Role-reversal ritual encourages new perspectives

President Elaine Tuttle Hansen compares notes in her Lane Hall office with Walter Garcia ’11 after the two switched places for the day.

At Bates College, strong bridges between faculty, students and staff go beyond being merely friendly. President for a Day, a tradition started three years ago by President Elaine Tuttle Hansen, reinforces the Bates goal of learning to see other perspectives.This year, President Hansen traded places with Walter Garcia ’11 of Stonington, Maine.

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See what the day was like by watching a short video.

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John Kelsey’s neuroscience lab brings in the brains

Professor of Psychology John Kelsey has been a member of the Bates faculty since 1979. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen.

If you’re a student in Professor of Psychology John Kelsey’s neuroscience laboratory, you might get a chance to co-author a research article. And if you’re Kelsey, your students might inspire you to explore a new area of neuroscience. “My research is done with my students and through my students,” says Kelsey.

Ti’ Acadie brings Francophone folk to Bates’ Midsummer Lakeside series

Pam Weeks, Jim Joseph and Bill Olson perform as Ti' Acadie at this week's 2009 Lakeside Midsummer Concert.

Ti’ Acadie, a lively trio focusing on the Francophone folk music of Louisiana and Atlantic Canada, performs this week’s installment of the 2009 Bates College Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 23, in the Florence Keigwin Amphitheater at the college’s Lake Andrews.

Grant supports physics research hinting at new basis for computing

Lilian Childress

A Bates physicist has won a grant from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement to study a phenomenon that hints at a possible basis for the next generation of computers.

Tania Isaac Dance presents Bates Dance Festival premiere

A visually explosive, sensual marriage of modern American and Caribbean aesthetics, Tania Isaac Dance brings its newest evening-length work to the Bates Dance Festival in performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 24 and 25, in Bates College’s Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

Tickets are $20 for the general public and $12 for students and seniors, and can be purchased by calling 207-786-6161. Dance writer Debra Cash offers a pre-performance lecture in the festival’s “Inside Dance” series at 7:15 p.m. on the 25th.

In addition, the festival mainstage artist to follow Isaac, choreographer Bebe Miller, offers a free video talk about her work at 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 27, in Schaeffer Theatre. And the popular “Musicians’ Concert,” featuring players taking part in the festival, takes place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 28, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Bates, Bowdoin share $150,000 grant to improve quantitative education

Matt Cote, an associate professor of chemistry and associate dean of the faculty, is coordinating Bates' involvement in a project examining the teaching of quantitative reasoning skills.

A national foundation that supports liberal arts education has awarded nearly $150,000 to Bates and Bowdoin colleges for a collaborative effort to strengthen students’ quantitative reasoning skills.

The New York-based Teagle Foundation has granted the colleges $148,780 for a three-year project exploring effective ways to teach quantitative reasoning. The foundation’s Systematic Improvement in Student Learning initiative will support the schools’ efforts to develop techniques for assessing students’ progress in such reasoning. It’s hoped that these assessments will provide a basis for developing best practices in curriculum and teaching techniques.

Kate Weare Company opens Bates Dance Festival with ‘Bridge of Sighs’

Dancers of the Kate Weare Company

Opening the 2009 performance season of the internationally acclaimed Bates Dance Festival, the nuanced, sensual Kate Weare Company offers two Maine premieres at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 11, in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.