See the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ campus and its environs in a delightful, new way, from up on high by a multicopter.

In a smorgasbord of the performing and visual arts at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, the college presents its first-ever “Arts Crawl” starting at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28.

Modeled on downtown programs, such as the First Friday Arts Walks in Portland, that present diverse simultaneous attractions in myriad locations, the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Arts Crawl will offer music, dance, theater, literature and visual art all around campus. Among the presentations by students and faculty:

• Poetry and fiction readings
• Dance from step to modern to contact improvisation
• Theatrical monologues and short plays
• Music from a cappella to folk fiddling to jazz to gamelan
• Art exhibitions at the and in .

A and schedule will be available. The Arts Crawl will be followed at 7 p.m. by the annual Asia Night of student performances, food and fashions in Schaeffer Theatre (which takes place again at 7 p.m. Saturday, and is also open to the public at no cost). For more information about the Arts Summit, please contact 207-786-6381 or nsalmon@bates.edu.

The Arts Crawl follows the college’s first , held earlier in the week, which brought visiting artists to campus to explore ways of enhancing the role of the arts and community involvement in the arts. Both events were organized by the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Arts Collaborative, a staff-faculty group furthering the arts at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.

Dear members of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ community,

As we head into the second half of Fall semester and following on our first Board meeting of the year, I write to express ongoing appreciation for all the outstanding work that you are doing and to update you on some important matters that our Trustees considered.

As you might imagine, we continue to focus extensively on the financial situation and its effects on ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ people and programs. The Trustees were reassured to see that there is considerable good news on this front. Thanks to concerted efforts to stay within projected budgets, we managed to balance the FY09 budget. Our current work is also made possible by those generous supporters who rose to the occasion last year and remarkably enabled us to reach our goal for the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Fund, despite trying times.

This year’s goal is significantly higher, but we expect to meet it thanks to the hard work of our Advancement team and the faith that alums, parents and other donors have in our mission. To affirm these high hopes and show their own extraordinary commitment to our College in the most tangible way, each of our Trustees has already made a pledge for this year’s annual gift.

Most of you are aware that last year we experienced unexpectedly high student enrollment, and we have prudently earmarked the additional revenue this produced to establish a reserve fund to be used should we see a decrease in enrollments in any future year. So far, we continue to achieve remarkably steady outcomes in admissions. This year, enrollment is right on target, with 1,714 full-time students as of Oct. 1, which should put us close to the budget assumption of an average of 1,710 students for the year.

The incoming class is the most diverse in the college’s history, with 19.3 percent of our students identifying themselves as African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans or Native Americans, and 4.9 percent hailing from other nations. Retention of continuing students remains strong at 94.4 percent, and this year we have awarded approximately $23 million in financial aid to about 750 students (43 percent of the student body).

A third of the way through the current fiscal year, the FY10 budget looks to be on track as well. As you may remember, we locked in our gas and electric prices, so as long as we are mindful about consumption, energy costs should be on budget this year. Health care is also expected to be on budget, and you can anticipate a more detailed announcement about this issue shortly.

I am particularly grateful to everyone who participated in “CSI Lewiston” (Cost-Saving Initiatives). By decreasing departmental operating budgets and identifying things that we can stop doing as well as things we can do more efficiently, we realized approximately $600,000 in savings. The efficiencies you’ve already accomplished through thoughtful and collaborative approaches range from putting W-2’s on the Web instead of incurring the costs of mailing them and video-conferencing with outside scholars for our Honors program, to greater collaboration between Facility Services and Dining Services in the routine maintenance of our Dining Commons.

We are now taking additional steps that involve both smarter use of technology (like student billing on the Web) and more efficient coordination between departments and offices (such as consolidating Office Services and Facility Services delivery routes). Looking forward, we are also analyzing several more ideas that will result in savings small and large, which will in turn allow us to support the most important priorities and pursue robust educational innovation.

The news about our endowment is more mixed. This past year we witnessed stress in the investment environment the likes of which we have not seen since the 1930s. Moreover, this collapse was sudden and adversely affected all asset classes around the world. ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ was not immune to these shocks and our endowment ended the fiscal year (June 30, 2009) with a decrease of about 26 percent. These results are a departure from five consecutive years of very strong performance, during which our investment returns performed at a level comparable with universities many times our size.

The endowment has since participated in the recent market rise with 9-month (calendar) year-to-date performance of about 20 percent. Our endowment now stands just under$200 million dollars. We are fortunate to have a dedicated and experienced team of Trustees and advisors supporting the investment management process, and I will continue to keep you apprised of endowment changes in future reports.

