birthday. “My oldest son, Ron, had a PowerPoint presentation showing the milestones on the road to 90 years of age. It was a wonderful occasion.”...Carole Lindblow Kull states that “except for a few bumps in the road, life has been good to me. I’m still enjoying retirement on Cape Cod. Very fortunate to be able to walk a mile or two most days with my equally aging dog, Gaby. I also work a few hours a week at our local thrift shop and food pantry.” She adds, “Two grandchildren just started college. They grow up too fast for Grammy.”...For Mert Ricker, “life is slow and relatively easy.” He’s been looking forward to the replacement of a failed cornea, which should enable him to “read again without magnification and to play the piano.” He notes that “an old friend and fellow musician visited recently, and that gave me the chance to do the Maine coast and enjoy some fresh seafood. Oh, the lobster and crabmeat rolls!” He Skypes weekly with his “second family,” in Japan....An update from Norman Sade (known in his Bates days as Norman Sadovitz), prompted to get in touch “by the horrible news of the mass shooting in Lewiston.” He writes, “As with most of our classmates, I have become a nonagenarian, a term that has always seemed out of mind and out of reach. In any event, so far, so good. I’ve had a fine career as a trial attorney, have a splendid family, and have managed to enjoy good health. And I owe a great deal to Bates, which helped me to grow as a person and as a student. My

best wishes to my classmates.”... Kendall Smith, too, has lain low for a while — “but I enjoy getting the newsletters, so thought I’d say ‘Hi.’” He continues, “I’ve gone to a bunch of Reunions with my wife, Linda Gramatky Smith ’64, and at least one of the Class of ’55. I loved seeing Lynn Willsey ’54, so was very sorry to hear about his death.” Ken left Bates early and, encouraged by math professor Richard Sampson, transferred to Lafayette to study engineering. “I loved being in the Bates Choir and the Outing Club, but it took me a while to really enjoy studying.” He left Lafayette in his last semester for the U.S. Army, and parlayed Signal Corps system-programming experience into civilian work. After 13 years at ITT, Ken “wanted to do something more socially beneficial” — and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, followed by a PhD in thanatology, the study of death and dying. He helped start the Valley Health System hospice in New Jersey, and later “had a wonderful career with The Connecticut Hospice,” the nation’s first. He and Linda now live at Cedar Crest, a continuingcare retirement community in North Jersey. “I’m slowing down but my six years singing in the chorale here, hiking, and playing bocce were great. We’ve made a lot of friends.”...Dawn Whittier Belcourt sends “my sympathy to the Lewiston and Bates communities for the Oct. 25 tragedy. So very sad.” She and Lew, who celebrated their 66th anniversary in May, have lived in Lakeland, Fla., for 56 years. “Fortunately, we are able to drive and to play bridge, and I meet weekly with my Spanish friends.” One of their children is a retired CPA and the other, a missionary and pastor in Jakarta. A grandson and a great-grandson live in Thailand, and a second grandson in Los Angeles. Dawn entered the Bates five-year nursing program in 1950 and graduated with BA and RN degrees.

1956

Reunion 2026, June 12–14 CLASS PRESIDENTS

Alice Brooke Gollnick agollnick725@gmail.com

Gail Molander Goddard acgpension@gmail.com

Peter Hutchinson turned 90 in February. After careers in the U.S. Navy and Montgomery County (Md.) government, all the while enjoying an avocation in archaeology, he continues a long interest in writing. Also in February, the U.S. Naval Institute’s Naval History magazine published Peter’s article detailing his service as an executive officer in operations aboard the icebreaker U.S.S. Glacier in the early 1960s, when the ship worked near

Antarctica. (Hutchinson Island, part of the continent’s Marshall Archipelago, is named for him.)…

For Jessie Thompson Huberty, “Life is grand! I am vertical and marginally mobile.” She visited England in October, and had plans for Ireland in April, Cape Cod in May, Maine in August — “and the usual trip to the Philippines next Christmas with all my family.” Writing in February, she was looking forward to seeing June Ryan Gillette ’55 and Dinny Felt Swett in the spring. “I cannot seem to get Ralph Davis ’57 out of Florida, but in Maine I will hopefully see Petie Peters Ern and Ernie Ern ’55, Bob ’54 and Pat Tobey Greenberg ’57, and Diana Cosimini Maginnes and Ray Moffett ’54. Bates friendships that have lasted a lifetime, as has all that I learned in my four semesters of Cultch and many an evening at the Blue Goose!”

1957

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

SECRETARY

Peg Leask Olney pegolney@verizon.net

CLASS PRESIDENT

Judy Kent Patkin jpatkin@gmail.com

Judy Kent Patkin reports that “there isn’t much new in my life, but I have been enjoying Zoom meetings with ’57 classmates. Although our numbers are smaller, it is still good to catch up and talk. It’s amazing to me to connect with people on Zoom across the country and even overseas. Several classmates have moved to assisted living, but my husband and I are still in our house. We have lived in Lexington, Mass., for more than 50 years and it remains the most comfortable place for us. We are lucky to have pretty good health and I’m able to drive. Can’t believe our children are turning 60!”

1958

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY

Marilyn Miller Gildea marilyn@gildea.com

CLASS CO-PRESIDENTS

Kay Dill Taylor

kaytayloronpeaks@gmail.com

Peter Post postp74@gmail.com

Lyn Beer wrote in January with news of Lori Beer: Just before Christmas, “as we were heading up to bed, Lori lost his balance on the stairs and fell backward onto the tile floor. EMTs, neck brace, ER, MRIs, and many hours later, the results were in: ribs 3 through 10 cracked, two bones on the spine chipped, and a large hematoma on the right side.” And yet, Lyn continues,

Well in Hand

When Jane Webber Glauz ’45 celebrated her 100th birthday on April 9, one photo her children made sure to get was their mom happily holding a Bates Magazine

“When she gets that magazine, she always looks through it and will not get rid of the prior one until the new one comes,” says Sally Glauz, Jane’s daughter and caretaker. “She’s always been so appreciative of the life she’s had and Bates always had a place in her heart.”

“I loved my classes, and I enjoyed walking around campus,” says Jane, who lives in Palo Alto, Calif. After earning a degree in sociology at Bates, Jane earned a master’s at Case Western Reserve University and worked as a social worker in California before raising four children with her husband, the late Roy Glauz.

Her daughter believes the secret to her mother’s long life has been staying involved with people. “She’s a very social person,” Glauz says. “She’s very positive. She doesn’t focus on the negative.”

SALLY GLAUZ

classes of 1951 & 1954

takeaway:

Jim Vetrano

Ginger Buhl Vetrano

media outlet: Apple Valley News Now

headline:

‘I’d stay with him forever’

takeaway:

Love thrives on shared interests, humor, thoughtful gestures

A Valentine’s Day feature by the TV news program Apple Valley News Now in Kennewick, Wash., profiled Ginger Buhl Vetrano ’54 and Jim Vetrano ’51, who have been married for 71 years.

The couple met at a springtime Bates picnic. “We both went with different partners to the picnic, and I thought she was pretty cute,” Jim said. “We were playing softball; she was the pitcher, and I was the catcher. There were a lot of conferences on the mound.”

The couple married on Valentine’s Day, which is also Jim’s birthday. “I noticed that it was his birthday, which meant that he wouldn’t forget our anniversary — and he never has!” Ginger said.

Ginger commented on that age-old advice to couples not to go to bed angry. “We’ve gone to sleep angry,” she said. “But you know, our brains kind of sort things out and say, ‘OK, maybe that wasn’t that important.’ The next day, we could work it out.”

“And we believe in touch,” Jim said. “A nonverbal ‘I love you.’”

“as you who know Lori can attest, he is a singularly stubborn fighter, which this time worked to our benefit. By day two he was walking and fully using his lungs. Although it hurt a great deal, he simply wouldn’t buy the idea that he fell, nor that he had many broken bones. Therefore, his recovery went extremely well.”...Kay Dill Taylor sends greetings from Peaks Island. She has a horse no longer, but continues her routine with visits “to the Unruly Girls’ Cafe to play games, chat with friends, and yes, drink coffee. I am also finding great joy in watercolor painting. I suspect that all of our hearts are heavy with the changes occurring all too often in our lives now, especially with the loss of our partners, our friends, our loved ones. I miss Gene ’56, and Jo Trogler Reynolds, yet I deliberately leave space to savor the moment, too.”... Carol Gibson Smith is “still a snowbird,” wintering in Safety Harbor, Fla., and returning to Plymouth, Mass., for the summer. “Would love to visit with anyone in the area.”...Judy Granz Yennaco and Bob “continue to be blessed by wonderful family and friends. My heart condition is under control. The holidays were wonderful as we celebrated Bob’s 89th birthday, a typical Christmas, and then our 64th anniversary.”...Betsey Gray Kirsch and Jim are in their fourth year at RiverWoods, a continuing care retirement community in Exeter, N.H., and “compliment ourselves each day that we made the right decision to spend our remaining time here. (Our children do, too). We are happy and healthy, and involved in worthwhile activities.” Betsey adds, “to lose my roommate and dear friend Pat Lysaght Fresina continues to bring much sadness to us. We keep in contact with John Fresina, Marti Boardman Swift, Gail Larocque Schroder, and Pete Post. We have found Bates connections here at RiverWoods and enjoy reminiscing.”...Lou Hargan is active with organizations in York, Maine: the land trust, the York Diversity Forum, and the public library....Via his daughter, Jennifer Harris, Ken Harris sends updates from Pennsylvania: “The very end of 2023 proved to be challenging for both Nancy Tyler Harris ’59 and me. Nancy’s been living in the skilled nursing center in Grove City, which she entered in mid-June after a two-week hospitalization.” Her recovery from a nasty staph infection has been slow, and she also underwent a new version of chemotherapy. Ken had surgery for spinal stenosis in mid-December, facing a considerable recovery. And yet: “Under remote control and long-distance romance,

Ken and Nancy continue their ardent courtship that began in the shadows of the elm trees across from Milliken House.”... Dottie Hutch writes: “Reunion weekend was relaxed and quiet; no Saturday dance party for this lady! We were few in number, but strong in spirit.” She was pleased to spend time with Peter Post, Kay Johnson Howells, Charlie Dings, Coe Jenkins Huckabee and Ken, Lori Beer and Lyn, and Sheldon Sullaway and Carol. Dottie is well — “but not acting my age. In December, my church had a Snow Day for which they created 20 tons of shaved-ice snow and built a small sledding hill for the children. I told Santa, in jest, that I wanted to go sledding. He put me at the front of the line, I climbed up the hill, got onto a plastic ‘sled’ and went down the hill.” ...Coe Jenkins Huckabee is “still walking and talking. Though, in all honesty, the walking is getting harder.” As for Reunion 2023, it was visiting with friends and classmates there “that I count as my greatest pleasure. Next would be my interactions with the student BatesStars who assisted us.” She says, “The Alumni Parade is always a hoot: Riding in a golf cart with the younger classes cheering for us, and only one class older than ours. Singing with the Alumni Choir at the memorial service, which is increasingly inclusive of other religions, was touching. Listening to the names of folks associated with Bates who died last year, including 11 classmates, is not easy, but important.”...For Kay Johnson Howells, too, Reunion was a 2023 highlight — as was a Road Scholar trip to Iceland. “Highly recommended,” she says, adding that “my health is good although I creak here and there.”...Alan Kaplan and Nancy “are making the best of everything.” Nancy, with mild dementia, now lives in the memory-support facility at Ingleside at King Farm, their retirement community in Rockville, Md. “Every evening we date for dinner and a TV show or movie.” Alan himself was hospitalized with COVID, “despite all the latest vaccines, with a very tiring aftermath. My daughters have been a great help.”...Phil and Pat Baker Main ’59 “enjoy life in a 55-plus community in Connecticut. Fortunately, we are in good health. I am still active in Granby: church, Lions Club, historical society, and other groups. We always appreciate news from classmates.”...Ruth Melzard Stewart thoroughly enjoys her 13 grandchildren, among whom are an ob-gyn nurse, a fitness and nutrition instructor with her own business, an engineer designing rockets, a soon-to-be Boston Univ. grad studying to be a physician assistant, and

APPLE VALLEY NEWS NOW

a soon-to-be-drafted Major League pitcher (“he hopes”) at Virginia Tech. “I still am involved in real estate, but with less and less success. Guess it is about time to take in the ‘shingle.’

To keep sharp and socialize I play mah-jongg and ring hand bells at church. I belong to a competitive women’s golf league near my house,” in Georgetown, Mass....Marilyn Miller Gildea is still very involved in her neighborhood association in Mountain View, Calif., as communications coordinator — “which I can do from home, and use a rolling walker for excursions. Enjoyed another lovely Christmas visit with my three California children’s families at my daughter’s home. Her younger son is at Univ. of California, Berkeley, and they stop overnight on the way from Grover Beach to do chores for me.”...Peter and Jane Anderson Post “are about the same as last year,” he writes from The Overlook, a senior living community in Charlton, Mass. “Jane is in assisted living and has good days and bad days. I see her every day and put her to bed almost every night. I’m still in independent living, but we have a marvelous aide.”...Pete Ryers and Jane “are still upright and breathing and enjoying good health,” he reports from Tucson. “We had a wonderful cruise in the Great Lakes region with Viking. We spend the hot desert summers among the ponderosa pines of our summer home in Flagstaff. We are also working to save the state of Arizona from the orange ignoramus in November (all suggestions accepted).”... Rose Stephenson Melvin “lives alone, but I do not feel alone. I have congestive heart failure, but I believe in the Lord Jesus as my savior, so will keep on going. On Tuesdays I play bridge (learned at Bates) at the senior center, and have lunch. The meal is always a surprise as I am gluten-free. On Thursdays I attend Bible study. On Sundays I sing in the choir.”…Sheldon Sullaway and Carol “had a wonderful visit with Charlie Dings and Laurie on Cape Cod last summer.” Sheldon, meanwhile, retired from teaching at Tufts School of Dental Medicine after 25 years. Some former students, he says, “have kept in touch with me for many years. I met wonderful faculty, and see them socially.”...Bruce Young took his fifth Viking River cruise last July — Paris to Prague. But, he adds, “I may not be able to cruise again because of difficulty walking.” His family is doing well: “After remodeling our house, my daughter, son-in-law, two granddaughters, two greatgranddaughters, and I have all found plenty of room.”

1959

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARIES

Jack DeGange

jack.degange@comcast.net

Mary Ann Houston Hermance donmar23@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Anita Kastner Hotchkiss ahotchkiss@goldbergsegalla.com

“One of the most valued rewards of the Bates experience will never appear on an academic transcript: friendship,” writes Jack DeGange. “We all have a few friends valued above many, but that special bond is never more apparent than when time takes one of them. Look no farther than the passing on Feb. 12 of Jerry Davis.”

Fred Drayton told Jack of his friendship with Jerry that began in the fall of 1955 when they became classmates and football teammates, establishing a bond that spanned seven decades. As Fred recalled, “Jerry majored in history so I assume, unlike me, that he had a mind that stored volumes of information of facts. He would remind me of a precise play we ran at Bowdoin or Colby or UMaine, when he cleared a hole for me. Or, just prior to graduation, we agreed we were going to take our hard-earned degrees, enlist in the Marines, and jump out of perfectly good airplanes as paratroopers. Go figure!” Fred and Jerry “roomed together during Reunion five years ago and reminisced into the night about the times we shared until, as old dudes, we nodded off. Brothers then, and still.” As Jack notes, “So it is for all of us who recall the friendships built over so many yesterdays and continue over not quite so many tomorrows.”...

Barbara Van Duzer Babin ended her long service as a member of the Charlestown (Mass.) Neighborhood Council last fall. She joined the council in 1998 and served consecutively for 25 years. Though she felt it was time to move on, she told the Charlestown Patriot-Bridge, “I love the council. I was so impressed with what we’ve tried to accomplish.” Before retirement, Barbara worked as the developer of the corporate services department for a Massachusetts firm. Her three children live in California.

1960

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY

Louise Hjelm Davidson lchdavidson011@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Pete Skelley dskelley@satx.rr.com

Christine Bird spent two weeks in St. John, Virgin Islands, during the winter. “It’s my favorite winter getaway destination,”

says this Bay State resident. “However, I came down with COVID for the second time. Before getting sick I was able to enjoy my three favorite hikes on the island and a bit of snorkeling. For those of you who are familiar with the island, I was happy that the Bates banner I took to Skinny Legs restaurant a few years ago is still there. I had assumed that hurricanes Irma and Maria had taken it, but the staff managed to save most of the banners displayed. We are now in a less conspicuous spot, very close to one from Colby.”... On the strength of his 19-season record as football coach at South Portland (Maine) High School, Jack Flynn was inducted into the inaugural SPHS Football Hall of Fame in November. Also a history teacher at SPHS, Jack posted a 135-75-3 record as Red Riots head coach from 1966 to 1984. The team captured nine conference titles and played in eight state championships under his leadership. He and Carol Heldman Flynn ’59 have four children and now live in Danvers, Mass.…David Nelson, a self-described product of the Great Books Program, is attempting to persuade “trustees of public libraries in the Boston-Cambridge Intellectual Complex to upgrade their antiquated institutions into Public Athenaeums that propagate lifelong learning in the Liberal Arts, which clarify Beauty; Humanities, which clarify Goodness; and Sciences, which clarify Truth,” he reports. “Since the Athenian Golden Age, the Good Society in Western Civilization has been grounded on the virtues of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth. But the American electorate can’t mandate the Good Society if they don’t know what it is.”...Sarah Rubin Blanshei has moved back to Atlanta from Lenoir City, Tenn., and now resides in an independent living retirement community.

1961

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS SECRETARY Gretchen Shorter Davis norxloon@aol.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Mary Morton Cowan mmcowan@gwi.net

Dick Watkins rwatkcapt@aol.com

W. Scott Brown was one of three candidates elected to represent Old Lyme, Conn., on the regional school board. He formerly served as coordinator of regular education initiatives at the LEARN Regional Educational Service Center in Old Lyme and as principal of Old Lyme High School....Mary Morton Cowan reports that her latest book,

Trouble In Nathan’s Woods, a historical novel for middlegrade readers, is in its second printing. Her writing got her into the news during the winter, including appearances in Down East magazine and on 207, an evening newsmagazine produced by a Maine NBC-TV affiliate. The latter looked at how her family history influenced her writing — in particular, stories from the New England lumbering industry as experienced by her father and grandfather. “I loved my dad’s story about what it was like to grow up in the woods of New Hampshire and have his own logging operation,” she told News Center Maine reporter Don Carrigan. “And I just thought that was the most amazing childhood you could have.”

