Bates physicist Nathan Lundblad

Assistant Professor of Physics Nathan Lundblad is the first member of the Bates College faculty to receive a Defense Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR) grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the grant is for $388,088 over three years. It will fund Lundblad's research into atomic activity at ultralow temperatures. Bates is the only liberal arts school in the nation and the only academic institution in Maine to receive a DEPSCoR grant this year. (more...)

Timothy Fox '11, left, portrays Hamlet and Kevin Chambers '10 is Iago in the Bates theater department production of "All the World's a Grave."

Bates College presents John Reed's All the World's a Grave, a new play weaving together some of Shakespeare's most compelling characters and language, in performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday, Nov. 12-13 and 15-16, and at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

Professor of Theater Paul Kuritz directs this theater department production. Admission is $6 general admission and $3 for senior citizens and non-Bates students. For more information, please visit www.batestickets.com or call 207-786-6161.

Playwright John Reed holds a public "talkback" at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, in Schaeffer Theatre. His visit is sponsored by the college Learning Associates program. (more...)

Hiroya Miura, assistant professor of music, directs the Bates College Orchestra.

In their first collaboration in several years, the Bates College Orchestra and the Bowdoin College Orchestra will join forces to perform music by Beethoven, Rossini, Schumann and

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Admission to both concerts is free, but tickets are required for the Bates performance. For more information about the Bates event, contact 207-786-6135 or this E-mail. (more...)

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Maine-based Bates alums professionally involved in food and nutrition spoke at Bates in March. From left, Kirsten Walter '00, director of the St. Mary's Nutrition Center; Maine farmers Steve Hoad '72 of Windsor and Nicolas Lindholm '86 of Penobscot; and Borealis Breads founder Jim Amaral '80.

Inspired by the 2008 opening of its new dining Commons and a $2.5 million gift from an anonymous donor supporting organic, natural and farm-fresh food, Bates College devoted the 2008-09 academic year to reflecting on issues, from environmental impacts to food justice, around what and how we choose to eat. (more...)

President Reynolds in 1984. Photograph by Frank Siteman.

A memorial service for President Emeritus Thomas Hedley Reynolds, who died Sept. 22, takes place at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, in the Bates College Chapel, College Street.

The service will include remarks by Carl Benton Straub, professor emeritus of religion and the Clark A. Griffith Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies; Burton M. Harris '59, Trustee emeritus and former chair of the Board of Trustees, and President Elaine Tuttle Hansen.

Music will be offered by pianist Frank Glazer, and John Corrie will direct a choir comprising members of the Bates College community. Participants in the service will include Dr. Helen A. Papaioanou '49, Trustee emerita; the Rev. Bill Blaine-Wallace, multifaith chaplain; and the Rev. Frank Strasburger, interim rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Newcastle, Maine.

A reception follows at the President's House, 256 College Street.

Maine Public Radio essayist Kirk Read, associate professor of French, has taken enough campus tours with his two young daughters to possess a "new-found appreciation for the herds of nervous supplicants shuffling past his office." View story.

The Fellows with the Hobart Center for Foodservice Sustainability have announced a $5,000 grant to Bates College Dining Services for its comprehensive approach to food service sustainability, and have named Director of Dining Services Christine Schwartz as an HCFS Fellow.

Bates was judged as having the best sustainability program from among 13 entrants nationwide, which included K-12 schools and higher educational institutions, health care and hospitality facilities.

“Every year the level of participation and interest in sharing sustainable practices continues to expand,” says Rick Cartwright, vice president, ITW Food Equipment Group, and HCFS Fellow. Cartwright said that “Bates College stood out as a best-practice example showing a broad level of impact across many aspects of sustainability.”

Prompted by a generous gift from an anonymous donor, the opening of a new dining facility and the passion on the part of students to know more about the foods they were eating, Bates College undertook a yearlong initiative to explore connections between the dining program, food and the educational mission of the college itself. “Nourishing Body and Mind: Bates Contemplates Food” was launched in September 2008. Overall, Bates College decreased energy consumption and water use, reduced solid waste, and implemented a Farm-to-Fork program, expanding the purchasing of local, sustainable foods. From these initiatives, Bates College realized an annual saving totaling more than $80,000.

“Bates, like many colleges, believes that the environment must be taken into consideration when purchasing, creating, delivering and serving food products. And our dining program has integrated environmental stewardship into every decision regarding dining and food services,” says Schwartz, who will help select future operations for grant recognition while serving as an HCFS Fellow. “We are committed to continuing to develop the Bates Contemplates Food initiative and are grateful for the funds from the HCFS to assist us in doing so.”

Bates is the third recipient of the annual award. The winners in previous years were the University of California, Santa Cruz and Dickinson College.

Frank Glazer

Frank Glazer, a pianist of international renown whose professional career began during the 1930s, continues his 2009-10 survey of the complete cycle of 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

All performances in the series and a related Nov. 8 lecture are open to the public at no cost, but tickets are required. For more information contact 207-786-6135 or use this E-mail. (more...)

Critics have called the Parker String Quartet "something extraordinary."

Back-to-back concerts at Bates College explore the music of two composers associated with the formative years of Viennese classical music, Franz Josef Haydn and Luigi Boccherini.

The Parker Quartet becomes a fivesome when guitarist Seth Warner sits in for a performance of Boccherini's "Fandango" Quintet for guitar and strings in a 7:30 p.m. program on Saturday, Oct. 17. The program also includes music by Haydn and Mendelssohn.

Regarded as one of the world's foremost players of harpsichord and fortepiano, Andreas Staier performs fortepiano music by Haydn starting at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18. Staier will use a copy of a Walther fortepiano built by R.J. Regier of Freeport.

Both concerts take place in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. Tickets, at $12 for general admission and $6 for seniors and students, are available at www.batestickets.com. (One hundred free tickets for each concert will be available at the door to Bates students on a first-come, first-served basis.) (more...)

During his second week of classes, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Jonathan Skinner teaches his course "Imagining Open Spaces" (ES 200) in Dana Chemistry, Room 300.

Jonathan Skinner, assistant professor of environmental studies at Bates, reads from his own poetry and from the poetry journal that he edits, Ecopoetics, at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in Chase Hall's Skelton Lounge, 56 Campus Ave. (more...)