College Key Newsletter: 2021


President’s Report

On behalf of the Executive Committee, I want to extend continued safe and healthy well wishes to you, your families, friends, and communities as the pandemic continues to challenge 鈥渆veryday life.鈥 

As COVID continued, the College Key leaned into the virtual world to nurture and foster a deeper connection with our members. We were thrilled to enjoy an informal 鈥淗oliday Hello鈥 last December to help bridge the distance from not only campus but also our College Key community. Due to pandemic restrictions, we welcomed the 2021 Distinguished Alumna in Residence Stephanie Smith鈥 87 and shared her powerful remarks with our global College Key community. The , which is always special to meet, socialize with, and gain feedback from the College Key members for whom we serve, was again conducted via Zoom on June 24th, 2021. We were thrilled to welcome even more members across classes and regions. 

We remain committed to continued digital engagement, please share feedback to help guide us as we look towards the future. Our Virtual Event Recording library is off to a fantastic start and provides recordings from 2020 and 2021. Whether hearing directly from our 2021 Distinguished Service Award recipients or watching our new 2021 student and alumni members inductions, we are thrilled to have our broader community enjoy these events no matter where or when.

I must acknowledge the efforts of your Executive Committee鈥擧ank Geng 鈥13, Flora Chan 鈥11, and Don McDade 鈥74 who have worked extremely hard to carry out their duties and to enhance the offerings of the College Key. We are actively working on improving our systems to enhance our member experience. Hank has shared a more detailed update included later in the newsletter.  

Stephanie Dumont and Marianne Nolan Cowan 鈥92 are integral members of this remarkable team, bridging our support to students and members alike. Without them, we would not be able to provide the services to our membership and to the college that we do. We also appreciate your support as we continue to give back to our alma mater and to support its students as we were supported in our undergraduate days. 

Distinguished Service Award

We are beyond pleased to announce the bestowal of the Distinguished Service Award to Professors of Earth and Climate Sciences Dysktra 鈥淒yk鈥 Eusden 鈥80 and Michael J. Retelle. A more detailed presentation and description is included later in the newsletter.

I am humbled and honored to serve as your College Key President. On behalf of our entire Executive Committee, we welcome your suggestions and feedback as we work towards growing our impact for students and members. Please feel free to reach out to us; we are always happy to hear from you.

Forthcoming Openings

As term limits are nearing, both Vice-President and Secretary roles will be looking for successors. If interested, please email thecollegekey@bates.edu with the preferred role and a brief summary of why you wish to serve.

Cheers,
Karen Finocchio Lubeck 鈥92
President, The College Key


2021 College Key Annual Meeting Recording

Executive Committee 2021-2022 Officers

President, Karen Finocchio Lubeck 鈥92
Vice President, Henry Geng 鈥 13
Secretary, Flora Chan 鈥11
Treasurer, Donald McDade 鈥74
Staff Liaison, Stephanie Dumont, Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement & Friends of 乐播传媒 Athletics
Advisor, Marianne Cowan 鈥92, Associate Director, 乐播传媒 Center for Purposeful Work

2021 College Key Finances at a Glance

  • Annual membership is on a calendar fiscal year (January 1st – December 31st
  • State of ME annual report and IRS 990-N have been filed and are up to date
  • All financial information for TCK, a 501 (c)(3) organization, is stored in QuickBooks
  • Total income in 2020 was $9,110.25.  Although less than both 2019 and 2018, TCK managed the funds well to support 乐播传媒 students.  We distributed $15,300 to Purposeful Work, the Coat Fund, and supported the Senior Gift Match.  Our operating expenses were $601.54; our net (Loss) for the year, however, was ($6,791.29)

The pandemic impacts us all and will be with us well into 2022.聽 Thank you for your meaningful College Key gifts in response to our dues appeals via newsletters and by social media.聽聽On behalf of students and the programs we support, thank you.聽