1962

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS PRESIDENT Rachel Harper Garcelon raegarcelon@gmail.com

CLASS VICE-PRESIDENT David Boone doboone@peoplepc.com

Dave Kramer was the focus of a November profile in Midcoast Maine’s Lincoln County News The piece details an intriguing life path incorporating three decades in the U.S. Air Force, including 184 combat missions and varied diplomatic and leadership roles, as well as several years in administration at Maine’s iconic Reny’s retail chain. Living with Vivian in Nobleboro, Dave feels that part of what makes the Midcoast special is “the many friends in the area they have,” the paper reported. In Dave’s words: “The older you get, the more important your friends are.”

1963

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY Natalie Shober Hosford nataliehosford@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Bill Holt wholt@maine.rr.com

CLASS HISTORIAN Dottie Stone dottie@stone-stonect.com

Arlene Wignall Nickerson and Nick continue to enjoy living at The Downs in Scarborough, Maine. Still, “daughter Sarah offered us a six-month rental in Delray Beach, Fla., in the winter,” Arlene says. Elder daughter Amanda Nickerson ’94 and Brian Nishiyama ’94 just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, Arlene adds, “and we celebrated our 60th at a grand party!”

1964

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY–TREASURER

Rhoda Morrill Silverberg rhodaeric@att.net

CLASS PRESIDENT Gretchen Ziegler gretchenz958@gmail.com

CLASS VICE-PRESIDENTS

Joan and Dick Andren dixmont258@gmail.com

CLASS HISTORIAN

Dot March Harris dotharriswi@gmail.com

Dick and Joan Spruill Andren are “thankful to be healthy and able to enjoy wonderful summer days in Maine with friends and family, and concerts and museums in Philly in the winter. We had a delightful short visit with Diane Gallo DeFrancisci and her granddaughters last summer in Portland.”...“Family is a treasure,” says Norm Bowie He was fortunate enough to see both sons and four of five grandchildren in 2023 — “a feat, given that one son’s family is in Florida and the other in California.” He continues, “Maureen continues to battle pulmonary issues and the resulting lung damage. Another challenge comes from loss. Two of my closest friends passed away this year. But being really retired also brings the opportunity for reflection and satisfaction from simple things.”...Bill Braman finds it “hard to believe that it is six years since we left our farm in Ware, Mass., and moved to Bath, Maine.” He and Ellen live “in an amazing community with a rich history on the Kennebec River. I do volunteer tax preparation and am a member of the board of the Bath Development Corporation.”

Marion Day Czaja checked in from the Twin Lakes retirement community in Burlington, N.C. She stays active with tai chi, miles-long walks, and holding Bible studies. “There is never a dull moment and when I have time, I go to the gym and use machines to strengthen my legs and arms. I am battling osteoporosis and find the exercises helpful.” Sister and next-door neighbor Nancy Day Walker enjoys ping-pong, volunteering in Twin Lakes’ native-plant garden, and taking an exercise-dance class. “There is much caring between residents. We all have health issues, and each of us is understanding and supportive. There are also support groups for some major problems — and if someone runs out of money, which is rare, contributions cover their bills. How about that?!”...Pat Donovan reports the “same-old same old here on Cape Cod. Trying not to act my age by continuing to officiate high school sports, although now it is mostly junior varsity and freshman games.

Keeps me active and gets me out of the house. First two grandkids graduated from high school last spring and are now in college, and three more will graduate this year.”...Kevin Gallagher took a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. “They were as beautiful as expected. A highlight was the Polynesian Cultural Center on O’ahu.” He adds that he spent his last night at a Honolulu hotel where the Purdue Univ. basketball team, competitors in the annual Maui Invitational tournament (relocated to O’ahu because of the catastrophic fires on Maui) was also staying. “Kids who were taller than 7 feet walked by. Talk about up in the stratosphere!”...Linda Gramatky Smith and Ken ’55 still enjoy life at Cedar Crest Senior Living. Linda continues to give talks about her parents, both accomplished artists, and to work with the art dealer who sells giclées of watercolors by her father, Hardie Gramatky, creator of such children’s books as Little Toot. “Ken stepped down from the chorale. He is now 91 and the memory problems have gotten worse. He meets with other residents most days to have games, singing, puzzles, lunch, etc. I still love having him around and we feel lucky to be celebrating 57 years married.”...John R. Holt writes occasionally for his blog, Res Publica, which is devoted to political matters, broadly conceived. He launched a Great Books reading group in January at a bookstore in Oldwick, N.J. John laments the disappearance of Bates’ Cultural Heritage program, but still supports his alma mater in gratitude for the deep intellectual and spiritual nourishment it provided in his ephebic years. He is appalled by what the Republican Party has become and regards it as the greatest threat to the American republic since the Civil War. John and Nancy are still in Long Valley, N.J….Paul Holt had to put wheelchair tennis and oil painting “on hold last summer when we returned to Northampton, Mass., for the first time since the pandemic, resuming our warm-weather routine of going north from Melbourne Beach to maintain property and visit family.” He and Pamela were sorry to miss seeing their grandson play baseball at Rollins College, not far from Melbourne, but needed to catch up on work on the house....Dot March Harris’ life in Montana is exciting for three reasons. “First is hiking year-round with a group of women. Our leader is 89 and inspires us all. I’m probably the next oldest member. We don’t always climb mountains, but I’ve survived lots of switchbacks and many beautiful trails. Second is painting with a plein-air group that goes out every week seemingly regardless of weather.” Last, but by no means least, is

“living in a three-generational household. It puts me in daily contact with the youngest of my four grandchildren. He’s a high school junior, very bright, and has ADHD. A path of chaos marks his passage through the house. Yet I see regular signs of his maturing.…These joys fill my days.”...Lizabeth Metz McNab lost Dave ’62 shortly before Christmas 2022. However, the December of 2023 was a much different story for Lizabeth, the highlight being the day when, as president of the Friends of the Kingston (R.I) Free Library, she took part in the group’s successful “Like New Sale” followed by a holiday concert from the Univ. of Rhode Island Symphony Orchestra — with which Liz has played violin for 55 years. Liz notes that she’s “lucky to have very loving and supportive friends and family” — the latter including Doug ’18, son Allan ’88 (Liz’s daughter is Debi), and daughter-in-law Sidney McLean McNab ’88.… Rhoda Morrill Silverberg and Eric had a great summer in Maine. If fog and rain ruled, at least they avoided most of the 80 days of 100-plus heat in Austin. “We have a new dock, which is wonderful — and will be even better when the boat has a working motor,” Rhoda reports. She enjoys swimming and playing with fiddle groups in both Maine and Texas, and continues to work for Wilson Language Training. “We look forward to seeing lots of old friends at Reunion!”...Nancy Nichols Dixon reports that “life goes along pretty much the same here in central Pennsylvania” for her and Dick. “Gardening and painting (artistic) for Dick, barn animals and quilting for me, reading for both. We are beginning to think about moving to a continuing-care residence but will probably have a two-year wait. That is fine because we can still do most of the work around here.”...Anne Packard and Roger Pedigo feel fortunate “that we can do what we do. I am still motivating early-morning exercise classes for the Holderness (N.H.) Recreation Dept. This guarantees that I will exercise regularly. Roger and I are still hiking,” these days focusing on New Hampshire peaks. “In September we joined a guided tour around Mont Blanc. Beautiful scenery and great companions!”...Lynn Parker Schiavi suspects that “much of my year has been similar to everyone else’s year” — walks with John, swimming, chores, reading (“three different book groups keep the reading list interesting”), and, of course, appointments. “While in Maine, we visited destinations we have enjoyed in the past — one to the coast and another to the mountains.” After Maine, they cruised the Caribbean.…Sandy

Prohl Williams and Alan keep busy at Stoneridge Creek, their retirement community in Pleasanton, Calif. Alan is a director of bridge games and serves on the finance committee. Sandy is active on the library committee. “We have a main library in our clubhouse, a paperback library, a Chinese library, and several satellite libraries.” She also belongs to a reader’s-theater group and garden club, and volunteers at a shop at Stoneridge where residents can buy basics.….Esther Rosenthal Mechler points to a 2022 milestone: “80! And ‘in our 80s’ is astounding. I hear that you can get away with a lot in your 80s, and hope to try that out.” She is involved in climate-change work and serves on the Tree Committee in Brunswick, Maine, where she and Michael Grant live. The couple traveled to the Southwest in May 2023 to see family and friends, and hiked through the heat in Utah’s Zion National Park. “There were 10 of us, mostly veterinarians from Mexico —an amazing group of people.”...Joanna Starr says, “Hello from Boston! It truly is amazing to realize that soon we will be gathering (God willing) to celebrate the 60th anniversary of our graduation!” She and Ron very much hope to attend Reunion, “barring any unforeseen hurdles that we cannot jump over, knock down, or crash through.” That will be their second Bates visit in two years, the first being a highlight of 2023: “my grandson’s graduation. Ryan Weitzel had a great experience at Bates, and managed to sidestep two semesters ruled by COVID by studying abroad.”...For Scott Wilkins, “life is back to normal after another rotator cuff surgery and bicep tendon repositioning. I couldn’t do much for seven months, but am back to golf and boating” — notably, back to “taking children at risk, sick children, and veterans with PTSD out on boats.” He adds, “We had a nice trip to Edinburgh in June. Spent 10 days there, then flew to Southampton and took the Queen Mary 2 to New York.”...As president of the Flying Gravity Circus, Gretchen Ziegler enjoys both the people and “the challenge of guiding them to develop policies and procedures for the organization.” (Although, she notes, “I still can’t juggle.”) The Wilton, N.H.–based nonprofit offers training in the circus arts. Gretchen adds that for her, “like most of us,” the question is no longer whether she has any physical challenges but instead, how many? “Despite this, life is good.”

1965

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY

Evie Hathaway Horton ehhorton@me.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Joyce Mantyla joycemantyla@gmail.com

CLASS VICE-PRESIDENTS Newt Clark newtonclark@comcast.net Peter Heyel JPTraveler@gmail.com

John Achenbach and Lynn still winter in Delray Beach, Fla., and summer in Burlington, Vt., where he serves as a docent at the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum. “I always make a big deal of any Bates alum that visits the homestead. They get special treatment.” Daughter Heidi Achenbach lives in Syracuse, and Kirstin Achenbach ’96 in Falls Church, Va.…Andrea Buck Bartlett enjoyed a three day Bates reunion in Boston with Peggy Gardiner, Minda Shein, Lyn Avery Gray, Anne Googins Kramer, Betty (Tishie) Davis Johnson, Bill Gardiner ’64, Irwin Flashman, Tony DiAngelis, Bill Bartlett, Herm Lilja and Ann.... Jim Callahan and Elsa were pleased to dine in Boston with Bill Goodlatte and Linda, Grant Farquhar and Jennifer, and Judy Laming Krzynowek ’66 and Ted Krzynowek last summer. “I returned to campus for the Bates-Amherst football game. The results were disappointing but I remain hopeful that coach Matt Coyne and the team will be able to turn around the fortunes of the program. I also met Garry Jenkins, the college’s new president. I wished him well in dealing with the challenges inherent in his new role.”...Jane Downing retired from The Pittsburgh Foundation after 30 years. Her major responsibility had been to recommend, to nonprofits serving lowincome households, grants that support affordable housing; the development of human capital; and civic engagement. Jane also facilitated the creation of an interdisciplinary, publicly supported eviction-prevention system and a plan to prevent homelessness. The work “was a chance to practice ‘connecting the dots’ honed by two years of Cultural Heritage studies at Bates.”...Peter Heyel looks forward to seeing classmates at Reunion — their 60th, a year from now. “I email and chat on the phone regularly with Joyce Mantyla in Palm Beach, Fla., and Ted Foster in Ocala, Fla. However, neither has invited me for an extended visit.” Peter was pleased to meet Bates President Garry Jenkins at the N.Y.C. welcome event last fall. He adds, “My barber has a giant blow-up of the famous photo of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston” during the legendary 1964 heavyweight bout in Lewiston. “I told the barbers that many Batesies were ringside.” Peter works for NBC

Sports in Stamford, Conn., and has revived the guided tours that are his main gig....Nina Jewell Mendall and Peter ’66, who have granddaughters on the west and east coasts of Australia, paid a “wonderful three-month visit that encompassed the lower parts of ‘Oz’ from Perth to Brisbane, and included traveling coast to coast aboard the famed Indian Pacific railway. Fascinating bird and animal watching, too!”... Dick Rozene shares three recent milestones: “I celebrated the beginning of my ninth decade with family in Quebec City,” he reports. “Wendy and I celebrated our 50th last December. And I’m honored to be attending my fourth triennial General Convention of the Episcopal Church as an elected deputy in Louisville in June, prior to heading to Prince Edward Island for our 35th summer there.”

1966

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENT Alex Wood awwood@mit.edu

John Wingate Seavey, a professor emeritus in the College of Health and Human Services at the Univ. of New Hampshire, gives public presentations about his family’s history. During 2023, he discussed Joseph C. A. Wingate, who was appointed by Abraham Lincoln as the first U.S. Consul in Swatow (Shantou), China; and who went on to head the consulate in Foochow (Fuzhou). Joseph documented his travels in China and beyond “through the purchase of rare photographs from famous 19th-century photographers,” notes John, whose presentations include a photo album, letters, and other memorabilia purchased by Joseph and his wife.… Ralph Whittum, who turns 80 in June, still skis in Steamboat Springs and still works at the Haymaker Golf Course during the summer. “I am delighted to hear from Alex Wood from time to time and I spoke to Woody Trask earlier this year. I love to know that some of us are still kicking, and I hope to hear news of the rest of the Class of ’66 with every issue of Bates.”

1967

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Keith Harvie kcharvie12@gmail.com

Pam Johnson Reynolds preynolds221@gmail.com

Mac Reid, Beth Krause Reid ’68, and grandsons Doug and Ben enjoyed a Bates vs. Clark Univ. men’s basketball game in Worcester last November. Mac, who met coach Jon Furbush ’05 at the game, observes that it was a

Flower Power

Up in Kingfield, Maine, Susan Smith Davis ’65 says that after the strife of recent presidential elections, “it was a clarion call to me to be more active in my community.” She’s now in her seventh year on the Kingfield planning board, her second year as chair of the Village Enhancement Committee (which manages tax increment financing funds from Poland Spring for harvesting the town’s exceptional water), and she has lent a hand to affordable housing efforts and political organizing.

She also supports community vitality by placing and maintaining flower boxes around town. This one is at the corner of routes 16 and 27, at the bridge over the Carrabassett River. Plus there are boxes at the post office, the Masonic lodge, the town’s iconic watering trough, the Herbert Grand Hotel, and Longfellow’s Restaurant.

“Window boxes and planters make a huge impression about a town’s vitality. Complete strangers commented on how nice the town — which is already pretty nice — looks.”

SUSAN SMITH DAVIS

Gift of the Moment

In a phone interview four weeks before his death from cancer, professional photographer Christopher Wright ’70 spoke of joy: Six of his large-format photographs had been accepted into the Bates College Museum of Art’s permanent collection.

“When you reach the end of your work life, you are always concerned about what is going to happen,” said Wright, who died April 17. “You don’t want your babies to be lost. You want them to find a home.”

Taken in 1986, this photo is titled “Micah’s Dandelions.” “The sun was going down behind some clouds when I noticed some dandelion heads that were going to seed,” Wright recalled. “For just the briefest part of a second, they held onto a little bit of light before vanishing into the shadows.

“My 5-year-old son, Micah, at just the moment the dandelion head seemed to hold onto the light while everything else fell into shadows, started tugging on my shirt. I turned to him and he had this cluster of dandelion heads in his hand. He said, ‘Wouldn’t these make a great picture, Dad?’ It was a special moment that, by the grace of God, I got to notice.”

The joy of photography, Wright said, is feeling the gift of the moment “and the emotion evoked in that moment.”

In addition to his seven children, Wright is survived by his siblings, Tim Wright ’84, Robin Wright ’72, and Anne Wright. Their father was the late Alfred Wright, professor emeritus of French.

“difficult season for the Bobcats.” He continues to work with the MARS Consulting Group on projects supporting regional school districts in Massachusetts.

1968

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY Rick Melpignano rickmel713@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Nancy Hohmann nhohmann@yahoo.com

EMAIL COORDINATOR Karen Konecki Goober kgoober@comcast.net

Jim Bristol was appointed to the board of directors of Eterna Therapeutics Inc. last fall. Cambridge, Mass.–based Eterna explores the potential of mRNA cell engineering for creating new medicines. In a career covering more than three decades, Jim was a principal scientist at Schering-Plough, worked in chemistry and drug discovery at Parke-Davis, and was senior VP of Pfizer’s worldwide drug discovery program. The Bates community also knows Jim for having honored the memory of his wife, Auburn native Suzanne Paradis Bristol, in 2020 by establishing a financial aid fund that supports Bates students in need from Lewiston or Auburn.... Jane Hippe Reilly decided that retirement was not for her. “So I’m now subbing in the local Head Start program. Fun to be back in the preschool classroom reading, singing, and playing. And I can always say ‘No, thanks’ if I have travel plans!”...Craig Lindell writes that being “able to acknowledge how precious a few of my Bates friendships remain is a gift. Thank you. I ignored Reunions for years. Then Nancy Hohmann and I attended the memorial service for Carl Straub together. We discovered affinities of memory, thoughts, and wonder that we both revere.” Despite the passage of decades, he adds, “dinner and conversation with Denis Fortier and Pauline felt like our friendship had never been interrupted.” Meanwhile, Aquapoint, the wastewater treatment company Craig founded, will provide much of the wastewater and stormwater recovery system for a new green residence hall at Yale. And Craig continues “to search for an academic home for an approach to dialogue that enables people with radically differing perspectives to think about circumstances so complex that they cannot be systematically engaged by traditional forms of dialogue.”...Dorothy Nicholas fondly remembers a performance of Swan Lake, her favorite ballet, that she attended in spring 2022. “I love the arts and will attend concerts, ballets, and recitals whenever and wherever!”

1969

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY

Deborah Bliss Behler debbehler@aol.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

George Peters geo47peters@gmail.com

1970

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARIES

Stephanie Leonard Bennett slenben@comcast.net

Betsey Brown efant127@yahoo.com

CLASS PRESIDENT/ TREASURER

Steve Andrick steve.andrick15@gmail.com

CLASS VICE-PRESIDENT

Barbara Hampel barbaraph@live.com

Betsey Brown is a tour guide for the Amish Experience company in Lancaster County, Pa. “I’m learning a lot about farming and an entirely different culture,” she writes. “A good liberal arts education will take you anywhere.”...Natalie Castagnacci Allen still works part-time at a senior programs and activities center in Concord, N.H., and was looking forward to a cruise to Bermuda in May. “Recently got back into art including watercolor, pastels, and drawing. Keeping busy!”... Bryant Gumbel announced in September that after nearly 30 years and more than 300 episodes, the current season of HBO’s investigative sports program Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel would be his last. The show has received 37 Sports Emmy Awards and three Peabodys, and Gumbel himself was honored with the Sports Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award. “Since Day 1 at Real Sports, we’ve consistently tried to look beyond the scoreboard and focus instead on the many societal issues inherent in the world of sports,” Bryant told the Hollywood-news site Deadline “(W)e’ve had the opportunity to tell complex stories about race, gender, class, opportunity, and so much more. Being able to do so at HBO for almost three decades has been very gratifying.”