Looking beyond the current year, in this environment the multi-year forecasting we have been doing for some time now is more difficult and important than ever. Many of our assumptions are challenged, and some we know must change.

As recent media attention reminds us, the growth of our comprehensive fee is going to come under more and more scrutiny. The full effect of the drop in our endowment will be felt in FY12, due to the formula we use to spread out sudden changes. Spending on financial aid is only likely to increase, even as our commitment to making a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ education accessible remains strong and the kind of education we deliver is more urgently needed than ever. At this point, projections indicate that our budget would be out of balance by approximately $2.5 million. There will be only four ways to close that gap: increasing revenues, boosting fundraising, cutting operations, and reducing salary and benefits. All of these strategies must be carefully considered.

We are also thinking hard about how to encourage the new kind of growth and development this economy and other new realities require. As I discussed with the Trustees, colleges like ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ — and most other higher education institutions in this country — cannot evolve incrementally any more. Now we are pressed to stop doing some things in order to do new things. Although this kind of decision-making is new for colleges, I believe we will find that there are advantages to be gained.

And we have no intention of standing still. The front-page headline in this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education reads “.” If this means we are staying focused, despite the uncertainty, on the fundamental purposes of a four-year undergraduate college that has graduated leaders and problem-solvers for over 150 years, then I read the steadiness and prudence with which we approach change as a key to our dynamic evolution. But there should be no doubt about the fact that we are not hunkering down but instead taking this opportunity to prepare our college to grow even stronger in the future by clearly identifying priorities, planning ahead and thinking strategically about sustainable growth and innovation.

To this end, the Trustees engaged in a lengthy discussion of our Campus Facilities Master Plan Update with our consultants. Like many of you who attended open meetings about the update a couple of weeks ago, Board members were enthusiastic about emerging ideas for the next phases of development. They also discussed in detail the remaining and final project to be completed in Phase I of our Campus Facilities Master Plan, the renovation of Hedge and Roger Williams.

In light of the economic uncertainties and other compelling needs, the Board carefully revisited the commitment of funds to these two projects. After scrupulous deliberation about all the implications of the decision, the full Board approved a recommendation from the College Infrastructure Committee to go forward, providing new homes for key clusters of academic departments together with more and better classrooms, learning and gathering spaces. While practical considerations like the currently low costs of borrowing and construction influenced the Trustees’ decision, their action also demonstrates their faith in our academic mission and administrative leadership and the process we engaged in to determine the best use for these historic structures. Work is scheduled to begin this spring.

Finally, the Trustees also reviewed Choices for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, which I shared with the campus last month. They join me in thanking all who worked on this two-year opportunity to think strategically and collaboratively, and they extend their support for the initiatives we presented.

As we now begin to implement the initiatives, we will cultivate a new level of collaboration across traditional lines — bridging the academic and administrative silos that have helped define us and creating a more effective web of relationships, academic programs and informal learning opportunities.

We will realize benefits for all constituencies as we address the priorities that have emerged. As we integrate academics and experience more fully, students will learn to use the interconnectedness of the world. Collaboration and networking will become signature skills, because they engage the values and habits we will practice every day. As we strengthen a range of programs, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ will continue to be a destination for faculty seeking to integrate transformative teaching and stellar research. And because there is high strategic value in the facilities we need and the programs we create, opportunities to invest will energize our donors. Stay tuned for details about implementation. You will hear more very soon.

Going forward, the theme of Choices for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ suggests doing far more than maintaining the status quo, good as it is; instead we are using the increasingly constrained environment to encourage wise choices and proceeding in a planful, prudent way to build on the palpable momentum of this extraordinary educational community.

With warm regards,

Elaine T. Hansen
President, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College

(See this update at the Office of the President site.)

Dear ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Students,

Following our six positive tests yesterday for H1N1, the Maine CDC has allocated to us 900 emergency doses of H1N1 nasal spray vaccine.  With the help of staff from the state, we will run an H1N1 vaccine clinic TOMORROW (SATURDAY), OCTOBER 10 FROM 8:00 A.M. TO 2:00 P.M. IN CHASE LOUNGE.  Unfortunately, the available nasal spray vaccine is contraindicated for any student with a chronic respiratory condition such as asthma.  The state is working to provide a number of injectable H1N1 vaccine by the end of next week for those high risk students with respiratory illnesses, and we will notify you when these vaccines arrive and schedule a clinic.  There is no charge for the vaccines administered at tomorrow’s clinic.

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: Director of Health Services Christy Tisdale is interviewed by BCTV’s James Dowling-Healey ’12 on actions ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College is taking to limit the spread of H1N1.