Sincerely,
Donald W. McDade 鈥74
Treasurer, The College Key

Operations Update

The College Key鈥檚 engagement activities have historically required a close partnership with the 乐播传媒 College Office of Advancement and the utilization of its constituent database, web design, and digital marketing platforms. In addition, the Key has several internal systems and tools that have been implemented over time to manage its activities, such as Wufoo, Quickbooks, and Paypal. While these tools facilitate several of the Key鈥檚 core functions of gift processing and communications, the Key has struggled with these tools鈥 lack of transparency and responsiveness in a way that has been detrimental to our ability to engage Key members. For example, it is challenging and time-consuming to produce a single member鈥檚 dues history upon request. 

As part of our continued efforts to streamline and consolidate our systems and processes with the goal of improving the College Key membership experience, the Key plans to implement an integrated constituent relationship management (CRM) system in the coming year. Once up and running, an integrated CRM will reduce overhead costs by consolidating the tools and products that the Key uses to fulfill its mission into one unified service. Perhaps most importantly, the marketing and donor engagement tools contained within an integrated CRM will allow us to better communicate the Key鈥檚 impact to you, our members, in the years to come.

2021 Distinguished Alumna in Residence

鈥淥ne thing that I learned is that the people who everyone else marginalized became instrumental to my success.鈥 -Stephanie Smith 鈥87 Colonel, USMC (Retired)

In April, the College Key welcomed Stephanie Smith 鈥87, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, having served for 27 years as an international lawyer and a Commanding Officer.  After retiring from the Marine Corps, she taught high school in Baltimore, MD for five years.  Proving that fact really is fancier than fiction, she decided to pursue a dream of documentary filmmaking.  After getting a graduate certificate in Documentary Filmmaking from George Washington University, she recently pursued an MFA in Film and Media Studies at American University.  She hopes to make documentaries on subjects that have political, cultural, and social impact.

In the first of two virtual presentations Stephanie guided the student audience through impactful stories that shaped her as a leader and role model for others. Her words were not only inspirational but also poignant for all who attended. In her second presentation, her story from 乐播传媒 to U.S. Marine Corps brought the audience on a journey where insurmountable challenges and sizable barriers did not deter her determination and leadership. 

Annually, the College Key is proud to host the Distinguished Alumni in Residence (DAIR) program which brings together students and alumni to learn from impactful stories from remarkable alumni. A few recent DAIR honorees include Hubspot鈥檚 Chief People Officer Katie Burke 鈥03, The Boston Globe鈥檚 Editor Brian McGrory 鈥84, U.S. Congressman Jared Golden 鈥11, and Microsoft鈥檚 Senior Researcher Susan Dumais 鈥75. If you have a potential nominee for a future DAIR, please email thecollegekey@bates.edu with information including the nominee鈥檚 name, class year, and a brief summary of the nominee鈥檚 qualifications for consideration.   

We were honored to hear her words and beyond proud to have her as the 2021 Distinguished Alumna in Residence. 

Impact Report: Purposeful Work

Purposeful Work at 乐播传媒 encourages and equips students to discover and consider the threads that weave their skills and strengths, interests and values, work and studies together to create a meaningful life.

Along with the classic resume, cover letter, interview and internship/job search advising done by the counselors and staff at the Center for Purposeful Work, distinctive Purposeful Work programming across all aspects of campus life help instill this way of thinking in today鈥檚 乐播传媒 students. Alumni connections have always played a vital role in supporting students鈥 exploration of career paths, and students are grateful for every bit of contact they have with alumni in whose footsteps they might follow.

Last year Purposeful Work Job Shadows (formerly known as CDIPs) were all virtual and students didn鈥檛 need to pay to travel to alumni workplaces. This year, your places of work are opening up, and many students are planning to travel to visit job shadow hosts onsite – a great opportunity when possible for students in this marketplace emerging from the pandemic. We expect students with financial need will request several thousand dollars in support from the Center for Purposeful Work for that travel and related costs (suitable shirt and tie for a workplace, for example, or subway fares), and hope to be able to continue the College Key鈥檚 annual support of this transformative program for students with need to build their experience and exposure and develop their network within the alumni community. Thank you for considering supporting this program through the Key!