1971

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS SECRETARY Suzanne Woods Kelley suzannekelley@att.net

CLASS PRESIDENT Michael Wiers mwiers@mwiers.com

CLASS VICE-PRESIDENT Jan Face Glassman jfaceg1@hotmail.com

CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT

bates notes

1972

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS SECRETARY

Dick Thomas rthomas14@comcast.net

CLASS PRESIDENT

Erik Bertelsen ecbertelsen@gmail.com

Michael Attinson writes: “I can speak about the last year only in terms of before Oct. 7 and after. Before the 7th, more of the usual for me. Ambulance shifts as an EMT, earthquake relief in Morocco under the umbrella of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, etc. After the 7th, ambulance shifts in a different context and other volunteer activities. A difficult time for Israel and Israelis, but the spirit of volunteerism that has always characterized this country in times of conflict is alive and well. On the bright side, my daughter gave birth to another boy and my son is still in London working in a hospital. Three grandchildren. Hoping for better times.”...Erik Bertelsen has “come to realize how important being on a team (or in a club or activity) can be in shaping one’s college experience and building lifelong friendships. In that vein, I have been fortunate to share important experiences with former basketball teammate John Amols.” Family news and, “of course, regular emails and phone calls to discuss the current Bobcat basketball team keep us connected. While John lives in Charlotte (N.C.) and I in Boothbay, Maine, we get together often. In the last year we attended basketball games in Lewiston, met up while John and Ingrid vacationed in Boothbay, and sadly attended services for John’s sister Barbara Amols Lewis ’74 and Coach George Wigton.”...Donna Crapser

Stuart has retired after 39 years with a New Hampshire ad agency. “Now I devote my time to being on the board of a local nonprofit arts association, tai chi (which I’ve been practicing for nearly 30 years), travel, and getting over the health issues.”... Steve Mortimer sends good news: “After 35 years of not running due to an arthritic, fused spine, I’ve started running and racing again. Living close to Bates has allowed me to run intervals on the indoor track, which has been great for winter training. Don’t know if I’ll ever run another Boston Marathon, but it’s great to be hitting the roads again. I’m looking forward to the 52nd Alumni Cross Country Race in September! Also looking forward to running with teammates from Bates, including Lloyd Geggatt ’73, Jim Leahy ’71, and Charlie Maddaus ’73. And a shoutout and good wishes to John Emerson ’73, a truly great Bates runner.”...

Robin Wright has retired as professor emeritus from the Univ. of Florida, where he was an associate professor of religion and an affiliate in Latin American studies and anthropology. Brother of the late Christopher Wright ’70, (see “Gift of the Moment,” page 64), Robin previously served as professor of anthropology at the State Univ. of Campinas, Brazil.

1973

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Deborah Gahm

debbiegahm1@gmail.com

Kaylee Masury kmasury@yahoo.com

Ira Waldman ira.waldman@gmail.com

Mark Harris let us know about the passing of his former wife, Suzanne Morgan Harris, in 2021. Suzanne was a nurse who worked for many years at Boston Children’s Hospital, and taught nursing at Quinsigamond Community College. Mark and Andrea Greenwood live in Owls Head, Maine.

1974

Reunion 2024, June 6–9

CLASS SECRETARY

Tina Psalidas Lamson tinal2@mac.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Don McDade mcdadecbb@gmail.com

SOCIAL MEDIA

COORDINATORS

Bill and Karen Lord Cunningham karenlc67@gmail.com

Vicky Aghababian Wicks and Bruce are “still enjoying retirement in Rhode Island, visiting grandchildren in Maine and New Jersey, and traveling a lot! We look forward to seeing many classmates at our 50th Reunion!”...Bob Lastowski retired in 2014 after a long career teaching English and coaching several sports. But three years ago he “un-retired” to become interim principal at the Christian day school that his church runs. “I am finally ‘re-retiring’ in June,” he reports. The work has “been a blessing, but it is time.” (See next section for news about Susan Brown Lastowski ’75 — Editor.)...Fifty years ago, Barbara Welch writes, Professor of Biology Robert Chute arranged internships at the Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection, Lakes Division, for her, Nicki Taylor, and Glenda Winn. “I loved the work and people, and stayed on for 39 years. And now I’m back doing lake protection, serving on the board of the Lake Stewards of Maine, which trains volunteer citizen scientists to monitor Maine’s lakes.” However, “a major event in my life was the loss

ity

YOUR CAREER

of Nicki Taylor in November.” She and John Del Vecchio “got together regularly with Nicki, Vicky Aghababian Wicks and Bruce, Ron Brickett, and other families ever since we graduated. Reunion will have a big hole.”

1975

Reunion 2025, June 5–8

CLASS SECRETARIES

Deborah Bednar Jasak Deborahjasak@gmail.com Faith Minard minardblatt@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Susie Bourgault Akie susieakie@gmail.com

Janet Haines jbh580@aol.com

Susan Brown Lastowski has published her first historical novel. Mighty Wind, Rushing Waters, about an indigenous boarding school in Montana, “received great reviews, is in its second printing, and work on the sequel has begun,” Bob ’74 reports. “She writes as Susan Evans. Every copy is signed and personalized.”...Mario Cornacchio is volunteering as board member, chief financial officer, and treasurer of the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, Cape Cod Baseball League. “The CCBL is the premier summer amateur baseball league in the country,” he points out. “Drop by for a game at Red Wilson Field and say ‘Hello’ if you find yourself on the Cape this summer.”... Enzo Rebula is doing well and “looking forward to the 50th Reunion and seeing classmates. Had a wonderful family trip to Italy in July, with all five children and their families, and ended it by visiting relatives in Trieste — special times!”... Marty Welbourn Freeman remarks that “turning 70 has some benefits. I am in a new age group for cross-country skiing this year, and finally outlasted enough of the speedy skiers to make the age-group podium for the 25K Tour of Anchorage race! Still recovering, but smiling.”... Paintings by Takako Yamaguchi were called “standouts” in a New York Times review of the Whitney Biennial 2024, even as critic Martha Schwendener was cooler toward the show’s overall representation of painting. Born in Japan, Takako has been based in Los Angeles since 1978. Making what Schwendener termed “curious and colorful graphic abstractions,” Takako combines Japanese motifs with diverse visual traditions and emphasizes unfashionable directions such as decoration, fashion and beauty, sentimentality, empathy, and pleasure.

1976

Reunion 2026, June 11–14

CLASS SECRETARY

Jeff Helm

bateslax@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Bruce Campbell

brucec@maine.rr.com

CLASSMATE

CONVERSATIONS

COORDINATOR

Marjorie McCormick Davis

margedavis@comcast.net

Retired since May 2018, Nancy Dodson Sacci doesn’t “miss working even a little bit. I volunteer with Blue Water Baltimore, a local environmental organization, working in their native plant nursery and helping to care for young trees they have planted in neighborhoods throughout Baltimore. John ’78 and I have gone on bicycling vacations in the U.S. and in Europe. We also enjoy local hikes, traveling to visit friends and family, growing vegetables, and reading books we never had time for when we were employed.”...Linda Hermans reports: “Rich Goldman and I are enjoying being (mostly) retired — taking lovely walks daily through the woods with our Labradoodle Leo, loving our home in the middle of everywhere, refining our skills in cooking, painting, piano, gardening.” Linda adds that they are “trying to stay hopeful in these times of political discord and distrust. We would love to host our old Bates pals who find themselves near Dresden, Maine. Rich cooks the best grilled salmon in the county.”... Peter Sorensen has retired after 35 years as a professor of fisheries, wildlife, and conservation biology at the Univ. of Minnesota’s flagship campus, in St. Paul. There he founded a marine biology program and the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center. He continues to pursue his interests in fisheries conservation as an emeritus professor, and serves as an adjunct professor at the Univ. of British Columbia. He and Gail Davis Sorensen ’78 have a cabin in British Columbia, which they look forward to enjoying even more in retirement, along with seeing family in Chicago and traveling more widely — including adventures in their camper van.

1977

Reunion 2027, June 10–13

CLASS SECRETARY Steve Hadge schmuddy@yahoo.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Keith Taylor drkeithtaylor@msn.com

In his second decade at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Univ. of

Buffalo, Jay Bangs now chairs the microbiology and immunology department. He taught previously at the Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison. “Buffalo’s reputation as a downtrodden post-industrial city is totally a thing of the past — great food and great architecture,” he notes. As for academe, “I see three or four more years before I hang up the spurs. Meanwhile I am trying to get one last grant to finish up a few things in the lab.” He continues to study organisms that cause sleeping sickness, a field that “Andy Balber introduced me to at Bates. Still in touch with Andy as well.”...Lisa Barry completed 10 years of service on the Bates Board of Trustees last June, an experience she calls “one of the highlights of my life.” She and Jim Gale saw Bates friends several times in 2023. With Lydia Brown Soule and Jim, they hosted Jane Duncan Cary, Liz Skinner King and Rufus, and Sandy Shapasian Vitolo in Fort Myers in March 2023, and later reconvened as guests of the Soules and the Kings in Wells, Maine. “We finished the year celebrating my husband’s milestone birthday in N.Y.C. with the Carys and the Kings.” She and Jim, Lisa adds, “remain very involved with The Washington Ballet.”.…Still living in the “tyrannical governmentled Washington state,” Maria Best continues to practice chiropractic but is “hoping to retire soon. It’s been a rough four years in healthcare. My tinfoil hat is wearing out. My stepdaughter is getting married in January and our daughter is getting married in August. We consider our job done on that front!”...Peter Brann is still practicing law and teaching in Maine. His son and daughter both “have their doctorates and are at Harvard, so they’re in the neighborhood. Michelle got married in 2022, we had a wedding celebration at an Appalachian Mountain Club lodge in Maine last year,” and then a second was planned for this year, in India.…David Bugbee is six years retired and has no regrets. “This has been a very happy chapter in my life,” he writes from Cheyenne, Wyo. “No big news, but I’m glad for time to smell the roses.”...Ellen Crosby is “happily retired, and (finally) a grandmother,” she reports from Leeds, Maine. “Forever busy. Saddened by the Oct. 25 mass shooting in our area.”…Richard Dedrick had a chance to reflect on his family’s generations of history in Swampscott, Mass., notably in athletics, thanks to the site BVM Sports. Richard, who played baseball and hoops at Bates, “built much of his life around the intricacies” of Swampscott, the site reported. He participated in the local sports community as a player, coach, referee, and recreation

commissioner. “My grandkids are probably playing T-ball in Swampscott as we’re speaking now,” he said...Jane Duncan Cary and Michael moved from Vermont to a “cozy condo” in Amherst, Mass., last July. “No more snow shoveling or lawn mowing by us — yay!” writes Jane. “We now live close to our daughter’s family: three busy grandchildren. We love the amenities of a college town and all the hiking to be done around here.”...Don Earle and Debbie finally enjoyed a COVID-delayed 40th anniversary trip last fall: a Mediterranean cruise with stops in 10 ports. “Sightseeing was incredible, as were the food and relaxation. Came back in time to attend our 50th high school reunion. So great to reconnect with classmates that we hadn’t seen, in some cases, since graduation.”…Joel Feingold and Houda Samaha had an eventful 2023. Houda suffered an eye ailment that necessitated a week of face-down immobility and the cancellation of a long-planned Eastern Mediterranean vacation. “Meanwhile, I had been scheduled to attend President Garry Jenkins’ inauguration and related festivities, which were canceled due to the mass murder of innocent people in Lewiston. I visited Dervilla McCann and Steve Meister the evening prior, and when I arrived the wine was already open. We did not solve all the world’s problems but felt much better for the friendship.”... Lynn Glover Baronas and Mark have been happily retired for a couple of years. “We’ve done a little traveling, most recently to Key West and Key Largo with Matthew and Jane Goguen Baronas in October. We’ve also had so much fun being grandparents. I am so happy that Pam Walch Constantine, Jane Baronas, and I continue to get together for a few days in Jane’s Falmouth home every spring and fall.”...Barb Griffin Arsnow writes: “My life proceeds in an orderly fashion. I seem to be a bit older, but I feel great, and I am very happy with family and friends. Trying not to think about current events too much.”...Carl Grove is retired, living in Elloree, S.C., and “working per diem quite a bit at two hospitals. I don’t mind it at all. I can always say no. Got out a lot this summer in our pontoon boat. Much fun cruising, swimming, and stopping to eat at a marina restaurant. Lauren’s granddaughter lives with us to attend a Christian high school.” He adds, “I hope all you classmates enjoy the Medicare commercials as much as I do.”...

Steve Hadge says that “life is good” in Tolland, Conn. “I am still, and probably always will be, semi-retired. I work two days a week at the local primary school, volunteer a couple times a week, play a little tennis, and a lot of

takeaway:

media outlet: Concord Monitor

headline:

Prolific and reliable, Monitor’s David Brooks inducted into the New England Journalism Hall of Fame

takeaway:

Passion, curiosity, and dedication drive success in journalism

After a 40-year journalism career, David Brooks ’77 was inducted into the New England Journalism Hall of Fame on March 22, New Hampshire’s Concord Monitor reported. Brooks is well-known for reporting the news with accuracy — and humor. He gave himself the pseudonym “the Granite Geek” because of his curiosity.

“He reports the news, but he also explains it in a way that’s informative and interesting,” said Steve Leone, the Monitor’s publisher. Brooks worked at the Nashua Telegraph for 28 years before going to work for the Monitor in 2015.

“I must say that the thing I’m really thankful for is being a reporter,” Brooks said. “I get paid to badger complete strangers about things that interest me.”

David Brooks class of 1977

Double the Fun

Among five alumni who led practitioner-taught courses this Short Term, classmates Chuck James ’78 and Ann Clark Tucker ’78 — friends since Bates — pose together in Perry Atrium in late May during a poster session featuring the work of Short Term courses.

Sponsored by the Center for Purposeful Work, practitioner-taught courses bring professionals with significant experience in their fields to campus to offer students hands-on learning opportunities.

With corporate business, marketing communications, and teaching backgrounds, James and Tucker led a practicum in business and marketing strategies. Nate Levin ’16 taught a course on political campaigns and artificial intelligence, Dr. John Houde led an orthopedic healthcare practicum, and Ashleigh Coren ’07 taught a course on critical museum interpretation and storytelling.

James and Tucker brought Bates friends from business fields into class via Zoom or in person for case studies, offered mock interviews, scenarios, and individual instruction, and led a field trip to L.L.Bean Manufacturing in Brunswick. “Students going into business fields need the information we’ve delivered,” said James, a member of the Alumni Council and the Benjamin Mays Black Alumni Society.

Tucker looked up at her friend as he talked animatedly about their course, enjoying his infectious enthusiasm she’s known since Bates. “We realized we’re the same students we were when we were 18,” she quipped. “He can let me do the coursework, and then he makes us popular!” To which James said, “Ann was the brains of our team!”

disc golf. Diving deeper into yoga, and continuing to play guitar and piano.”...John and Susan Young Haile really enjoy retirement in Woolwich, Maine. “After years of being summer visitors to our camp on Androscoggin Lake in Leeds, we now live full time in Woolwich and love being close to Bath and the coast.” John is president of the Portland-based Southern Maine Sea Kayaking Network, “and is on the water year-round.” (Classmate Lee Bumsted was a previous club president.) Susan keeps busy with reading and quilting, “and we both spend as much time as possible with our three children and six grandchildren,” all in New England.…After a second career selling small companies, mostly in manufacturing, New Hampshire residents John Howe and Fran have retired. “Our first adventure takes us away from New England this winter to Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.”...Christine Kaminski Tolen and Peter are adjusting to retirement. “We spend a lot of time outdoors, which is good for us. We have revisited crafts, woodworking, and gardening, and taken a number of domestic trips. We have one son in North Carolina and the second is considering relocating there from Colorado. So we most likely will be spending more time back East in the coming years!”...Sherry Knudsen won a photography competition in Waterbury, Vt. — the first such exhibition she ever entered. A gorgeous, color-saturated closeup, her submission “Sungold Sunflower” took top honors last November in the annual Shoot-Out Exhibition and Competition. Photography, she told the Rutland Herald, “adds an element of learning, peace, and mindfulness to my own experience.” She is retired after 35 years in nonprofit fundraising.…Wendy Korjeff Bellows and Alan ’78 are retired in Boothbay, Maine, serving on various boards “and keeping busy with our small farm. We caught up with John ’78 and Nancy Dodson Sacci ’76 and Steve Rhodes ’76 and wife Sherry last summer. It’s amazing how the years fall away.”...Sandi Korpela Radis and Chuck ’75 are still on Peaks Island, after 38 years and counting. They have four grandchildren, “two here on the island with my daughter and her husband, and two in Oregon.” She adds, “I see Gina Chase regularly and Jeanne Cleary at least yearly. Lindy Larson Howe ’75 is also in touch.”...Bob Larson expected to retire this spring after seven years on the board of Hulamin Aluminium, in South Africa. Soon thereafter he and his son planned to hike Iceland’s Laugavegur Trail. Writing last fall, he noted that he and Jean Metzger-Larson ’78 looked forward to welcoming another