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We ask all students who want the H1N1 nasal spray to follow these directions.  We are dividing the 900 doses as evenly as possible across alphabetical increments of 45 minutes each.  Using the first letter of your last name, please follow the time slots that are assigned below.  If you come at a different time, you will need to wait until the end of that time block and IF vaccine is still available, you will receive a dose.  All students should bring ID to the clinic.

A-B   from 8 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
C-D   from 8:45 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
E-G   from 9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.
H-K   from 10:15 a.m. to 11 a.m.
L-M   from 11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
N-P   from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Q-S   from 12:30 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.
T-Z   from 1:15 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Please understand that the Health Center staff is inundated trying to meet students medical needs and organize a very large H1N1 flu clinic for tomorrow.  We ask that calls to the Health Center be limited to emergencies only.  As always, any student with an acute medical problem should come directly to the Health Center.

Thank you for your cooperation in helping us to prevent a major outbreak of the H1N1 virus on campus.

Maine singer-songwriter Carolyn Currie performs this week’s installment of the 2009 ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 16, in the Florence Keigwin Amphitheater at the college’s Lake Andrews.

In the event of rain, the concert will take place in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, adjacent to the amphitheater at 75 Russell St.

The 2009 series also presents Maine-based folk trio Ti’ Acadie, the collaboration of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Dance Festival musicians known as the One World Music Ensemble and Réveillons!, a band known for its modern take on traditional Quebecois music.

Lakeside concerts start at 6 p.m. on consecutive Thursdays in July and August. Sponsored by the Harward Center for Community Partnerships at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and the Bingham Betterment Fund, the concerts are open to the public at no cost. Picnics are encouraged, as is bringing lawn chairs or blankets.

Currie has charmed audiences across the U.S., including at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, with her layered blend of folk, ballads and Celtic music. A true singer-songwriter with a talent for lyrics, Currie has written prolifically since recording her first CD, No Heroes, in 1995. She has played such gatherings as the Telluride Bluegrass festival, Napa Valley Folk Festival and the BMI Showcase for songwriters.

According to one reviewer, if you watch Currie “you’ll swear, by the end of the night that at least one of her poetic melodies was written specifically about you.” Currie supports her lyrics with music that has been described as “haunting, luminous and spellbinding.”

Currie’s CD Kiss of Ghosts was named one of the top independent releases by Performing Songwriter magazine. Her latest, Waves of Silence, featured as CD of the week on the BBC’s Scottish Gaelic channel. .

Here are the remaining concerts:

July 23, Ti’ Acadie: Ti’ Acadie, or “little Acadia” in French, is a folk trio whose name refers to the Francophone culture of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, a culture reflected in the Cajun people of Louisiana. Ti’ Acadie features Pam Weeks on fiddle, mountain dulcimer and vocals, Jim Joseph on button accordion and five-string banjo, and Bill Olson, a singer, guitarist and bassist also known as a contradance caller.

The three have made music together since they met in the Maine contradance band Scrod Pudding in 1990. In 1996, united by a love of high-energy, highly percussive Cajun music, they formed Ti’ Acadie. Since then, they have toured together, offering not only Cajun music but old-time songs with tight harmonies, Québécois dance tunes and New England contradance music.

Ti’ Acadie is fascinated by the link between the Cajun and Acadian peoples, and uses music to explore this connection. This blending of styles makes for an interactive, engaging and undeniably unique concert experience. .

July 30, One World Music Ensemble: One World Music Ensemble comprises musicians from the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Dance Festival. This nationally recognized dance festival brings together an extremely diverse and talented group of musicians.

This program promises to be a tapestry of rhythms and melodies from all corners of the globe. The ensemble plays a vast array of world instruments, including accordion, kalimba, bouzouki, marimbas and percussion, making for an incredible collaboration of cultures.

Aug. 6, Réveillons!: Aligning themselves with “the current universal . . . longing to ‘return to our roots,’ ” Réveillons! is influenced by the Québécois tradition. The group hails from Montreal and features David Berthiaume on vocals, jaw harp and concertina, Marc Maziade on guitar, tenor banjo and vocals, Richard Forest on fiddle and Jean-Francois Berthiaume as the band’s caller.

Réveillons! is French for “Wake up!” Since forming in 1996, Réveillons! has played reels, jigs, French songs and step dances at major festivals in Quebec and cities around the U.S. and Canada. .

As ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College celebrates its sesquicentennial year, senior Alexander Verhave of Wellesley, Mass., has mounted an exhibit of black and white photographs titled ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College 2005. On display in Chase Hall Lounge through May 22, the 20 photographs include contemporary landscape and still life compositions of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College taken by Verhave, a geology major and photography editor of The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Student, the campus newspaper. The photographic series “portrays the places and sights that have defined my four years at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½,” says Verhave. The exhibit is supported by funding from the Office of the Vice President for External Affairs.