Winter Coat Fund

As many of you know, we have a very special tradition of helping students with financial needs from warm climates equip themselves with coats, boots, hats, and gloves for the cold Maine winters. This College Key financial support has been happening in a warm (pun intended) and quiet way for many years — some of you readers may have been on those fun Freeport trips with Dean Davis, Dean Reese, or others when you were students! I think we could all agree that this caring support for the individual students on campus is an important part of what makes 乐播传媒 special and what nurtures our 乐播传媒 community. Thank you all for making it possible for The College Key to continue this vital outreach to our students for their wellbeing and sense of belonging.

2021 Distinguished Service Award

Annually, the College Key presents the Distinguished Service Award in recognition of the dedication and excellence offered to the college by truly distinguished members of the faculty and staff, the College Key has presented the Distinguished Service Award annually during Reunion Weekend since 1993.
The 2021 Distinguished Service Award is proudly presented to Professors of Earth and Climate Sciences Michael Retelle and J. Dykstra 鈥淒yk鈥 Eusden Jr. 鈥80. While their introductory courses are affectionately may be referred to as 鈥淭ake a hike with Mike and Dyk,鈥 their impact throughout the 乐播传媒 community runs deep and broad. For 34 years, Mike and Dyk have welcomed and encouraged primary research in their scholarly work from 乐播传媒 students. Their teachings stretch from the walls of Carnegie to the Arctic Glaciers, the rocky Maine coast, and the South Islands of New Zealand. Their academic passion is infectious, no matter the major.

This unrivaled Geology teaching friendship epitomizes the love of learning. 鈥淗e鈥檚 been my Geology brother for multiple decades,鈥 noted Dyk. For 34 years, this dynamic duo infused a love of learning to any student who was fortunate to spend time with them.

On an individual level, each professor is beyond talented in his scholarly work. In a 2018 乐播传媒 article, Mike notes, 鈥淚t鈥檚 fun seeing [STUDENTS] experience something you鈥檙e so passionate about,鈥 he says. 鈥淚mportantly, it鈥檚 training the next generation of scientists, if not polar scientists.鈥

Dyk is an intrepid field scientist who brings his students into the world so they can see, discover, learn from, and record geologic history, whether on Maine coastal islands or in the U.S. West. He is an expert on the regional geologic history and ancient tectonics of the Appalachians, as well as active tectonics in the South Island of New Zealand. A past recipient of the Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching, he involves students as co-authors of papers, research posters, and mapping projects. A leader in the sciences at 乐播传媒, he has served as department chair, division chair, and co-chair of the STEM Facilities Review Committee that has developed options to meet the needs of current science programs as well as anticipated program growth.

Dyk teaches courses in bedrock geology that all have a strong field component of experiential learning. His two favorite courses are Short Term鈥檚 鈥淕eology of the Maine Coast by Sea Kayak鈥 and 鈥淜atahdin to Acadia: Exploring Maine Geology.鈥 At the upper level, he teaches courses structural geology, Appalachian geology, and GIS. These courses also involve lots of hands-on, outdoor and indoor, experiential learning.

Mike Retelle teaches courses that focus on Earth surface environments and records of environmental change. Currently, Mike is involved in several research projects in the high latitude North Atlantic region. He began his arctic research as a graduate student working in the Canadian arctic focusing on the glacial and sea-level history and high-resolution records of climate change preserved in annually layered lake sediments. Mike has been working in Svalbard, Norwegian high arctic since 2005. He co-led a summer research program for undergraduates, the Svalbard REU Project, sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation, Arctic Natural Sciences program. This program is now a summer research course in the Arctic Geology Department at UNIS, the Norwegian University Centre in Svalbard, in which Mike is the lead instructor. Mike and students have worked on a collaborative project in Finnmark, northern Norway since 2014 with colleagues and students from Iowa State University, Norway, and the Netherlands in a study of present and past marine climate recorded in the annual growth patterns of the long-lived bivalve Arctica islandica.