grandson.…Joren Madsen is still a cardiac transplant surgeon at Mass. General Hospital, directing the Transplant Center and the Center for Transplantation Sciences. Joren and Lynn Wiatrowski celebrated their 30th last summer by taking nephews and nieces through the Greek islands on a yacht. “On a sadder note, I am still reeling from the untimely death of my best friend, Doug MacSwan, but I was so touched when his daughter Erica asked me to fill in for the father-daughter dance at her wedding.”...Following the Oct. 25 mass shootings in Lewiston, Dervilla McCann and Steve Meister joined other physicians at Central Maine Medical Center to discuss common-sense gun reform. The doctors who spoke “were terrific,” she writes. “One is a psychiatrist who specializes in trauma. She grew up in Auburn and her dad owned a gun shop. She exemplified the position of most of us, to simply get weapons of war off the streets. I was proud of the role that Bates played, creating a safe space for kids at Halloween.” She adds, “Over the past year, I’ve had fun with other alumni and truly value the friendships that have developed. Reunions have been particularly meaningful. It is great to talk to so many people who are experiencing the same challenges and rewards that we are.”...Marcel Monfort reports from Virginia that Elsy has had a full plate of medical issues. On top of that, their former church “has divided in two due to a corrupt pastor who wants to sell the church property, then take the money and run — instead of reimbursing the members for the years of tithes and offerings that were paid to buy the property and then pay the mortgage. Yet, personally, my wife and I are keeping the faith!”...Leslie Mortimer retired from library work in December 2020. “Two years later, I was bored, at loose ends without any structure in my life, and felt my brain turning to mush. I started working part time at the Bath (Maine) Area Family YMCA, where I help staff the Welcome Center, aka ‘front desk.’ I love it! I see many of the same people I knew from the Patten Free Library. I feel part of a community again.” She keeps in touch with Sherry Knudsen, Lee Bumsted, and Nancy Witherell. She adds, “Shout-outs to my big brothers Steve ’72, who lives close by in Raymond, and David ’76, who moved to Florida to help take care of our 90-year old mother.”...Dan Quinn calls retired life “simply amazing.” Living in Union Hall, Va., he still manages a 200-acre farm, hunts, fishes, and enjoys life on Smith Mountain Lake. He won a Union Hall District Board of Supervisors seat in November “against a 10-year, good-ole-boy incumbent. I have never been interested in

politics, but this journey was a lot of fun. Hoping the actual position is, too.”...Keith Taylor, Mark Shapiro ’76, Andy Lovely ’75, and Cliff Boggis ’73, all trustees of the Marblehead (Mass.) Bank, took part in a holiday lighting event there around Thanksgiving.… Vicki Tripp Gordan’s first year of retirement was “extremely busy, rewarding, and lots of fun. I continue to remain connected to UNUM, my former company, by coaching and mentoring former colleagues. That was one of the most fulfilling and satisfying parts of my work life, and I’m grateful I can continue it.” She and Scott have traveled a lot, “making up for those COVID years at home.” Mexico, Europe, and places in the U.S. — “fun trips with incredible memories.”...Pam Walch Constantine and Dave “are in the groove of retirement. He still works some and I’m still very involved with an affordablehousing organization on Boston’s North Shore. One of our sons got married at our family place on a Maine lake last summer, so we were busy snazzing it up. We even pressed Jane Goguen Baronas and Matt into service. So grateful for time spent with Jane and Lynn Glover Baronas.”... Jackie Wolfe still loves living on the Oregon coast. “Much of our energy is spent on Ray’s medical issues,” she reports. Jackie still works part time for fantasy author Rose Estes (Dungeons & Dragons). “The two other women on staff are great friends. I am grateful to be able to have female friends who are all working together to unlearn our training of always putting others before ourselves. We do a lot of laughing around our responses...Our stand-up routines help keep us sane.”...Anders Zeijlon retired from the World Bank in 2016 after almost 30 years, mainly in Washington, D.C., and has stayed in nearby Bethesda, Md. “With two children, both settled in New York, I am becoming a Brooklyn connoisseur.”

1978

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARIES

Chip Beckwith chipwith@yahoo.com

Ronald Monroe ronmon74@yahoo.com

Dave Scharn dgscharn@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Chuck James cjamesjr99@gmail.com

For Bill McMurray and family, he writes, “2023 was a consequential year.” In January, his mother, Jane Sedgley McMurray ’47, passed away at the age of 97. “She lived a long and grateful life and remained a loyal Bobcat,” Bill says. “As the cycle of life would have it, Kathy and I became

Running Companion

Nancy Ingersoll Fiddler ’78 reports that after 30 years of coaching and teaching Nordic skiing, “I am finding more time to do more of my own skiing, hiking, and running.”

The fortune of good knees, says the two-time Olympic Nordic skier, has allowed her to keep on with endurance sports. “I set a few goals every year and have a lot of fun taking part in some events, often with daughter Laurel Fiddler ’17, who is kind enough to be my training partner.” Here Laurel and Nancy are shown on Nov. 4, 2023, at the USA Track & Field Half Marathon Trail Championships in Moab, Utah.

Nancy is also proud to be involved in the National Nordic Foundation’s Trail to Gold Fellowship program, which provides American women coaches and technicians the opportunity to gain World Cup experience through an immersive internship with the U.S. Ski Team.

grandparents last May and have been on cloud nine ever since.” Now living in Portland, Maine, Bill retired in August after 43 years in education, from New England to Indiana to California. “I am looking forward to having the time to pursue some deeply personal interests more actively — once I prioritize them. I certainly will spend more time getting to know today’s Bates: working the throws at track meets, and attending presentations and other athletic events.”...Todd Nelson’s latest book, The Land Between the Rivers, is due from Down East Books in October.

“It’s a book of essays following last year’s Cold Spell: The View from the End of the Peninsula,” he reports.…Writing in February, Chris Sentementes was anticipating “a year of travel and transition.” He and Becky have lived in Yarmouth, Maine, for 32 years, “and I retired last year after many years in China and Vietnam for work.” They’re now contemplating both living in Greece at least part of the

year and possibly converting their barn in Yarmouth into living quarters. “I enjoyed seeing classmates at our 45th Reunion and look forward to staying in touch wherever we land.”

1979

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY Mary Raftery mgraftery@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Patrick Murphy

patrickm@paceengrs.com

To escape the cold and enjoy some sun, Allyson AndersonSterling and Rick spent a few January weeks in Florida and Georgia, where they biked and golfed with MC McNeill McBain ’81.…Sharon Bomer Lauritsen retired from the U.S. government four years ago and now consults part time on agricultural trade policy. Fortunately the work allows her to travel, most recently to Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi. She and Scott travel

for fun, too, with trips the past couple of years to Scotland — a followup to Sharon’s junior year abroad — as well as Portugal and Utah national parks.…

Robert Long spent 22 years as a newspaper editor followed, he writes, by “four fun-filled years as communications director for the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention — which just happened to coincide with the COVID-19 public health emergency.” Now he has found his niche, as a steward at Bates–Morse Mountain Conservation Area. He looks forward to showing off the new Porta-Potty during the Reunion hike.…

Patrick Murphy is getting his sea legs in retirement and is excited to see everyone at Reunion.…“Can you believe it’s been 45 years?” writes Bonye Wolf Barone “Getting older is challenging but retirement is heaven! After almost 30 years in the solo practice of law, I retired at the end of 2019, sold my house in Connecticut, and moved to Arizona, near Sedona. 2021 brought the passing of my husband, Nick,

NANCY INGERSOLL FIDDLER

Piece of Cake

After 20 years as a writer, chef, and baker with King Arthur Baking in Vermont, Susan Reid ’79 retired in 2022. “Since then I have been continuing to renovate my house, spending last September and October building a wood-fired pizza oven. I’ve been doing some custom catering, lots of care and nurturing of my Instagram followers — @chefsusaninvt — and am co-hosting a culinary adventure trip to Greece in September.”

Actively involved in Masters swimming, Reid baked this tree-stump cake, plus other goods, last December to celebrate her “amazing Masters swim coaches, whom we ambush every year to let them know how much they mean to us.” Susan swims at the Upper Valley Aquatic Facility in White River Junction.

and 2023 brought serious health challenges. But in 2024 I am resuming my travels and enjoying time with family.”

1980

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY

Chris Tegeler Beneman cbeneman@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Mary Mihalakos Martuscello mary@martuscellolaw.com

Matt Buchman is “still writing like a madman.” The latest total is 75 novels, 200 short stories, and a mess of author-narrated audiobooks. And that’s not all: He’s also founder-editor of Thrill Ride, which he describes

with David Greaves, Brad Smith, and Jeff Wahlstrom for a late summer round of golf at Martindale Country Club, in Auburn — for David Greaves and Brad, the first time back to their old home course in 43 years.

“In a tight match,” Dave Trull reports, “the Greaves-Smith team prevailed. On the ninth green, Greaves rewrote history on the hole that had earned him a notorious nickname four and a half decades ago. He boldly stroked in a 12-foot birdie putt on the lengthy par 3 to win the hole. Thanks to Nick Glicos” — father of Evan Glicos ’24 — “for hosting this overdue return.” (See Bates Magazine, Summer 2010, “Reunion Redemption,” p. 60 — Editor.)

1981

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS SECRETARY Cheryl Andrews dr.cheryl.andrews@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Hank Howie hhowie@gmail.com

Jean Wilson is “having fun staying connected to fellow Bates dancers Anne Loewenthal Shain, Lizette Greaves, Janice Rand Vaughn, Adam Sharaf, Diane Georgeson ’79, Geri FitzGerald ’75 and Andrea Bueschel ’90. The Bates connection is strong and enduring!”

1982

Reunion 2027, June 10–12

CLASS PRESIDENT Neil Jamieson neil@southernmainelaw.com

Humane Society and Harpswell Aging at Home.”...Anne Gallop Pace has retired after 16 years teaching fourth- and fifthgraders at Ambrose Elementary School in Winchester, Mass. “More time for family, friends, and new adventures.” Both of her and Dave’s children moved from Brooklyn back to the Bay State — Nancy is a mental health therapist on Cape Cod and Sam lives in Boston, works two jobs and plays drums in two bands. “Dave plans to work for a few more years and then we’ll see what the future brings.”...Ruth Hall is “thrilled to represent the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia to the National ACLU Board for 2024–26. I enjoyed my first meeting in N.Y.C. in January.” She adds that the scholarship established at the Univ. of Rhode Island College of Nursing in memory of her mother, Lorraine E. Julian Hall, Bates ’55, continues to grow. (Lorraine earned a master’s degree from URI.) The fund sends nursing students to the AdCare Summer School in Addiction Prevention Studies each June. Ruth enjoys visiting Maine every summer.

1983

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY

Leigh Peltier leighp727@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS PJ Dearden tribecapj@yahoo.com

Bill Zafirson bzaf@maine.rr.com

as “the only dedicated thriller short-fiction magazine out there,” and is working on a cookbook.

“Last year I discovered a new Top 5 place in the world while hiking the Yorkshire Dales with Nanette along the Herriot Way,” he adds. “This year we’ll try on Iceland and the Faroe and Shetland islands for size.”...John Elsesser stepped down as town manager of Coventry, Conn., after 35 years. Town Council Vice Chairman Marty Milkovic told the Journal Inquirer that John’s achievements included millions of grant dollars for the town.

John himself offered some advice to his successor: Plan ahead.

“Early in my career, I was trying to push things that might be years away,” he said. “You have to have vision.”...Dave Trull got together

Wally Dillingham, national director of the Wilmington Trust’s endowment and foundation practice in N.Y.C., was pleased to see Reuters cover his Wilmington article “Independent Schools Revisited 2023.” He and Deborah Clark Dillingham ’83 spend free time in Ogunquit, Maine, walking the Beach Plum Farm Land Trust. One son is a film director, the second a classical guitarist at the Univ. of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and their daughter attends New York Univ. Wally and Deborah hosted Chris Fisher and Michele McKeown Fisher ’83 in Forest Hills and, Wally reports, went on to have “a nice adventure at the Met and Greek cuisine on the West Side.”...Heidi Duncanson is “a Maine resident again for the first time since 1982.” She and Mark Weaver ’80 now live about 40 minutes from campus in a house they built in Harpswell. “We have participated in campus events and are reconnecting with friends from both of our classes. I’m volunteering with nonprofits including Midcoast

Jane Calderwood left Brunswick, Maine, after several years and bought a smaller house up the coast in Owls Head that “needed a bit of love and attention. Enjoying the area and renovations are coming along nicely.”...In Tucson, Ariz., Laura Murray Montenegro ’83, retired from public school teaching, works part time as a wrangler taking people on guided trail rides. She and her horse, Mosaic, won first place in the world’s longest, non-motorized parade for the Tucson Rodeo.

1984

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY Heidi Lovett blueoceanheidi@aol.com

Earle Morse and Pam Rawson Morse ’85 still live and work in Sugarloaf, Maine. Writing in February, Earle noted that they were skiing daily and working at the R. H. Bell Chapel at Sugarloaf, as well as their restaurant, D’Ellies, and interior furnishings store, Birchwood Interiors. “We spent January in Europe chasing our younger son, Sam, with his wife Mac, as he

SUSAN REID

continues to compete in the Alpine Ski World Cup in downhill and Super G. He ended his season with a 10th-place finish in Norway! Our older son, Ben, and Molly live in Santa Barbara, Calif., and have two daughters.”...

Artemis Susan Preeshl was a Fulbright Senior Specialist in the Dept. of Communication and Media at the Central Univ. of Tamil Nadu in April. Also assistant professor of the Center for Diversity & Inclusion at Buena Vista Univ., she led a volunteer trip to Cape Town and the Wildlife Rescue Centre in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in May.… Elizabeth Salvo writes: “Do you ever read a book or an article and think, ‘They are writing about me!’? I am currently reading Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect and they are definitely writing about me. I love the larger lesson about letting go. I am still a work in progress but thoroughly enjoying the journey whether golfing, creating art, or deepening my relationships.”

1985

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY

Elissa Bass bass.elissa@yahoo.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Lisa Virello virello@comcast.net

Elissa Bass extends a “big thanks to the Boston Alumni Club for organizing a Bruins game on Feb. 29! Bob Lieberson, Frank Coccoluto, Leanne Belmont Valade, Lisa Virello and I met before the game to get caught up — and maybe start a little Reunion planning!”... Sustainability professional Cyril May uses performance, notably magic, to expand the reach of his work both within and beyond his role as recycling coordinator for the city of Waterbury, Conn. He writes: “Once Upon a River is the newest evolution of a fairy-tale enviromagic show about a poor farm boy tempted with coin and magic to help a scheming magician steal a river. This brings in more theater and storytelling than my previous enviromagic shows, so I am delighted to have an excellent professional director guiding its development.”

1986

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS SECRETARY

Erica Seifert Plunkett ericasplunkett@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Bill Walsh messagebill@gmail.com

Cat Strahan catstrahan@gmail.com

Bill Burleigh and Krista Kaplan enjoyed “fun in the Honduran sun with Doug and Anna

Gailitis Strout ’88 and Andrew Ichimura and Jeannie. “Great to relax above and below water with old friends.”...Angus Macdonald “Don” Green Jr. was appointed political director of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. He is a former senior advisor on animal policies to Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), and served Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.), other U.S. House members, and U.S. senators Susan Collins and the retired Olympia Snowe (both R-Maine) in a congressional staff career spanning more than 25 years.

“For nearly a decade, I’ve worked to address horse slaughter for human consumption, fund enforcement actions against dogfighting and cockfighting, and put an end to needless animal tests in favor of 21st-century science that is better for business and for patients,” Don said in a statement.…Carolyn Ryan, managing editor of The New York Times, commented on the decision to eliminate the physical newsroom at The Patriot Ledger, where both she and former Boston Globe editor Brian McGrory ’84 worked early in their newspaper careers. “I was 21 years old and for me, being in that newsroom was just magical,” she told the Globe in February. “I can’t imagine how you learn journalism without being exposed to that.” The 200-yearold Ledger, owned by the notably parsimonious Gannett chain, continues to publish.

1987

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS SECRETARY

Val Brickates Kennedy brickates@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT Erica Rowell ericarowell@mac.com

Kathleen Collins published her fourth book and first novel. “I wrote the kind of book I like to read,” she told Maine’s Boothbay Register, describing Study in Hysteria as a “character portrait” that examines interesting people in certain situations. Her previous books explore the medium of television — a history of television cooking shows, a profile of TV personality Dr. Joyce Brothers, and the memoir From Rabbit Ears to the Rabbit Hole: A Life with Television. A frequent visitor to the Midcoast, Kathleen is a reference librarian and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City Univ. of New York.…Linda Gibson, chair and CEO of investment industry pioneer PGIM Quantitative Solutions, was a guest on the Bloomberg Masters in Business podcast in November. A discussion topic was PGIM’s hybrid attendance policy: Employees spend three days in the office and the remainder

takeaway:

Bill Walsh class of 1986

Bill Walsh ’86 poses with Washington Post reporter Tara Bahrampour, recipient of a National Press Foundation/AARP Award for Excellence in Journalism on Aging.

media outlet: National Press Association

headline: All things bright and beautiful

takeaway: AARP award honors excellence in journalism on aging

The National Press Association reported on a major new journalism award championed by Bill Walsh ’86, a former newspaper journalist and now AARP’s senior vice president of communications.

Walsh, who is a National Press Foundation board member, presented the inaugural National Press Foundation/AARP Awards for Excellence in Journalism on Aging at the NPF awards dinner in February. The two awards went to Washington Post reporter Tara Bahrampour, the paper’s first reporter dedicated to aging, and The Connecticut Mirror, for its four-part series, “Connecticut’s Elder Care Reckoning.”

Walsh told BatesNews he has “long thought a national award focused on covering aging could incentivize journalists to explore the many benefits and challenges of one of the greatest phenomena of our time: increased longevity.”

Nature’s Leap

Kari Heistad ’87 photographed this humpback whale breaching off New Brunswick’s Campobello Island. She’s used her photographic and writing skills to create guide, activity, and coloring books featuring the island. Her Campobello Island Guide Book gathers together information about the island with more than 80 photographs illustrating its beauty and locations where visitors can enjoy what Campobello has to offer — and capture their own pictures.

working remotely. For younger employees especially, she noted, in-person encounters play a role in mentoring. More broadly, “three days is a good balance. It’s a nice way to solve for our employees’ needs, but also get the work done and build a culture” — important for her as CEO.… Mark Hatch spoke at length with Bates Bobcast host Aaron Morse about celebrated distance runner John Fitzgerald, his friend and teammate, who died in September. Fitzy “had this ability, mind over body, to push himself like nobody else I’ve ever met,” Mark said. Fitzgerald set a January 1986 record for the indoor 5,000-meter run that still stands (as does his time for 10,000 meters in outdoor track and field), and what nobody knows about that record is that “John did it completely alone,” Mark said. “He lapped the entire field once, he lapped most of the field twice, and he lapped some of the field three times. He did it alone.”...Joe King joined the International Assn. of Defense Counsel, a preeminent invitationonly global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests. Joe is a director and shareholder at the Boston law firm Murphy & Riley.…Kathy Leonard Bertagna was there

to see her husband, hockey legend Joe Bertagna, receive the 2023 Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to the sport during the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame induction in Boston on Dec. 6. Joe, a goaltending instructor for more than 50 years and a college hockey administrator for 40, is in his third year as commissioner of the Eastern Hockey League. Kathy played two sports at Bates and now works for a sports publishing firm in Lynn, Mass., that produces programs for such high-profile clients as the Super Bowl and the Masters. Their three children were among family at the induction.