Verhave planned the photo essay in response to the college’s announced plans to grow physically, including the building of a new dining hall and student housing. As ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ expands, “it is important to document and reflect on where the campus stands today, after 150 years,” says Verhave.

“ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ possesses a unique aesthetic quality among colleges around the country. It is a welcoming place where you can step off the paved path and choose your own course across the grass and through your studies,” Verhave says.

The merger, according to Kuss, provides the public “one-stop” access to both the historical documents of the late Edmund S. Muskie, former U.S. Secretary of State and a member of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Class of 1936, as well as the 7,000 rare books, 70 manuscript collections and more than 10,000 historical photographs of the college’s Special Collections.

“Under one roof we have a rich collection of historical college documents and photographs that reflect on the history of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, Lewiston Auburn and Maine,” Kuss said. “For instance, research on Muskie’s papers that form the core of U.S. environmental legislation as well as hundreds of letters written by environmentalist and award-winning author Rachel Carson can now be done in one building. Everyone should feel welcome to visit and peruse the Archive’s holdings.”

The merger also creates a formal ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Archives program to document the official administrative records of the college since its 1855 founding.
“Having a college archives is a sign of institutional maturity,” said Chris Beam, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ archivist. “It means the college recognizes its own history and is taking steps to preserve that history.”

Dedicated in 1985, the Edmund S. Muskie Archives documents Muskie’s career in public service from his first election to the Maine House of Representatives in 1946 to his appointment as U.S. Secretary of State in 1980, as well as his activities after leaving public office. The archives also holds a permanent collection of memorabilia from Muskie’s personal and public life. The collection — one of the largest in the nation on a non-presidential figure — provides students from ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and elsewhere an opportunity to gain firsthand experience in historical research using primary documentary material.

Among Special Collections are The Dorothy Freeman Collection of letters exchanged between Freeman and Rachel Carson, author of “Silent Spring”; records of the Freewill Baptists; the Stanton Natural History Collection of ornithology books; and the Maine Small Press Collection, celebrating the artisanship of hand-bound and letterset press books made by Maine book publishers, printers and artists.

The Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The holdings of the Muskie Archives and Special Collections may not be checked out, but are available to the public for use inside the building. Contact Kuss or Beam at 207-786-6354 for more information, or visit the Muskie Archives online at <www.bates.edu/admin/offices/muskie_archives/>.

Scheduled for Oct. 1-3, Celebrate ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½! combines the college’s two biggest fall events, Homecoming Weekend for alumni and Parents Weekend, into one super weekend. The event will give the larger ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ community a chance to join in the dedication of Pettengill Hall. Tours of the building will be offered after the dedication ceremonies.

The new building is named in honor of the late Frederick B. “Pat” Pettengill ’31, and his wife, Ursula P. Pettengill. The two will attend the dedication. Located between the campus administration building, Lane Hall, and the residential Smith Hall in the area occupied by the former maintenance building, Pettengill Hall is a 90,000-square-foot structure housing fully networked teaching spaces, faculty offices, laboratories, student research centers and other facilities for seven social-science departments and four interdisciplinary programs.

The building’s design fosters the specific character of teaching and learning at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. The three-story Perry Atrium, named in memory of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ alumna Joan Holmes Perry ’51, is a flexible and accessible gathering space that encourages students to integrate their academic experiences with overall life at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.

As part of the inaugural celebration for Pettengill Hall, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ faculty from various disciplines will present an academic symposium on “Interdisciplinarity and the Social Sciences” from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 2, in Pettengill Hall.

Named the Cutten Maintenance Center, the building was built from money bequeathed to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ by the recently deceased William K. Cutten, an engineer from ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ class of 1938, in memory of his parents, Leverett Howell Cutten and Illene King Cutten, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ classes of 1904 and 1905, respectively.

Built to replace the 35-year-old Andrews Road Maintenance center, which was demolished to make way for a new ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ academic building, the new two-story, 31,030-square-foot center houses all Facility Services operations, including administrative offices, shops and storage for the skilled trades and operations areas for grounds, maintenance, custodial services and shipping and receiving.

Completed in April, the new Cutten Maintenance Center was designed by architect David Sheffield with Kasper Group Inc. of Bridgeport, Conn. Project contractor was Sheridan Corporation of Fairfield. The college’s own Facility Services staff completed portions of the site work and the interior finishing and painting, in addition to all of the landscaping.