Closer to home Mike works with 乐播传媒 Geology students in a beach monitoring program on the coast in Central Maine on the beaches of the Phippsburg Peninsula. Mike鈥檚 summer coastal interns work out of the 乐播传媒 Shortridge Coastal Center. The research focuses on topographic profile surveys on beaches including Popham Beach State Park, Seawall Beach at the 乐播传媒 Morse Mountain Reserve, and pocket beaches on Cape Small.

A hearty congratulations to Professors Retelle and Eusden for 34 years of impactful teaching.

Nominations and Welcome to our New Alumni College Key Members

As members of The College Key, we invite you to outstanding alumni for membership into the honorary organization!

The College Key was formed in 1992 by the merger of the College Club, which was founded in 1891, and the 乐播传媒 Key, established in 1936. The purpose of the College Key is to recognize outstanding 乐播传媒 alumni(ae); encourage and recognize student academic and extracurricular achievement; support academics, student life, and campus improvement; provide student aid including scholarships and other kinds of financial assistance; and contribute to the general the welfare of the College.

In addition to faculty and staff nominated students in the Senior and, sometimes, Junior classes who are inducted each year, The College Key selects new alumni members based on the following criteria: service to the College, leadership in the community, success in a chosen field, and character.

In preparation for your reunion, please consider nominating classmates who have dedicated themselves to 乐播传媒 in ways consistent with The College Key鈥檚 purpose who are not currently organization members. by April 30, 2022.

The 乐播传媒 College Key welcomed 23 new alumni(ae) members at the 2021 annual meeting. The Alumni nomination committee is composed of four key members (Sally Ehrenfried 鈥89, Gretchen Shorter Davis 鈥61, Teddy Rube 鈥16, and Flora Chan 鈥11). In our selection process, we based the nomination on four areas of assessment: service to the College, leadership in the community, success in chosen field, and character. We received nominations from alumni, staff, and faculty through our online nominations form.

Alumni Inductees – June 24, 2021

  • Patricia Bremner 鈥76
  • Erica Bullard ’90
  • Kathleen Tucker Burke 鈥81
  • Alan Cate 鈥61
  • Joyce Stinson Cote 鈥61
  • John (JJ) Cummings 鈥89
  • Greg Ehret 鈥91
  • Shelly Davgun 鈥06
  • Marge Davis 鈥76
  • Fadia Felfle 鈥15
  • Frank Foster 鈥71
  • Ric Hanley 鈥71
  • Erik Jarnryd 鈥87
  • Ariane Mandell 鈥09
  • Kim Martell 鈥03
  • Judith Miller ’91
  • Michelle Pham 鈥15
  • Michelle Rosenberg ’94
  • Carolyn Ryan 鈥86
  • Lisa Schwiebert (Marshall) 鈥86
  • Natalie L. Shribman 鈥14
  • Cathy Cooper Tracy 鈥71
  • Louis Weinstein 鈥68

The student College Key inductees for 2021 were:

  • Andrea Aguilera
  • David Akinyemi
  • Imani Boggan
  • Joan Buse
  • Layla Dozier
  • Phoebe Hyland
  • Amelia Keleher
  • Trisha Kibugi
  • So Kim
  • Ben Klafter
  • Ian Robertson
  • Mamta Saraogi
  • Jillian Serrano
  • Ahimy Soto-Garcia
  • Nicole Kumbula
  • Michael Lombardi
  • Anna Maheu
  • Hannah McKenzie
  • Fabian Miemietz
  • Andrew Murdock
  • Catherine Nzuki
  • Travis Palmer
  • Vanessa Paolella
  • Genesis Paulino
  • Matt Suslovic
  • Aidan Temperino
  • Anah Witt