1988

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Astrid Delfino-Bernard flutistastrid@sbcglobal.net

Ruth Garretson Cameron ruth.eg.cameron@gmail.com

Mary Capaldi Gonzales mary.capaldi.gonzales@gmail.com

Steve Lewis mojofink@gmail.com

Julie Sutherland-Platt julielsp@verizon.net

Lisa Romeo romeoli66@gmail.com

Baker Mandragouras joined the Boston law firm Foley Hoag LLP as a partner in August, bringing more than three decades’ experience in intellectual property strategy, particularly in the biologics field. As a life sciences patent lawyer, she is recognized for her ability to assess patent portfolios and craft effective strategies to protect new products and facilitate the commercialization of her clients’ innovations. She’s also known for her advocacy of gender diversity within the legal industry.…Tsunma Tenzin Dasel, spiritual director of Tashi Gatsel Ling Buddhist Center in Gray, Maine, appears in a video documenting a 2022 workshop on the practice known as Nalanda Debate. Nalanda Debate enhances creative thinking and logic, and can equip practitioners to “investigate the functions of cognition and perception, and to ultimately probe the very nature of reality,” according to a description at www.tenzindasella.com. Known as Lisa Blake during her years at Bates, Dasel teaches six months of the year in India and six months in Gray, where she advances the concept that ecology and Buddhist practices are well-aligned...Jonathan

Kravetz published a new book in May. Praised for its innovative reimagining of literary crime fiction, How We Were Before is a novel-in-stories depicting the aftermath of a brutal home invasion. Jonathan drew on his small-town childhood to show how the victims’ friends and relatives navigate the emotional aftermath of the murders. Children’s author Mark Goldblatt called How We Were Before a story, “first and foremost, about the human condition.”...John Swartley, who has worked at the Univ. of Pennsylvania since 2007, has been promoted to the new position of chief innovation officer. His role is to expand the school’s efforts to commercialize discoveries by faculty members. John previously served as managing director of the Penn Center for Innovation, guiding promising research toward commercial applications, and is now broadening such efforts to the entire university.

1989

Reunion

2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY

Sara Hagan Cummings cummings5clan@gmail.com

STEERING COMMITTEE

Sally Ehrenfried sjehrenfried@gmail.com

Deb Schiavi Cote debscote@yahoo.com

Darrell Crate has been appointed chief executive officer of Easterly Government Properties Inc., effective in January. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Easterly is a fully integrated real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, and manages Class A commercial properties for leasing to the U.S. government. Board chairman at the time of his appointment, Darrell co-founded the firm in 2015 with William Trimble III, whom he succeeds as CEO. Darrell is a trustee emeritus of Bates, where he served for 18 years, and earned an MBA from Columbia Business School.…Nora Demleitner, president of the Annapolis campus of St. John’s College since 2022, becomes college-wide president of St. John’s in July, while retaining oversight of the Annapolis campus. (J. Walter Sterling assumes the presidency of St. John’s second campus, in Santa Fe, N.M., simultaneously with Nora’s promotion.) An expert in criminal justice and a former law school dean, Nora will be St. John’s second collegewide president and the first female college president in the institution’s history.…Writing from Baraboo, Wisc., Stephen Swallen reports that he has been appointed “campus director of the Univ. of Wisconsin–Platteville. While I do miss being in the chemistry classroom,

KARI HEISTAD

there’s no shortage of interesting work. At home, we’re about to make the quieting transition, as our youngest follows her siblings on far-flung college and career paths. On a recent trip out East, I had a great time seeing Steve Birmingham in Portland.”

1990

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY

Joanne Walton joannewalton2003@yahoo.com

Women We Admire, a source of news and information about today’s women leaders across a broad range of fields, named Whitney Blanchard Soule one of 21 Top Women Leaders for 2023. Whitney, who began her career in admissions at Bates, is vice provost and dean of admissions at the Univ. of Pennsylvania. She is Penn’s first female dean of admissions and describes herself as “laser-focused” on building greater equity in admissions there. She has appeared in such national media outlets as Bloomberg, Forbes, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Dallas Morning News David Chokachi was profiled by Investor Times in December. The publication offered seven facts about the actor including his work in philanthropy and in film and television. David was a regular on the series Witchblade, Beyond the Break, and of course Baywatch, where his 88 episodes playing Cody Madison made him a star.…Kelly Reyngoudt is still counseling high school students in Worcester, Mass., about their college possibilities, but now at a different institution. Last August, she joined Worcester Academy as senior associate director of college counseling, and becomes director of that function this summer. She went to the academy after 25 years at St. Peter–Marian High School, where she most recently served as director of school and college counseling.…Ted Walls is one of two scientists at the Univ. of Rhode Island researching how people’s eating behaviors relate to the benefits they derive from food. A psychology professor and co-director of the Center for Health Monitoring and Intervention at URI, Ted is collaborating with a professor of nutrition there and a computer engineering professor in Texas to monitor test subjects as they eat. A major challenge, Ted told a local reporter, “is to figure out exactly what kind of a sensor (to use) and where it would go to enable us to get this information without impairing a person’s life.” The project is funded by a $2.4 million National Institutes of Health grant.

1991

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS SECRETARY

Katie Tibbetts Gates kathryntgates@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT John Ducker jducker1@yahoo.com

Kyra Belcher Freeman lives in beautiful Western North Carolina and works as a massage therapist. “My second collection of poetry and photographs, Little Spills and Other Poems I Cannot Contain, was published last Halloween,” she writes. “Last summer I got to visit with David Harvey as well as Kristy Bright ’92.”...John Lanza describes himself as the “chief mammal” of Snigglezoo Entertainment, creator of media products that help parents raise money-smart kids. Snigglezoo recently partnered with Maine Family Credit Union, of Lewiston and Auburn, to present his Art of Allowance Project featuring The Money Mammals, a comprehensive financial education program.… Eliot King Smith, who was a touring musician before turning to teaching, released an album in November. The funk and R&B collection titled Short Life, Small Planet examines Smith’s past, including the 12 years he spent teaching American history at Hackley School. A profile by The Hudson Independent chronicles a path that took Eliot, scion of two concert pianists, from more than a decade in clubland to Bates and thence to Hackley, whence he retired in 2016. The recording took place at “four studios in two counties and three states” including Maine. The final mix was done in Portland, where he and Anne Longley spend part of the year. “I don’t think from listening to it you would realize there were so many moving parts in so many different places.”

1992

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Ami Berger ami_berger@hotmail.com

Kristin Bierly Magendantz kmagendantz@comcast.net

Kristen Downs Bruno Kris10DBruno@gmail.com

Roland Davis roldav92@gmail.com

Peter Friedman peterjfriedman@gmail.com

Leyla Morrissey Bader

leyla.bader@gmail.com

Jeff Mutterperl jeffmutterperl@gmail.com

DeDe Alexander is in her 12th year living in Tucson and working as an elementary school Spanish-immersion teacher and a Realtor with Tierra Antigua Realty. “My three kids live in Tucson too, for now. My son

class of 1987

takeaway:

Linda Tilton Gibson

media outlet: Bloomberg

headline: Masters in business: Linda Gibson on quant investing

takeaway:

EQ is as important as IQ in leading a quant firm

Linda Tilton Gibson ’87, chair and chief executive officer of PGIM Quantitative Solutions LLC, talked with Bloomberg about her work leading one of the pioneering firms of quant investing, a practice that relies on mathematical models and computational techniques in making investment decisions.

In the interview, Gibson, a Bates mathematics major, talked about managing people with extremely high IQs, which is typical for “quants.” “Our firm has 29 PhDs. Our CIO is literally an ex-rocket scientist who used to work at NASA. These are very, very smart people. In managing them, you definitely have to adapt your style,” Gibson said.

She added that “we need very smart people, but EQ is equally important as IQ. I lead, direct, and manage, and then sort of push them — but then just leave them alone. I want to give them the resources that they need but also give the direction they need.”

PGIM

takeaway:

Eric Knight

Mark Kennedy

Classmates Eric Knight (left) and Mark Kennedy pose at Lake Ashi near Hakone Yumoto.

media outlet:

The Japan Times

headline:

32 days, one big wheel: Duo re-creates historic trans-Japan trip

takeaway:

The rewarding trifecta of adventure, history, and friendship

“Cycling 1,500 kilometers from Nagasaki all the way to Yokohama is a feat in itself,” reported The Japan Times last December. “Now imagine making the journey perched atop an old-fashioned ‘high-wheel’ bike, with a huge front wheel nearly 1.5 meters above a tiny back one.”

Vintage bicycle enthusiast Eric Knight ’90 shipped his replica Victor high-wheeler from his home in Berwyn, Pa., to Japan for the adventure, and he was joined by his former Bates roommate, Mark Kennedy ’90, who lives in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, riding an e-bike, carrying luggage, and serving as Knight’s interpreter. They retraced the last leg of Thomas Stevens’ groundbreaking global bicycle tour in the 1880s, which Knight learned about from his grandfather. “No one had ever [retraced] the Japan route. I thought it would be a great challenge and adventure, so I proposed the idea to Mark.”

graduates from the Univ. of Arizona this summer and his younger sister is a freshman there as well! My oldest daughter works as a writer for PopSugar and an influencer, chronicling her wellness journey after long-COVID complications that rocked our lives. I enjoyed traveling recently to Sedona, Puerto Peñasco in México, San Francisco, Oregon, and even beautiful Kentucky for the first time. I love keeping in touch with Bates swimmers and roommates.”...Amy Bass wrote two opinion pieces for CNN about how music star Taylor Swift’s presence in the world of the National Football League last season, culminating in Super Bowl 58, further solidified the NFL “as a bona fide entertainment industry.” Bass, a professor of sports studies at Manhattanville College, noted that the adjacency of the Swift phenom to the league’s brand served only to amplify both. After the Super Bowl, Bass summed it up: “From Nickelodeon’s broadcast, which included a lower-third caption on (Travis) Kelce on the bench that read ‘Taylor Swift’s boyfriend — good at football,’ to the arena’s jumbotron showing Taylor downing a drink alongside longtime friend Ashley Avignone, it was yet again clear that the NFL has been thrilled with what has been called The Swift Effect.”...Matt Brown is COO of Greenwood Industries, a roofing firm named 2023 Commercial Contractor of the Year by Roofing Contractor, which cited “Greenwood’s consistent success and shrewd expansion moves.” Based in Worcester, Mass., Greenwood’s 900-plus workers have applied award-winning workmanship to complex and innovative projects across the Northeast. Matt and Dave Klein, Greenwood owner and president, are longtime business partners and friends.…Neuroscientist and author Lisa Genova (Still Alice) is a contributor to news organization CNBC, and in that role published an article in February outlining the diet she follows to bolster brain health. “I often recommend the MIND (Mediterranean–DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet, which was designed to lower the risk of cognitive decline as we age.” Specifically, every day she tries to eat the following: lean proteins, whole grains, leafy greens, and nuts and seeds. Consider MIND a menu, not a diet, she advises.…The Bates courtship and marriage of Michaela Harkins and Stephen Howe made a nice entry in the “Boston Love Stories” edition, published on Valentine’s Day, of The Huntington News, the independent student newspaper of Northeastern Univ. The pair “first locked eyes” during course

registration, ate together in Memorial Commons’ “introvert room,” and got spliced 10 years into their relationship. Going “through college and early adulthood together (allowed) them to grow together and individually,” the paper noted. “We knew we wanted to be together because we had kind of stuck together through all that,” said Stephen.

1993

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Rebecca Throop mfc@wilkinsinvest.com

Lauren Fine laurenkimfine@gmail.com

Colleen McCretton cmccretton@yahoo.com

Robin Clifford states that “teaching eighth-grade civics and raising two adopted children does not leave much free time, but we visit friends and family during school breaks. Our December travels took us to Geneva, N.Y., where we attended a Christmas Eve service at Rev. Colin Pritchard’s church, as well as to Portland, Maine, where we celebrated the New Year with Craig ’91 and Alison Buttrick Patton ’92. I’ve been wearing my Bates crew jacket skiing during this warm winter. Every time I wear it, I meet a past, current, or future Bobcat!”...Evan Medeiros wrote “The New Domestic Politics of U.S.–China Relations,” a report published in December by the Asia Society Policy Institute. “We are now moving into an era where domestic politics will be just as important as geopolitics — if not more important — in influencing China policy in the U.S. and U.S. policy in China,” writes Evan, a senior fellow in the institute’s Center for China Analysis, a professor and the Penner Family Chair in Asia Studies in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown Univ., and a former advisor to President Obama.

1994

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Courtney Landau Fleisher courtney.fleisher@gmail.com

Jonathan Lewis jlewjlew@mac.com

Joshua Chadajo writes that “in August 2021 we moved from New York to Florida for a one-year adventure. Almost three years later, we’re still here. During this time frame I founded and became CEO of JEC Philanthropy, an advisory firm to help clients give more, give better, and give with joy.”...Laurie Clark was awarded second prize in the 2024 Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Competition, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’

MARK KENNEDY

Network. Laurie, a Wilmington resident in her second year of an MFA program in creative writing at the Univ. of North Carolina in that city, received the honor on the strength of her piece “The Diamond, Stolen in My Pocket.”...U.S. Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.) saw the House pass the Ensuring Accountability in Agency Rulemaking Act, which he sponsored, in December. The act requires that rules issued by federal government agencies be issued by officials who have been confirmed to their posts by the Senate.…Sherry Stadig Guardiano joined Scipher Medicine as senior director for medical affairs in 2023. She provides medical guidance and oversight in support of product development, research, publications, market access, and operations. Based in Waltham, Mass., Scipher uses technologies including artificial intelligence to tailor treatments for certain diseases to individual patients. Sherry previously spent 15 years in a variety of roles at Dartmouth Hitchcock, most recently as chair of medical specialties.

1995

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jason Verner jcv@nbgroup.com

Deb Nowak Verner debverner@gmail.com

Nearly three decades ago, Lisa Hamasaki became the first All-American in the history of the Bates rowing program — as coxswain for the men’s team. Interviewed in January for the Bates Bobcast, Lisa shared memories of that experience with college Associate Athletic Communications Director Aaron Morse. Coming to Maine from California, she explained, “one of the biggest changes for me going from high school to college was (that) the river froze, so there were big periods of time when you weren’t able to get out and practice. Out here in California it was year-round — we were constantly on the water.” For today’s rowers to attain national recognition but “not be able to row during the winter is amazing.” ...Heather Josselyn-Cranson co-edited Living the Church’s Song, a book published in December and written by members of the Sacred Music Seminar of the North American Academy of Liturgy. Heather explains that the book “explores the theology of liturgical music from an ecumenical perspective and includes authors from different denominations, contexts, and countries.” Publisher GIA notes that this “wide-ranging approach results in a compilation that is both practical and informative, intended for all those who

participate in sacred music, as well as for students and teachers.”

1996

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Ayesha Farag

ayesha.farag@gmail.com

Jay Lowe

jameslowemaine@yahoo.com

David Brennan and Lana are proud parents of “an amazing baby boy, Luke Brennan, who turns 1 on June 8!”...Caren Frost Olmsted completed a collaborative mural at Oratory Preparatory School in Summit, N.J., in January. The Catholic boys school has 365 students in grades 7–12 — virtually all of whom had a hand in painting the mural, which covers 675 square feet and wraps around a fitness center. The work explores faith, brotherhood, and teamwork through such imagery as a ship navigating open waters, the school’s mascot (a ram), and graduating students tossing their caps.…Hilary Holbrook Schneider was appointed director of Maine’s Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace (OHIM), effective in September. OHIM was established in 2021 to transition the state from the federal health insurance marketplace to a fully state-run marketplace, CoverME.gov, and it now operates that service. Hilary came to the Maine Dept. of Health and Human Services and OHIM following 13 years at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. She and Michael live in Brunswick and have two children.…Hannah Morris is an artist living in Barre, Vt. Her collage paintings depict lively scenes of community life.

As the Brattleboro Reformer put it, she “uses material pulled from lifestyle, craft, humor, and news magazines from the 1940s to the 1970s to create an initial collage,” and uses paint “to distill the scene down to a focal point.”

Hannah told the newspaper, “By capturing a moment of action and interaction in a kind of frozen, surreal choreography, I am exploring what it means to be interconnected in this fragile, impermanent human existence.”

The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center displayed her work through April.…Alexandra Socarides becomes the next provost and vice president of academic affairs at Emerson College on July 1. A scholar of 19th-century American women’s poetry, she heads to Emerson from the Univ. of Missouri, where she joined the English faculty in 2007 and became associate provost in 2020. Her achievements at Mizzou include co-creating both The Huddle, a program providing opportunities for junior faculty of color to

Snow Buddies

During a chance meetup at Sugarloaf last winter, Karen Finocchio ’92 (right) and Amy Brunner Brooks ’94 take a selfie. Finocchio was at the mountain for the U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association regional championships. “After a bit of a hiatus, it is so great to be back coaching alpine skiing part-time at the University of Maine at Farmington,” she says. “It’s been wonderful to see many former athletes, coaching friends, and colleagues. Adding to the fun was seeing Amy, a women’s soccer teammate, amazing goalie, and friend. Nearly 15 years had passed since we last caught up, but certainly didn’t feel like it.”

access wisdom and advice from a diverse group of senior faculty, and the Provost Leadership Program, which trains aspiring faculty leaders in principles of inclusive leadership.

1997

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS SECRETARY

Todd Zinn

tmzinn@hotmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Stuart Abelson

sabelson@oraclinical.com

Pat Cosquer has retired from coaching college squash. He amassed 309 coaching victories in 11 seasons at Bates, 77 career coaching victories in three seasons at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and 11 wins as head coach of the Northwestern Univ. men’s team in 1998 — 397246 overall. Since August, Pat has served as a performance strategist with the business

consulting firm Evolveability. Writing last fall, he was looking forward to being home with his family more and to broadening his impact across a variety of sports and teams aside from squash. “I expect to remain active in the squash community from outside the glass, while cheering on the Bobcats!” he noted.…Paul Howard started his own law practice, focusing on legal and public policy issues relating to the financial sector. He opened Howard Law & Policy Group in Washington, D.C., in September, and enjoys being his own boss while growing the practice.… Abby Kranz Ornstein started a new job in Bothell, Wash., at the regional campus of IonQ. She went to the quantum-computing company after three years in various human-resources roles at Amazon. She is now chief of staff to the chief people officer at IonQ. “It was a good excuse to reconnect with Erica Monopoli Graser, because she lives in Bothell!”...Lydia Langford still

Standing Tall

Sandy Somers ’95 strikes the iconic pose atop Katahdin after his successful through-hike of the entire 2,198 miles of the Appalachian Trail, concluding the trek on Sept. 8, 2023. “My lovely wife, Elizabeth Polizzi Somers ’95, kept things running at home and mailed me resupply packages along the way. Our elder son, Nathaniel, graduated from Boston University and is now doing graduate work at MIT in chemistry. Our younger son, Andrew, is a junior at Rutgers University.”

lives in Berlin, and “loves seeing Bates alums here or elsewhere in Europe!”...Mary Richter reported in February that, “having moved almost a year ago within the Hudson Valley (from Hudson to New Paltz), I am back in South Florida for the fourth winter in a row thanks to my mostly remote job. I’m looking forward to seeing two of my three Bates roommates this winter when they are in Florida

— Lauren Cardonsky Gretina, and Becky Steer Hauser a week later. I still spend lots of time on Cape Cod, where my parents live full time. Would love to hear from Bates friends in any of these spots!”...Josh Turse is the biosafety officer at Cornell

Renee Leduc rleducclarke@gmail.com

Tyler Munoz tylermunoz@gmail.com

Kate Bishop is a first-tour Foreign Service officer at the U.S. embassy in Dakar, Senegal.… Paul Blume, a reporter for KMSP-TV in Minneapolis–St. Paul, interviewed Bates students about the campuswide shelter-inplace order enacted in response to the Oct. 25 mass shootings in Lewiston. Paul talked via Zoom with Kaitlyn O’Shaughnessy ’26 and Cole De Magistris ’24 for a story aired Oct. 26 — ending the report by showing viewers his Bates sweatshirt. “I’ll be wearing it home tonight. We’re all in the Bates community.”... Jessica Brown has taken office as a trial judge in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas. She was elected to the bench in the First Judicial District last November. She previously worked as an attorney at Willig, Williams & Davidson, and prior to that served in the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Solicitor’s Office.… Beth Natt was appointed chair of pediatrics and system medical director for pediatric services at the Atlantic Health System’s Goryeb Children’s Hospital, in Morristown, N.J., in February. She went to Atlantic from Nuvance Health in Connecticut, where she most recently served as system director of pediatric hospital medicine.… Blake Width was named a partner in the insurance and litigation practices of Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, headquartered in Westfield, N.J. Blake has more than 20 years’ legal experience, focusing on contract litigation, creditor rights litigation, and insurance defense. He has been with Lindabury since 2003.

1999

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY

Jenn Lemkin Bouchard jennifer_bouchard@hotmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Univ. He became interested in biosafety while earning a doctorate in genetics at Texas A&M — his research required the use of Biosafety Level 3 containment, with BSL-4 being the most stringent. He and Carol live in Freeville, N.Y.

1998

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS COMMITTEE

Doug Beers douglas.beers@gmail.com

Liam Clarke ldlc639@gmail.com

Rob Curtis robcurtis@eatonvance.com

Jamie Ascenzo Trickett jamie.trickett@gmail.com

Arin Arbus got a shout-out from theater critic Vinson Cunningham in the Nov. 20 New Yorker. A director “who’s always up to something you want to see,” as Cunningham put it, Arin helmed the seven-week Theatre for a New Audience production of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. “(I)n the hands of Arbus, along with Michael Shannon, who plays Estragon, and Paul Sparks, who plays Vladimir, the play becomes what it has always been: a thrilling, melancholy, comic slice of life on earth,” Cunningham wrote.… Alexis Chiagouris received

a certification in artificial intelligence applications for growth from Northwestern Univ.’s Kellogg School of Management in October. She uses her skills in AI and machine learning at Adobe, where she is a senior customer success manager for global pharma.…Lisa Gralnek last summer became managing director of the N.Y.C. office — and first North American office — of iF International Forum Design GmbH, a design-award authority headquartered in Germany. Described by iF Design as an “expert brand builder, corporate strategist, and impact advisor,” Lisa founded LVG & Co., an independent strategy consultancy, and previously held senior leadership positions at such corporations as Adidas and Walmart.…Jenn Lemkin Bouchard’s second novel, Considering Us, will be published next February by Black Rose Writing.…Josh Popichak is publisher and editor of Saucon Source, a free news site covering Pennsylvania’s Saucon Valley. Last summer, Saucon Source celebrated the publication of its 10,000th story — not bad for only nine years in business. A former Bates Student editor, Josh worked after graduation for a weekly newspaper covering the valley and an online media corporation that published hyperlocal news sites in the Lehigh Valley. “Although some may find the notion quaint, authentic community journalism would not exist without the trust and support that exists between news writers and their readers,” the site noted in announcing the milestone.… Mike Schlechter leads the Weston (Conn.) Volunteer EMS, which in September received the 2023 Connecticut EMS Awards “Volunteer Agency of the Year” honor. Founded in 1962, the donation-funded service comprises more than 60 EMTs, all volunteers. “Mike has worked toward this since he joined Weston EMS 20 years ago,” writes Sarah Picard Schlechter, “and it’s a huge accomplishment for our tiny town.” One of the few volunteer chiefs in the area, Mike runs the EMS in addition to his day job at Sparks Grove North Highland “and his role as dad,” says Sarah. She and Mike have two sons.… Becca Skolnik is “excited to share that I have started working at Bates, a longtime dream of mine! As of Jan. 15, I am the Human Resources assistant on campus. I am enjoying this journey and learning a lot. It is so cool to be back on campus and see all that has changed as well as a few spots that look very similar from the ’90s.”

CLASS SECRETARY

Cynthia Macht Link cynthiafriedalink@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jenn Glassman Jacobs jenniferellenjacobs@gmail.com

Megan Shelley mhshelley@aol.com

Actress, producer, and director Michelle Chong’s eponymous Singapore-based agency is busy. Along with films like Already Famous, Singapore’s entry for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards in 2013, and the bestselling Lulu the Movie, Michelle Chong Productions’ portfolio contains media products for a wide range of clients and platforms — with humor key to much of the work.…In Needham, Mass., where Courtney Elf Rowe is a children’s educator, last year brought a crisis: The building that housed the nonprofit preschool where she had worked for more than 20 years was to be sold. “But what looked like the end of our school turned out to be a new beginning,” she said. Together, she and her colleagues “managed to achieve what seemed impossible. We incorporated ourselves as a new nonprofit school with a new school board, found ourselves a new location, and launched last fall as Wonder Garden Preschool.” Courtney is lead teacher to the class for 3-year-olds and music specialist for the entire school.…Kristen Frederick-Frost is a curator in the Division of Medicine and Science at the Smithsonian Institution, where she studies the history of physics and chemistry, with a focus on lab instrumentation and notebooks. She lives in Maryland with Alexis Frederick-Frost. He’s the co-author and illustrator of the critically acclaimed Adventures in Cartooning series of graphic novels and picture books, and created the monthly comic “Kit and Clay” for The Phoenix Magazine in the U.K.…Jeff Snyder didn’t take part in theater at Bates, “but I did it as a child and got back into it in my 30s,” he writes. “Recent performances include Legally Blonde, God of Carnage, Terms of Endearment, Rent, and most recently David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross at the Bushnell in Hartford, Conn. For a career, I am in year 23 as a financial advisor focusing on retirement planning. I took over my father’s firm in 2013.”... Kirsten Walter, director of the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center in Lewiston, spoke with the Sun Journal in December about a renewed push to open a community market and food incubator space downtown. An early effort to install that facility in a Park Street building that once housed the newspaper, and then the Lewiston Police Dept.,

fell through last year. But plans were advancing again in the wake of the P.D.’s decision to move to the Bates Mill Complex. The Park Street location “really is the only available place downtown that meets the needs” of the project, Kirsten said.

2001

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS SECRETARY

Noah Petro npetro@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jodi Winterton Cobb jodimcobb@gmail.com

Kate Hagstrom Lepore khlepore@gmail.com

2002

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS SECRETARY

Stephanie Eby steph.eby@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jay Surdukowski jsurdukowski@sulloway.com

Drew Weymouth weymouthd@gmail.com

Tokyo resident Ken Kobori is a songwriter, producer, and the founder–CEO of SURF Music, which provides business services for musicians. He’s known in Japan as 2Soul, and produced the 2005 hit “Story” for musician Ai.

In a Q&A with the culture news site Muse by Clio, he described a peak project in his career: “Light Up Nippon,” which brought music stars and child singers together in a charity project after the Tohoku earthquake. “We traveled to Tohoku every weekend with recording gear in a van to record 500 children in different areas.”...In January, the pioneering artificial-intelligence firm founded by Sameer Maskey signed an agreement with the special-purpose acquisition company CSLM to form a business combination that would make Sameer’s Fusemachines a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq index. Completion of the deal was anticipated by the end of the second quarter. “To reach this level,” Sameer told the Nepali news site myRepública, “we were always focused more on value creation than generating money.” Regulatory approvals, closing conditions, and approval of the business combination by the companies’ stockholders all were needed before the merger could be finalized. Sameer, a native of Nepal, noted that the Nasdaq listing will be a historic moment for Nepalese-origin companies. An adjunct faculty member at Columbia Univ., he and Prerana Shrestha ’03 live in Smithtown, N.Y.

media outlet: Orlando Sentinel

headline:

Florida ethics overhaul will leave corruption unchecked, watchdog groups say

takeaway:

Citizens deserve transparency and accountability

Amy Keith ’99, executive director of Common Cause Florida, has been quoted frequently in the state’s news media on issues including redistricting, AI in political ads, and legislation that, she says, would make it “almost impossible” for the public to file a state ethics complaint.

The legislation “isn’t about minimizing frivolous complaints; this is about making complaints almost impossible,” Keith told the Orlando Sentinel. “The people of Florida deserve accountability and transparency and the right to demand it of officials.”

After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law addressing artificial intelligence in political ads, Keith called the law “weak and unclear and (it) fails to adequately inform Floridians of the dangerous disinformation to which they’re exposed. As a result, Florida voters won’t have any meaningful protection.”

takeaway:

Prerana Shrestha

media outlet:

TBR News Media

headline:

SBU’s Prerana Shrestha scores $2.2 million to study molecular drivers of PTSD

takeaway:

Researcher aims to unlock emotions associated with PTSD

TBR News Media reported that Stony Brook University researcher Prerana Shrestha ’03 will use a $2.2 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to better understand how the brain regulates especially intense emotional memories associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Shrestha is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook.

In PTSD, physiological changes in the brain disrupt its subconscious evaluations of and reactions to perceived threats. As a result, sufferers have trouble accurately assessing danger and employing effective coping strategies.

“We are trying to understand the neurological basis for why (traumatic memories in PTSD sufferers) are so robust,” Shrestha told TBR News Media

2003

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Kirstin Boehm kirstincboehm@gmail.com

Melissa Yanagi melissayanagi@gmail.com

Alan Hunt has career news: In February, he started a new job as a community planner with the National Park Service working on NPS–designated Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers and in the agency’s Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance program. “I always wanted to work with the NPS, and did for two summers in between Bates terms at Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland.” In his new role, he protects the Musconetcong River (which touches the back yard of his and Elizabeth Drew’s farm in New Jersey) and helps communities plan for conservation and recreational needs. “It’s a dream job that comes full circle to my home community and allows me to tap a wide range of skills I learned along the way drawing on the multidisciplinary foundation I got in Bates’ environmental studies program.”

2004

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Eduardo Crespo eduardo.crespo.r@gmail.com Tanya Schwartz tanya.schwartz@gmail.com

Sandy Walter was promoted to co-head of equity capital markets at Baird, an employee-owned wealth management, capital markets, asset management, and private equity firm in Milwaukee. Partnering with Peter Kies to lead the business, Sandy will continue to manage his equity capital coverage in the consumer, distribution and real estate sectors.

2005

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Kathryn Duvall duvall.kathryn@gmail.com Melissa Geissler melissa.geissler@gmail.com

Chris and Laura Gross van der Lugt “are happy to return to Maine after a long time away in Seattle and Boston. We moved to Freeport and are thrilled to see so many classmates have done the same! We are excited to be more connected to Bates and enjoy the campus.” Laura has been working for the N.Y.C. nonprofit Council of State Governments Justice Center as a consultant, collaborating with a start-up justice-data platform company to provide better data

to state and federal governments. Chris spent the past few years at Smartsheet, a collaborative work management platform — but recently left that firm to return to his true passion. He’s now senior director of brand and marketing strategy at Material, a global ad and insights agency whose high-visibility clients range from Amazon to Yum! Brands.…In a February letter to the Portland Press Herald, Craig Saddlemire, development organizer for Lewiston’s RaiseOp Housing Cooperative, urged passage of state legislation that would create 2,000 new housing vouchers and outlaw rental-assistance discrimination. “Rental assistance waitlists for income-qualified households are very long, and applicants face homelessness and eviction” during the two-to-five-year wait. Moreover, he noted, “many private landlords (practice) source-of-income discrimination against people who utilize rental assistance, further narrowing the supply of available housing.”

2006

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Chelsea Cook chelsea.m.cook@gmail.com

Katie Nolan knolan06@gmail.com

Johnny Ritzo johnnyritzo@gmail.com

Margaret Mandeville Gray has become partner in the Colorado law firm Messner Reeves LLP. Practicing in the Denver office, she specializes in healthcare, compliance, professional liability, and complex litigation. She defends medical and mental health providers against licensure grievances as well as information privacy and security complaints, and advises clients navigating complicated healthcare fraud and abuse, privacy, and data concerns.…

Matt Moretti’s Portland, Maine, aquaculture firm was one of five businesses recognized in November for contributions to the local economy. Now in its 15th year and producing more than 600,000 pounds of shellfish annually, Bangs Island Mussels was named Small Business of the Year by the city and Portland Development Corp. CEO and coowner of the firm with his father, Gary, Matt was also quoted in a Maine Sunday Telegram article spotlighting an effort in Ireland to develop integrated multi-trophic aquaculture — a self-contained ocean ecosystem for food production. Bangs Island is one of Maine’s few licensed IMTA operations.… Ryan O’Connor was appointed chief executive officer of Global X ETFs, an N.Y.C.–based provider of exchange-traded funds, in April. He is responsible

for driving corporate strategy, reinvigorating the firm’s product suite, and leading Global X’s team into a new, growth-focused era. Previously he was global head of ETF products at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He and Liz Fleming ’08 live in Darien, Conn.…Pennie Taylor writes: “After three years working to prevent displacement as a rental assistance and housing advocate, last November I was promoted to program development, policy, and communications coordinator at the Office of Housing Stability in Somerville, Mass.”

2007

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Keith Kearney kdkearney@gmail.com

Rakhshan Zahid rakhshan.zahid@gmail.com

Sachi Cole has joined the law firm Cannella | Snyder as a partner and will practice in fields including product liability, catastrophic personal injury, childhood sexual abuse, and complex civil litigation. “Sachi brings many years’ experience representing individual people against the large corporations who have hurt them,” noted partner Rob Snyder, who cofounded the firm in Decatur, Ga. She and Gregory Reihing live in Decatur.…Alex Penney Bowers and Ben “are finally getting the hang of Pacific Northwest living. Bianca, age 6, and Celine, 3, enjoy Spanish immersion programs and the tight-knit community of Lake Oswego, Ore., a special town outside of Portland.” Alex has worked at Nike for eight years and Ben is in his 17th year of leading Gear Patrol, a buying guide for enthusiasts across diverse interests.

2008

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Liz Murphy

elizabeth.jayne.m@gmail.com

Alie Egelson alisonrose.schwartz@gmail.com

Lily Friedling launched a relationship coaching practice last year. “My passion is helping people grow and move toward their goals in relationships — improving communication and deepening or healing a connection,” she says. She was a teacher for more than a decade, “always enjoyed the coaching and mentoring parts of that role, and now love having that piece as my main focus. When I’m not coaching, I love hiking and playing music with my husband, David, and my son, Ezra.” They live in Amherst, Mass.… Shawna-Kaye Lester, whose business Memorable Essay helps

ambitious applicants get into their ideal medical residencies or graduate and undergrad schools, took part in a February Q&A with the Jamaican publication All Woman. Bates was a topic: “I have never ever worked harder” than she did taking the legendary “Cell Hell” Short Term course as a sophomore, she said. “I very clearly remember oftentimes trying to decide if I should use the bathroom, take a nap, or study, and I often chose to study. Not even writing my theses at Bates or Columbia was as intense!”...Jake McChesney was re-elected to his third two-year term on the Glastonbury, Conn., Town Council. He is also an attorney in the public safety unit of the state attorney general’s office. “My family set roots in Glastonbury for its excellent schools, open spaces, and small-town feel,” he told a reporter. “I believe that maintaining these qualities while wisely managing town finances will ensure Glastonbury remains an excellent place to live, work, and raise a family.” He and Claire Jakimetz McChesney have two sons.…John Miley, a senior associate editor at The Kiplinger Letter, wrote last fall about emerging trends in workplace email scams such as phishing. Among those trends, “one ransomware vulnerability that businesses need to take seriously is employees’ personal devices and other unmonitored work devices,” he cautioned.… The Sun Journal talked with Erin Reed about good progress on a plan for the Trinity Jubilee Center’s move from cramped quarters in a Lewiston church to a new building downtown. “Our programs have just grown and grown, and it’s hard,” Reed, the center’s executive director, told the newspaper. “Some people have a hard time asking for help, and it’s even harder when it’s crowded, and our staff members are always getting interrupted and there’s strangers listening in on conversations,” she said.… Julia Sleeper-Whiting, cofounder and director of the Lewiston nonprofit Tree Street Youth, responded in part to the Oct. 25 mass shootings by developing the idea for Love Lewiston Day — “an effort to harness the energy among those in the community,” especially young people, “who want to do something but do not know what to do,” the Sun Journal reported. With Bates students among participants, the Nov. 2 event offered sessions with a trained listener, a station for writing cards to people directly touched by the tragedy, and the placement of streetside ribbons commemorating those killed on that dreadful night.

media outlet:

The New York Times

headline:

Two ‘extreme extroverts’ find love in a pandemic bubble

takeaway:

Love can blossom amidst life’s unexpected pauses

A New York Times “Mini Vows” story from October 2023 told the story of the marriage of Larry Handerhan ’05 and Donnelly McDowell. “In the early months of their relationship, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two spent a lot of time together,” writes Sanam Yar. Handerhan and McDowell both identify as “extreme extroverts,” they told Yar, but as Handerhan explained, “as someone who has double-booked social activities my entire life pre-pandemic, it was such a blessing to not have anywhere to go but have someone I really enjoyed being with. I 100 percent fell in love with him on his couch, watching TV, not really moving very fast.”

The couple were married at Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society’s Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury, Mass., on Sept. 30, 2023. class

RANDI BAIRD

media outlet:

GoLocalProv

headline:

Studio visit with illustrator Ryan Dean

takeaway:

Play and immersive experiences help young language learners

Artist and illustrator Ryan Dean ’09 was profiled by Michael Rose for GoLocalProv, a local news portal in Providence, R.I.

Rose notes that Dean, who double-majored in German and in art and visual culture at Bates, is well-known for LUMUKU, a brand of card games and related fine and public art that Dean developed for children’s language learning.

LUMUKU, which stands for “love you, miss you, kiss you,” to honor one of Dean’s mentors, features “playful illustrations that allow for children and families to learn languages in an approachable way,” wrote Rose.

An “immersive” exhibition of Dean’s work was on view in AS220’s Resident Gallery in Providence in December. Rose called it a “buoyant show (that) indicates this artist’s signature aesthetic and worldview. The bright and cheerful designs that come from his studio can inspire both those who are young and young at heart.”

2009

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Tim Gay timothy.s.gay@gmail.com

Arsalan Suhail arsalansuhail@gmail.com

Brianna Belanger Monaco and Steve welcomed Zoe, their second child, last August. “Big brother Logan is in love” writes Brianna, who can’t wait to bring them to campus and deck them out in Bates merch.…Benjamin Horgan becomes head of school at Saint John’s High School in Shrewsbury, Mass., in July. A 2005 graduate of the private Catholic boys’ school, Ben is currently the formation director at Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools, Baltimore. He began his educational career at the Red Cloud Indian School, a Jesuit high school on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He and Hillary have a daughter.

2010

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Brianna Bakow brianna.bakow@gmail.com

Tiel Duncan vantielelizabeth.duncan@gmail. com

Alexandra Israel is a writer and arts publicist in N.Y.C. She’s a regular contributor to the art publication Cultbytes and to the startup news hub Grit Daily, for which she reviewed exhibitions by sculptor Leslie Bodzy in November.…Kaleigh Paré Shaughnessy and Tim welcomed daughter Charlotte last fall. “Little Lottie was born on Nov. 8 at 5 pounds, 10 ounces,” Kaleigh reported.… Anthony Phillips, who became a Philadelphia city council member in 2022 in a special election, retained the 9th District seat in last November’s regular election. His goals include improving public safety through community engagement, improving schools through family engagement, and rebuilding the district’s commercial corridors.…Rachel Straus Ferrante took on an obligation of singular significance after the Oct. 25 mass shootings in Lewiston. She is executive director of the Maine Museum of Innovation, Learning and Labor, which will archive memorial offerings left at the sites where a gunman killed 18 people, wounded 13, and terrorized countless others. She guided the collection of more than 1,000 handwritten signs, cards, bouquets, and other tributes in December, and the memorials will be cataloged, prepared for exhibition and archived at MILL, formerly known as Museum L-A. “We have a responsibility to

collect (the memory of victims) and preserve it and share it,” Rachel told The Boston Globe

2011

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Theodore Sutherland theodoresutherland89@gmail.com

Patrick Williams

Patw.williams@gmail.com

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden and Isobell Moiles Golden welcomed their second daughter, Shirley Berry Golden, in March. Shirley’s sibling, 3-year-old Rosemary Calderwood Golden, “summed it up for all of us quite simply when she told us, ‘I love her,’” the girls’ parents said in announcing the birth.…A belated “Happy birthday!” to Fiona Kelly, who turned 1 in April. Her parents are Jane He Kelly and Dan.…Emily Russell and fellow journalist Zach Hirsch reported the podcast If All Else Fails for New York state’s North Country Public Radio. The seven-episode series, she writes, investigated “the far-right extremist movement in upstate New York, from militias to antigovernment groups to top law enforcement (officers) who have ties to the far right.” Featured on NPR and outlets in New York and Vermont, the podcast has “reached hundreds of thousands of listeners around the country.”

2012

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Mikey Pasek mikeypasek@gmail.com Sangita Murali sangitamurali12@gmail.com

James Dowling-Healey joined the board of West Hartford Community Interactive, the nationally recognized organization responsible for public-access media including West Hartford Community Television (WHC-TV). James, who had made zoology-focused TV specials for WHC-TV in high school, enjoys working with the organization again. In March, he interviewed Jack Hathaway of South Windsor, Conn., who had just graduated from NASA’s astronaut training program. The interview appeared on WHC-TV and is posted on West Hartford Community Interactive’s YouTube channel. James also attended the 10th Tetrapod Zoology Convention in the U.K. in December.…Brigid Dunn Cubeta and Robert welcomed daughter Sophie Thompson Cubeta in October.… Kevin Helm, head of business development in the Americas for the risk-intelligence platform Seerist, presented at an event exploring strategic intersections

GOLOCALPROF

of open-source intelligence, artificial intelligence, and global politics. Offering a toolkit for safeguarding business assets, supply chains, and operational continuity, the Seerist-sponsored event took place in September at Georgia Tech.

2013

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Megan Murphy megan.a.murphy3@gmail.com Ryan Sonberg rsonberg9@gmail.com

Hansen Johnson joined Boston’s New England Aquarium as a research scientist last year. Extending an interest in whales that began as he earned a bachelor of science degree in biology at Bates, Hansen works in the aquarium’s Kraus Marine Mammal Conservation Program. His graduate studies at Dalhousie Univ. focused on baleen whale monitoring and conservation, and his current work involves facilitating vesselbased fieldwork and conducting research to inform the conservation of species including endangered North Atlantic right whales.…Daniel Lowenstein joined the board of directors at Second Street Second Chances in February. The Pittsfield, Mass., organization serves as a clearinghouse for services and support for formerly incarcerated people. A lifelong Berkshire County resident, Daniel held a variety of managerial positions until 2019, when he and his brother opened a retail storefront that Daniel manages. His hobbies, he told a local news outlet, include painting, photography, blacksmithing, metal sculpture, hiking, and fiction writing.

2014

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Milly Aroko mildredaroko@gmail.com

Hally Bert hallybert@gmail.com

Andrew Carranco and Noah Sleeper, friends since Bates, used to bowl at Lewiston’s Justin-Time Recreation, now widely known as one of two sites of last October’s devastating mass shootings in the city. Sleeper called Carranco and the two grieved together shortly after the tragedy, as they had known some of the people killed that night, Carranco explained to a newspaper in Laredo, Texas, where he is a land developer. “I loved living in Lewiston,” he told the Laredo Morning Times. “I am so sorry to see all that has come to pass in the town which I called home for four years. I hope in good time Lewiston may heal and find itself again.”

2015

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENTS

James Brissenden brissendenja@gmail.com

Ben Smiley bensmiley32@gmail.com

2016

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Andre Brittis-Tannenbaum andrebt44@gmail.com

Sally Ryerson sallyryerson@gmail.com

Ken O’Friel was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in the Finance sector for his role in founding a Toku, a firm that supports crypto companies in the areas of token compensation and tax compliance. Ken was named to the list with company co-founder Dominika Stobiecka. Classmate and Bobcat lax teammate Stefan Stadlinger is a founding member of the Toku team and currently head of product....Sarah Stanley joined Independent U.S. Sen. Angus King’s constituentservices team as the York County, Maine, regional representative based in Biddeford. A resident of Springvale, she’s an 11thgeneration Mainer who previously worked as the New England program manager for the National Forest Foundation, leading projects in White Mountain and Green Mountain national forests. Prior to the NFF, she was executive director of the Kennebunk Land Trust. Sarah is a registered Maine Guide and holds a private pilot’s license with a seaplane rating.

2017

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jessie Garson jgarson4@gmail.com

Matthew Baker mattdbaker13@gmail.com

Alexander Andonian received a fellowship in the inaugural round of grants from the MITPillar AI Collective, launched by MIT and the venture capital firm Pillar. The fellows, who are in their final year of a graduate program, are researching artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science with the aim of commercializing their innovations. Alexander is a PhD candidate focusing on the creation of a generalist, multimodal AI system that can pursue research through the scientific method — i.e., one that can propose hypotheses, run computational experiments, evaluate evidence, and verify conclusions. Alexander is also CEO and co-founder of Reelize,

Community Conversations

Last winter, Adam Rawlings ’10 (right) and Marcus Harvin, respectively vice president and founder of the community-based nonprofit fREshSTART, head out for one of their first food rescues to collect fresh, edible food for distribution from their food pantry, located in the Newhallville neighborhood of New Haven, Conn.

The nonprofit offers a range of services, including a food pantry, youth education programs, and financial literacy courses for adults. For a decade, Rawlings has worked to build community and work on projects that residents deem important.

“Food can be a tool for building community,” Rawlings told Yale Daily News. “It’s not only something that an individual needs to have energy to go about their day. It is something that can be an invitation to larger conversations around, ‘What else can we help you with? What’s happened to you where you might need some extra resources?’”

a startup that offers a generative AI video tool that turns long videos into short clips.

2018

Reunion 2028, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

John Thayer john.robert.thayer@gmail.com

Jake Shapiro shapirojacob6@gmail.com

Chris Koziel and Julie Ludwig ’19 became engaged in Julie’s hometown of Kennebunkport, Maine. Julie is working as an attorney after receiving her JD and MBA, and Chris works in

finance. They live in Connecticut and will tie the knot in Maine.

2019

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

Harry Meadows harry.meadows4@gmail.com

Cara Starnbach cara@carastarnbach.com

Some firsts followed as coach Lauren Brough brought her volleyball team from St. Michael’s College to Alumni Gym in September: It was the first-ever matchup between the Bobcats and the victorious Purple Knights. It was Lauren’s

BACK TO BATES 202 4

first return to campus, which inspired the Bates players to offer gifts including her No. 14 jersey. Finally, an outstanding player at Bates, she is the first head coach in women’s volleyball at the Vermont school, which hasn’t had a winning season since 1994. “There are some things that we need to focus on outside of volleyball,” Brough told the Burlington NBC affiliate upon taking the job. “Confidence is a big thing that we talk about a lot. Being selfless, finding that joy, a lot of smiles. It looks like happiness and actual joy and playing free.”…Ashley Cleary has joined Philadelphia’s Abington Friends School, teaching history in the upper grades. She taught previously at The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.…Tricia Crimmins has been promoted to the position of senior reporter at The Daily Dot, which covers internet culture and entertainment. Tricia joined the organization in 2021 as a staff reporter, and is also a member of the adjunct faculty at Columbia Univ. Graduate School of Journalism. She lives in Brooklyn.…Katharine Gaillard Gilman has joined the National Coalition for Community Capital, aka NC3, as executive director. Known at Bates for her work with the vegetable garden the college established in 2018, among other achievements, she served after graduation as director of operations at the Ecology Learning Center, a public charter high school in Unity, Maine, that she helped establish. NC3 advances strategies that empower people of any economic status and all demographics to invest in their community.… Julie Ludwig graduated from the Univ. of Connecticut’s schools of law and of business with a JD and an MBA. While there, she was selected to join the Connecticut Journal of International Law and served as executive editor. She went to work at a Connecticut law firm in September.…Robbie Montanaro was hired as assistant coach of men’s soccer at Adrian College. A Bobcat standout, Robbie played professionally in Europe, North America, and the Caribbean, and helped lead Sweden’s Östavalls IF to its best finish in 95 years while leading the league statistically in goalkeeping. He brings, as Adrian College noted, “a mountain of coaching and playing experience.”...Working toward a PhD in international relations at Oxford, Gwen Whidden is researching decision-making in the U.N. Security Council in response to mass atrocities. Also student staff editor at Just Security, in October she introduced that online forum’s ongoing symposium “The Future of Atrocity Prevention.” In part, she noted that “there is now little international consensus on

the atrocity prevention agenda, and the prospects for forging such a consensus appear bleak.… At the same time, the need for such a consensus has never been greater, as emerging technologies and climate change exacerbate the risk of violence and the commission of atrocity crimes.”

2020

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

Priscila Guillen priscila.guillen65197@gmail.com

Maya Seshan mayaseshan55@gmail.com

Koyabi Mamam Nbiba, an analyst in sales for Mastercard North America, contributed an essay to the financial giant’s website in recognition of Black History Month. Titled “The Power of Mentorship,” the piece paid tribute to mentors including Koyabi’s father, Issa Mamam Nbiba, as well as a dentist and employer who steered Koyabi toward The Hotchkiss School, which in turn led to Bates. At Mastercard, Koyabi has been a leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion programs including a mentorship program for employees of African descent and one for Black men. “Professionals should step up to mentor early and often,” he wrote.…As Pakistan opens tens of thousands of acres to international agricultural interests, policymakers should observe basic guidelines to ensure efficiency and protect longstanding farming communities, Ghasharib Shoukat and a co-author cautioned in a December edition of Karachi’s Express Tribune Ghasharib, an executive at Pakistan Agriculture Research, and Daud Khan recommended such measures as honoring traditional farming systems, establishing firm ties with local communities, and setting “clear and transparent rules and requirements to ensure that corporate farms are making a positive contribution to meeting Pakistan’s needs.”... Libby Wellington studies public policy at New York Univ., focusing on social advocacy and political organizing. “I went into this degree with the goal of developing methods through which the arts can act as policy development and implementation tools,” she said in an August blog for the Bond Street Theatre, where she was interning. Double-majoring in dance and politics at Bates, she “was not only able, but encouraged, to explore the ways these two areas served as lenses to better understand each other. I solidified the fact that I didn’t want to be a performer but wanted the arts — performance specifically — to be the method through which I leave an impact on the world — public, social, or political.”

‘our full trust’

2021

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

Imani Boggan imaniboggan@gmail.com

Julia Maluf jmaluf120@gmail.com

Jade Zhang jadezhang9843@gmail.com

After spending two years deepening his knowledge of ceramics as an apprentice and studio assistant, Christopher Barker began pursuing a master’s in mechanical engineering with a concentration in mechatronics — aka mechatronics engineering, involving the integration of mechanical, electrical, and electronic technologies — at Northwestern Univ. in January.… Vanessa Paolella “arrived in Madagascar as an aspiring Peace Corps volunteer in September, excited for a learning experience unlike anything else,” she wrote in the Sun Journal in December, beginning a “Letters from Madagascar” series for the paper where she’d worked as a reporter since 2021. After two months of language and technical training, not to mention overcoming early doubts about the language barrier and her prospects there, Vanessa was sworn into the corps and now lives in a highland village. “When I doubt the impact of our work, I think about the convictions of the Peace Corps staff here, nearly all of whom are Malagasy,” she wrote. “We may not see the long-term impacts in our communities, but they assure us that they do.”...Liam Spillane was promoted to the position of senior analyst in the transaction advisory services practice at Gray, Gray & Gray, a business consulting and accounting firm based in Canton, Mass. He lives in Byfield.

2022

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

Anna Landgren aslandgren@gmail.com

Rachel Retana rachel7600@gmail.com

Ognyan Simeonov ognyan99@gmail.com

Sean Vaz savyvaz@gmail.com

Liam Evans and Evan Koch ’23 took part in the 13th Annual Southern Vermont Decathlon, in August. Evan overtook Liam on the final two events to win the competition, the Bennington Banner reported. Evan, the youngest Southern Vermont Decathlon champion in 2017, won all six running and jumping events and set the total score record of 8,805 points, breaking a record set in 2019. But former teammate Liam set an event record in discus with a throw of 149 feet, 5 inches, and also

Honoring Billy

Hillary Throckmorton ’15 holds her daughter, Billie Selmon Throckmorton, during a pre-game ceremony in Alumni Gym last December to honor her late husband and Billie’s father, basketball captain Billy Selmon ’15, who died in January 2023.

During the ceremony, the team — seen in the background standing and applauding, and coached by Jon Furbush ’05 — presented a framed jersey with Selmon’s jersey number 23 to his family, who joined Throckmorton at the event: his parents, Angela Selmon and Bill Selmon; and his brother, Kenny Selmon.

Teammate Mike Boornazian ’16 described his friend as “not only a fantastic person, but one of the best captains we could ever ask for. We were able to put our full trust into Bill. And if he said, ‘OK, guys, we’ve got to go hard today. Guys, we’ve got to focus on defense,’ whatever he said we took that word as gospel and we went with it.”

won the shot put and the vortex football throw. (At Bates, he was the decathlon champion at the 2022 New England Div. 3 Championships.).…Robby Haynos reviews prepared foods and covers other culinary matters for the nutrition site Eat This, Not That! Last October, the Maryland resident ranked five varieties of frozen hash browns from four brands, with Trader Joe’s taking the top and third places. TJ’s shredded spuds weren’t bad, Robby opined, but the patties (simply called “Hashbrowns”) sold by the cult-favorite grocery chain are popular for good reason:

“It’s genuinely everything you’d ever want out of a hash brown.”...Frederick Hoehmann reports that he was one of four classmates/soccer teammates who, with their dads, enjoyed an excursion to New Mexico’s Taos Ski Valley. On hand besides Frederick were Owen Keleher, Joost-Olan Sheehan, and

James Peter, whose birthday occasioned the ski trip.

2023

Reunion 2028, June 11–13

Chris Euston christopher.euston@gmail.com

Jared O’Hare jaredkohare@gmail.com

Olivia Demerath lividem543@gmail.com

Chloe Arons chloe.arons123@gmail.com

Ryan Manning is a recruiting coordinator at NCSA, the largest college athletic recruiting platform, which has assisted more than 40,000 college coaches in finding athletes across 35 sports. A soccer player at Bates, Ryan notes that in his role at NCSA, “it is especially rewarding to know that we are oftentimes the embarkment of the recruiting journey for these student athletes and their families.”

He’s also passionate about music and works as an audio engineer in his spare time.…Anna Marie Puaala, who received a Paubox Kahikina STEM Scholarship while at Bates, is now a life-science research professional in cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford Univ. School of Medicine.…Jairaj Singh is back at Bates, as associate head coach of men’s and women’s squash. A four-year member of the team and former captain, Jairaj helped lead Bates to an 11-8 overall record in 2022–23 and was key to the Bobcats’ getting to the NESCAC semifinals during the 2021–22 campaign. A 2019 graduate of St. Xavier’s Collegiate School in Kolkata, he ranked in India’s Top 15 throughout his junior squash career.

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN

Please email your high-resolution Bates group wedding photo to magazine@bates.edu. Please identify all people and their class years, and include the wedding date, location, and any other news. Wedding photos are published in the order received.

Welch ’13 & MacLean

Maud Welch ’13 and John MacLean, October 22, 2022, Louisville, Ky. All Class of 2013 except as noted. Back, from left: Jenna Burke, Emma Hitchcock ’14, Anna Gerngross, John and Maud, Max Arnel, Will Strathmann, Ebbe Sweet ’11. Front, from left: Kelly Coyne, Kate Fetro, Holly McLaughlin, Carrie Dillaway.

Bryant & LePage ’13

Alison Bryant and James LePage ’13, June 10, 2023, Brooklin, Maine. All Class of 2013 except as noted. Back, from left: Carrie Harris ’11, Chris Stewart, Evelyn Hartz ’14, Wendy Goldman ’16, Corey Gingras, Elizabeth “Bud” Arens, Patrick George, James and Alison, Charles Stern, Kevin Lentini, Troy Calandra ’14. Front, from left: Nick Barron, Mark McCauley ’15, Scott Mickey, Max Goldberg.

Handerhan ’05 & McDowell

Larry Handerhan ’05 and Donnelly McDowell (Princeton ’06), June 30, 2023, Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. All Class of 2005 except as noted. From left: Caitlin Hurley, Anna Sleeper Cressey, Larry, Sarah Neukom Woodburn, Donnelly, Erica Feldman-Boshes, Evan Michel, Tanya Schwartz ’04, Ben Hagberg.

Sevilla ’16 & Donaldson ’15

Nina Sevilla ’16 and Ned Donaldson ’15, October 28, 2023, New Gloucester, Maine. Back, from left: Matt Dunlap ’08, Britta Clark ’16, Mary Krathwohl ’16, Jameson Jones ’15, Chris Eddy ’15, Cam Donaldson ’99, Ben Donaldson ’02, Julia Price ’03. Front, from left: Annie Fitzgerald Coleman ’16, Hannah Gottlieb ’16, Campbell Hart ’16, Nina and Ned, Jack Stewart ’14, Jessica Tolosky ’15, Jocelyn Hoye ’15.

Hayes ’15 & Langlands

Emily Hayes ’15 and Robert Langlands III, August 12, 2023, Thornton, N.H. From left: Rogan Connell, Amy Connell, Caroline Falcone Dolan ’15, Katie Fitzpatrick

’15, Ally Adolph ’15, Christina Stiles ’15, Emily and Robert, Sarah Bouchard Michaud ’15, Eileen Lam ’15, Brent Talbott ’14, Zach Kernan ’06, Ashley Wentworth Kernan ’06, Cody Bullen ’16.

Carey & Leonard ’15

Sami Carey and Thomas Leonard ’15, October 7, 2023, Lord Thompson Manor, Thompson, Conn. Back, from left: Christian Sampson ’15, Joe Gromelski ’74, Christian Sundstrom ’15, Paul Jordan ’17, Tully Hannan ’15, Kevin McDonald ’11. Middle, from left: Donna Davis Keenan ’75, Russ Keenan ’75, Laurie Kling Lovely ’76, Andy Lovely ’75, Norm Graf ’75, Joe Musso ’11, Mike Martin ’14, Joe Doyle ’17, Jordana Gluckow ’16, John Stansel ’15, Noah Graboys ’14, Nick Orlando ’17, Wendy Memishian ’19, Anne Leonard Burwood ’87, Milissa Leonard Meyer ’84, Kathy Leonard Williams ’81. Front, from left: Maddie Smit ’14, Logan Greenblatt ’14, Ashley Pollack ’14, Alison Leonard ’10, Thomas and Sami, Kylie Stansel, Martha McGann Leonard ’78, Thomas Leonard ’78.

Beaulieu & Lamberson ’19

Annalee Beaulieu and Miles Lamberson ‘19, September 30, 2023, Moretown, Vt.

All class of 2019 except as noted. Back, from left: Zachary Guion, Megan Detels ’20, Lily Kip, Zackary Anderson, Eli Nixon, Nathaniel Kuzio, Laura Rand ’18, Mary Buford Turnage. Middle, from left: Johnny Kittridge, Emily Ausman, Josh Klein, Chandler Ryan, Trevor Fry, Gordon Platt, Matthew Berdon. Front: Annalee and Miles.

Plaus ’12 & Belding

Alana Plaus ’12 and Scott Belding (Univ. of San Diego ’11), September 16, 2023, Arapahoe Basin, Colo.

All Class of 2012 except as noted. From left: Anna Tuggle ’11, Julia Martin, Steve Whitaker ’13, Leah Elsmore, Scott, Antonio “TJ” Lewis ’12, Alana, Sophie Leonard, Claire Gittleman, Liz Bowling ’13, Tash Dukuly, Jen Othonos.

Tamminen ’14 & Sheldon Phoebe Tamminen ’14 and Rob Sheldon, September 2023, Freeport, Maine. All Class of 2014 except as noted. From left: Ashley Braunthal, Nick Kent ’82, Rob, Shannon Banks ’85, Phoebe, Lizzie Baird, Mahala Jordan, LK Gagnon ’88, Cole Tamminen ’82, Daniel Jordan, Megan Kearns, Claire McGlave ’15.

Garbarino ’18 & Downey ’17

Maria Garbarino ’18 and Blake Downey ’17, July 28, 2024, Gloucester, Mass. Bates alumni in attendance included Alayna Garbarino ’14, Kristin Calvo ’15, Ryan Sonberg ’13, Caroline O’Sullivan ’14, Emily Freedland ’18, Talia Martino ’18, Melanie Mait ’18, Sydney Beres ’18, Nate Pajka ’15, Jack Aherne ’16, Patrick Griffin ’17, David Dick ’18, Dacota Griffin ’18, Tyler Post ’18, Rob Flynn ’18, Tom Endean ’18, Mike Somma ’19, Talia Binns ’20, Ryan Corley ’19, Emma Patterson ’19, Caroline O’Reilly ’18, Kathy Greenfield ’84, Andrew Lachance ’17, Will Bolduc ’17, Sadie James ’17, Madison Fox ’19, Rocco Fantoni ’19, Lexie Nason ’18, Lyse Henshaw ’18.

Bryant & LePage ’13

Alison Bryant and James LePage ’13, June 10, 2023, Brooklin, Maine. All Class of 2013 except as noted. Back, from left: Carrie Harris ’11, Chris Stewart, Evelyn Hartz ’14, Wendy Goldman ’16, Corey Gingras, Elizabeth “Bud” Arens, Patrick George, James and Alison, Charles Stern, Kevin Lentini, Troy Calandra ’14. Front, from left: Nick Barron, Mark McCauley ’15, Scott Mickey, Max Goldberg.

1941

Barbara Norton Turner

July 8, 2016

1944

Mary Lever Genetti

Nov. 26, 2023

1946

Muriel Ulrich Weeks

Nov. 27, 2023

1948

Lois Youngs Dennett

Dec. 19, 2023

Barbara Fienemann Muise

March 5, 2024

1949

Marjorie Rodman Jobrack

Dec. 19, 2023

Marilyn Deston Pierce

December 2023

1950

Delight Wolfe

March 29, 2024

1951

Margrett Moulton McFadden

March 1, 2024

1952

Thomas Hugh Jones

June 9, 2023

Alfred Legelis

March 31, 2024

Andrew Millar McAuliffe

Jan. 14, 2024

1953

Helen Perkins DeGennaro

May 11, 2024

Jacquelyn Mae Emery

Jan. 14, 2024

MaryAnn Ferro

Dec. 21, 2023

Cynthia Eaves Hamilton

April 23, 2024

Mary Jo Green Merrick

Dec. 21, 2023

Curtis Linden Osborne

June 6, 2022

Abigail Treat Stecewicz

Feb. 5, 2024

1954

Ann Williams Chick

Sept. 2, 2023

William Leonard Laird

May 2, 2024

Constance Flower Porter

Jan. 17, 2024

Lois Whidden Simmonds

April 10, 2024

1955

Elizabeth O’Donnell Barbera

Jan. 3, 2023

Marybelle Carruth Chapin

April 7, 2024

Caroline Bourne Keiger Feb. 2, 2024

Robert Clough True Jr. Dec. 4, 2023

1956

Frederic Raymond Huber

Jan. 5, 2024

Robert Elwood McAfee

Dec. 16, 2023

Joyce Teachout Nicholls

March 2, 2024

Virginia Reed White

May 16, 2024

1957

Barbara Record Gatchell

May 8, 2024

1958

Robert M. Gilbert

Feb. 10, 2024

James Matthew Kyed Jr.

Nov. 30, 2023

This issue’s In Memoriam extends through May 27, 2024. See bates.edu/memoriam for more information about members of the community who have passed away.

1959

Gerald Michael Davis

Feb. 12, 2024

Joan Perry Smith

Jan. 28, 2024

Robert Leif Tinklepaugh

March 29, 2024

Charles Joseph Updegraph Nov. 11, 2023

Eleanor Louise Vanderpool Dec. 30, 2023

Calvin Coolidge Wilson

May 9, 2024

1960

Robert Hill Cornell Nov. 4, 2023

Arthur Allen Hayes March 23, 2024

1961

Joan Metzger Badger Jan. 12, 2024

1962

Norbert James Allen March 15, 2024

Orson Swift Hathaway March 2024

Janice Carroll Moreshead March 1, 2024

James Hart Swartchild May 24, 2024

Donald Lawrence Welch Jan. 24, 2024

1963

Judith Graham Boedecker Dec. 11, 2023

Jane French Brown April 7, 2024

William Hayward Cox Jr. Dec. 7, 2022

Richard James Love April 15, 2024

Elaine Woodford Tracy Feb. 6, 2024

Michael David True Dec. 22, 2023

1964

Paula Downey Bacon Jan. 9, 2024

1965

Walter Moore Ames Jan. 11, 2024

Frank Andrew De Lisi II Nov. 26, 2023

Kendra Chandler Hough Aug. 20, 2023

1966

Nell Lowenberg Margolis Borgeson July 28, 2023

Charles Matteson Love May 8, 2024

Thomas Joseph Wall Nov. 19, 2023

1967

Nancy Elizabeth Goddard April 20, 2024

1968

Robert Gordon MacBride Jr. April 19, 2024

1970

William Andrew Elrick Feb. 2, 2024

June Rose Vincent March 30, 2024

1971

Janice Elaine Tisdale Feb. 4, 2024

1973

Melanie Beth Abbott Feb. 13, 2024

Susan Hellen Fitzgerald Feb. 24, 2024

Donald Theodore Osier Feb. 8, 2024

1974

Nancy Susan Taylor Nov. 4, 2023

Luiz Rebougas Torres Dec. 25, 2023

1975

Ann McKay May 9, 2024

Charles Alder Schafer Sept. 29, 2023

1976

Stanley Lee Kendrick

March 26, 2024

1978

Susan Stucke Funk

December 2023

1980

Beverley Randolph Wellford Jan. 24, 2024

1981

Kathleen Anne Hickson Oct. 31, 2023

Stephen Lloyd Simmons March 28, 2024

1985

Kathryn Rita Sweeney April 13, 2024

1991

Ian Gary Shearer May 8, 2024

1992

Jill Anne Arters Feb. 12, 2024

Penny Swift Kelly Dec. 12, 2023

John Marshall MacDougall Dec. 30, 2023

David Kinsley Ricklefs April 12, 2024

Karen Jean Townsend April 7, 2024

1993

Rena Khan Leinberger April 26, 2024

2002

Andrew Stefan Golder Nov. 21, 2023

2007

Fabio Krishna Ames Feb. 18, 2024

2019

Hannah Walker Austin April 8, 2024

RETIRED STAFF

Frank E. Ford March 30, 2024

FACULTY

Pamela Ann Johnson Jan. 8, 2024

1968 Winter Carnival queen and her court: Seniors Linda Seaver, Susan Syren Donovan, Carolin Sillesky Davis, Ellen Woodbury, Kathy Holden Trainor, Jane Mochon Sekelsky, and Dotty Nicholas (queen).

They Were A-Changin’

The long tradition of the senior men voting for a Winter Carnival queen and court was fading away by the late 1960s, but not before an explosion of color and new fashion in clothes and hair

by jay burns

AT BATES, THE WINTER CARNIVAL tradition of selecting a queen began in 1928 and faded away in the early 1970s — but not before a colorful shift in fashion.

The two photos shown here, of the Winter Carnival queen and her “court,” were taken just two years apart, in 1968 and 1970. Yet even taking into account the shift from black and white to color photography, the two images are light years apart in terms of fashion and culture.

Sitting between those two years is the linchpin year 1969, “considered a seismic shift in some aspects of fashion," explains B. Christine McDowell, an associate professor of theater.

What began as the Summer of Love in 1967 culminated with Woodstock in 1969. That year, hippie fashion was everywhere, as was “lots of media coverage of counterculture looks, which impacted more mainstream fashion in a big way,” says McDowell.

The fashion in the 1968 photo is sleek, she says: mostly short hair (popularized by Vidal Sassoon and fashion models like Twiggy), white, Empire waist dresses (gathered just under the bust), and white, elbow-length gloves. “You are looking at fashions that are more socially conventional,” says McDowell.

Just two years later, in 1970, conventions had

shifted. Hair styles are “looser, longer, and less structured, simple and flowing.” (As they were for men, of course. As the Cowsills sang, “Gimme a head with hair / Long, beautiful hair / Shining, gleaming / Streaming, flaxen, waxen.”)

Gloves became optional, and there are “sheer fabrics, much brighter patterns and colors, and ‘non-matchy’ sensibility, all tapping into the rise in fashion as a personal statement of independence and self-expression” that marked the era, says McDowell.

And it was this new sense of independence and self-expression, especially among women, that was about to put an end to the increasingly problematic tradition of choosing a queen by the vote of men in the senior class.

Rife with gender politics, the issue played out in the pages of the Bates Student. After a one-year hiatus in 1971, a Winter Carnival queen returned in 1972, and not all students were pleased. “This tasteless tradition...infringes on the dignity and rights of women,” read a letter to the Bates Student co-signed by 200 Bates students.

To which a female student replied, in a letter the following week, that the tradition of selecting a queen “is simply a harmless observation on the particular appearance of certain women.” But the majority had spoken, and by 1973 the queen tradition had passed into history — becoming another history lesson. n

10 from 1970

Want more from 1970, the year of new fashion at Bates? Here are the year’s top 10 Billboard songs:

1. “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” Simon & Garfunkel

2. “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” The Carpenters

3. “American Woman,” The Guess Who

4. “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” B.J. Thomas

5. “War,” Edwin Starr

6. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” Diana Ross

7. “I’ll Be There,”

The Jackson 5

8. “Get Ready,” Rare Earth

9. “Let It Be,” The Beatles

10. “Band of Gold,” Freda Payne

COLUMBIA

Simon & Garfunkel’s final studio album yielded 1970’s top song.

The 1970 Winter Carnival queen and her court, with a more contemporary look: Lynn Bradbury, Susan Bergstrom (queen), Linda Munck Cooke, Susan Dobson Hutchinson, Janice DeMeo, Susan Majeski McKnight, and Dawn Cook Mushkin.

from the edmund s. muskie archives and elsewhere

Name that Building

No Bates building has had more names than John Bertam Hall, seen in a postcard circa 1910 when it was Science Hall for biology and physics. It opened in 1869 as Nichols Hall, housing a Bates-affiliated prep school. With the opening of Carnegie in 1913, it was briefly known as East Hall before becoming John Bertram Hall, honoring the philanthropist from Salem, Mass., who years before made scholarship gifts to Bates students who were waiters at the New Hampshire hotel where

Spinning in the Sand

We count nine Bobcats, including the driver, Newt Clark ’64, the car’s owner, pitching in to free his vehicle from the sand at Popham Beach during the 1964 Bates Outing Club clambake. The vehicle is a 1957 Chevy 210 with an inline-six engine and Powerglide transmission. “My dad bought it for me to take to Bates,” says Clark. “He called it a Goobin,’ but I don’t know why.”

What’s the Pig Deal?

This Bates piggy bank is likely from the early 1990s following a redesign of the Bates seal to a more rounded version. Putting the seal on a piggy bank’s flank might not fly these days, as the seal is reserved for selective use on Bates merch.

Mugging for the Camera

This ceramic stein-style mug carries the phrase “Down the Hatch,” perhaps to honor the late Bob Hatch, the revered Bates football coach and athletic director, at his retirement.

On a visit to the third floor of Hedge Hall, I entered the philosophy department lounge, a room I’d visited many times for its bird’s-eye view of campus. What immediately caught my eye was something unexpected: a large rolling whiteboard, positioned near a window, creating this double vision. The window, framing the chlorophyll of June, and the whiteboard, mirroring its saturated brilliance. What a treat to discover something that you could not have imagined because there was no reason to.

— Phyllis Graber Jensen

Bates Magazine Spring 2024

Editor H. Jay Burns

Designer Jin Kwon

Production Assistant Kirsten Burns

Director of Photography

Phyllis Graber Jensen

Photographer

Theophil Syslo

Class Notes Editor Doug Hubley

Contributing Editor Mary Pols

President of Bates Garry W. Jenkins

Contact Us

Bates Communications 2 Andrews Rd. Lewiston ME 04240

magazine@bates.edu 207-786-6330

Production

Bates Magazine is printed twice annually at familyowned Penmor Lithographers, just a few minutes from campus. We use paper created with 100 percent postconsumer fiber and print with inks that are 99.5 percent free of volatile compounds.

On the Cover Noah Bachner ’25 (left) of Weston, Conn., and Ned Friedman ’24 (right) of Park City, Utah, who served as co-chiefs of Bates Emergency Medical Services in 2023–24, flank Maggie Gill ’27 of Tenants Harbor, Maine, who was shadowing the pair during their work shift at United Ambulance, located close to campus in Lewiston. Beginning on page 38, this issue’s cover story shares the history and current impact of Bates EMS, which was founded by four Bates students in 1995. The service is now integral to the support of the well-being of the Bates community while simultaneously training and inspiring hundreds of students over the decades to provide life-saving medical care.

Nondiscrimination

Bates College prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status and other legally protected statuses in the recruitment and admission of its students, in the administration of its education policies and programs, or in the recruitment of its faculty and staff. The college adheres to all applicable state and federal equal opportunity laws and regulations. Full policy: bates.edu/nondiscrimination

FROM A DISTANCE

A big February win vs. Bowdoin in Alumni Gym propelled the women’s basketball team to the 2024 NCAA tourney. Here’s what we saw at tip-off:

1

Taking the jump ball is 6-foot-3 Elsa Daulerio ’26, daughter of Adrienne Shibles ’91, a 1,000-point scorer as a student.

2

The court was too short for Bates to host its first-ever NCAA tourney bid (1997), so it was lengthened 6 feet to the required 94 feet in 1998, and Bates hosted.

3

The color of this official NCAA ball, the Wilson EVO, is “Electric Orange.”

4

The college shot clock was introduced in 1985, first at 45 seconds, now at 30.

5

This elbow tattoo worn by Alyson Kennedy ’24 reads “405,” the area code of her hometown, Oklahoma City.

6

College players roll their waistbands for style reasons.

7

Permanent bleachers for the student section were installed during a 2018 renovation.

8

In 1938, a visiting Bavarian ski team gave a yodeling exhibition here during Winter Carnival.

PICTURE OF HAPPINESS

Having weathered the isolation of a pandemic arrival in 2020, the Class of 2024 graduated on May 26 in the full embrace of the community. Outside Hathorn, Hoi Ning Ngai of the Center for Purposeful Work takes a selfie with graduates Sabeeh Khan (left) of Islamabad, Pakistan, and Mohammed Shwani of Kirkuk, Iraq.