Annual Report 2007-2008

Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs

and Dean of the Faculty

Bates College

Contents

Introduction

Supporting an Outstanding Faculty

Faculty Recruitment .................................................................................................................... 3

Faculty Tenure and Promotion in 2007-2008............................................................................ 4

The Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching...................................................................... 4

Endowed Professorships ............................................................................................................. 5

Faculty Support ........................................................................................................................... 6

New Fellowship Supports Pretenure Leave ................................................................................ 6

New Sabbatical Program ............................................................................................................. 6

Strengthening Faculty Compensation........................................................................................ 7

The Retirement Program ............................................................................................................ 7

Fostering an Exemplary Academic Program

General Education in 2007-2008 ............................................................................................... 9

Review of Enrollment Patterns...................................................................................................10

Registrar Search...........................................................................................................................11

Learning Commons Initiative.....................................................................................................11

Writing at Bates...........................................................................................................................12

The Peer Writing Project ............................................................................................................12

Faculty Development around Writing .......................................................................................13

Pedagogy Series: Tools for Teaching in the New Curriculum...................................................14

New Faculty Series.......................................................................................................................14

Third Annual May Conference: Reports from the Field...........................................................14

Assessment of Writing ................................................................................................................14

The Writing Workshop ..............................................................................................................15

First-Year Seminar Writing Prize ................................................................................................15

Mathematics and Statistics Workshop .......................................................................................16

Peer-Assisted Learning Groups in the Sciences..........................................................................17

The Hughes Summer Scholars Program ....................................................................................17

The Sophomore Hub ..................................................................................................................18

Learning Associates .....................................................................................................................19

The Hughes Teacher-in-Residence Program ..............................................................................19

The Harward Center for Community Partnerships...................................................................20

The Bates College Museum of Art .............................................................................................21

The Athletics Program ................................................................................................................22

Department and Program Reviews.............................................................................................22

New England Consortium on Assessment of Student Learning (NECASL)............................23

Sustaining Excellence

Supporting Faculty Scholarship..................................................................................................25

The Committee on Faculty Scholarship.....................................................................................26

Mellon Faculty Innovation Grants .............................................................................................26

Mellon CBB Collaborative Faculty Development Grants .........................................................27

External Support for the Academic Program.............................................................................27

Institutional Grants.....................................................................................................................27

HHMI Funding ...........................................................................................................................29

Individual Faculty Grants ...........................................................................................................29

Student Research.........................................................................................................................30

The Mount David Summit .........................................................................................................31

The Honors Program ..................................................................................................................31

Graduate Fellowships and Watson Fellowships.........................................................................32

Looking Forward ............................................................................................................. 33

Appendices

A. New Faculty Hired in 2007-2008 for the 2008-2009 Academic Year..........................34

B. Endowed Chairs of the Bates Faculty ...........................................................................35

C. Faculty on Leave in 2007-2008 .....................................................................................36

D. Peer Writing Assistants and Supervising Faculty, 2007-2008......................................37

E. Tools for Teaching Series Program...............................................................................39

F. Third Annual May Conference Program......................................................................39

G. Peer Tutors, Mathematics and Statistics Workshop, 2007-2008.................................40

H. Peer-Assisted Learning Group (PALG) Leaders, 2007-2008........................................40

I. Learning Associates Grants Awarded, 2007-2008........................................................41

J. Academic Department and Program Reviews, 1989-2009...........................................43

K. Internal Grants Awarded to Faculty, 2007-2008..........................................................44

L. External Grants Awarded to Faculty, 2007-2008 .........................................................48

M. Student Grants Awarded by the Dean of the Faculty’s Office, 2007-2008 ......................................................................................................................50

N. Student Research Grant Committees, 2007-2008 .......................................................55

O. Department and Program Honors, 2007-2008 ............................................................56

P. Staff, Office of the Dean of the Faculty, 2008-2009 ....................................................59

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Introduction

It is my pleasure to introduce the annual report of the Office of the Dean of the Faculty. This report reviews the activities of the office during the 2007-2008 academic year describing how we direct and support learning at Bates. Bates is an intense and bold learning community. Our faculty are deeply committed to undergraduate education while remaining distinguished scholars and researchers; finding creative and dynamic ways to link their work as teacher-scholars. Because of this, our students experience an outstanding academic enterprise that extends from the classrooms and laboratories to the concert hall, theater, museum, surrounding community, and the world. They are supported by professionals and trained peers in the Imaging and Computing Center, the Writing and Mathematics workshops, the Museum, Registrar's Office, Peer Writing Program, and the Summer Scholars Program. They engage with equal intensity in an array of co- and extracurricular opportunities, from athletics to debate, from work in community schools to soup kitchens, from making music to making films. We in the Dean of the Faculty's office are honored to work with the talented and dedicated people and programs who make up the academic life of Bates College. In a retreat a year ago, the staff of the Dean of the Faculty's office developed a mission statement to provide focus for the broad range of our work and responsibilities:

The Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty advances learning

in the liberal arts tradition by

• recruiting, developing, and evaluating faculty

• fostering the development of academic programs

• cultivating excellence in the academic and intellectual life of the Bates community

We have used these broad categories of the mission statement as an organizational structure for this report.

Discussions in our office invariably focus on the ways to improve our work to advance Bates. How can we better serve faculty and students as well as the staff, Trustees, alumni, parents, and community members who contribute to and benefit from the academic program of the College? For us, communication is as important as good ideas because the Dean of the Faculty's office is at once a crossroads for new ideas, and a matchmaker that puts people and resources together. We strive to be an accessible and welcoming office, to advance ideas collaboratively, to process requests in a timely manner, and to deliver information that is accurate and useful. We hope that this report will be one means for effective communication. To this end, I am also pleased to report that the Dean of the Faculty's office Web site (http://www.bates.edu/x21733.xml),

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was updated and redesigned during the summer of 2008. I hope you will find it useful and consult it often.

The Dean of the Faculty's office is a busy place. In supporting the work of the faculty—the foundation of the College—we oversee the activities of the academic departments and programs. We also guide the work of the following offices: Athletics, the Bates College Museum of Art, the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, the Imaging and Computing Center (with Information and Library Services), the Mathematics and Statistics Workshop, the Office of the Registrar and Academic Systems, and the Writing Workshop. We steward the academic program of a college that is at the forefront of a persistently changing liberal arts education, one that maintains the strengths of the liberal arts tradition while forging new directions in learning, teaching, and scholarship. We strive constantly to enhance the quality of a Bates education, from hiring and supporting the most talented faculty and staff to designing and implementing new programs and sustaining our ongoing strong ones. This report is designed to tell you about the course of the 2007-2008 academic year, including ongoing work and new projects.

I am proud of the accomplishments described in this report. They result from the contributions of everyone in the office: deans Judith Head, Margaret Maurer-Fazio, Kerry O’Brien, as well as David Baker, Denise Begin, Theodore Coulombe, Nancy LePage, Lori Ouellette, and George Romano. All that we accomplish is a group effort. I am fortunate to have colleagues in my office who are—to a person—smart, hardworking and deeply committed to Bates. Their energy and wisdom are key ingredients in this work and the many initiatives we undertake.

We are privileged to work with immensely talented faculty and staff who are at the forefront of our most exciting programs. I am indebted to them for their creativity, dedication to excellence, and service to Bates. In addition, our work could not be accomplished without the contributions and expertise of the people in the many offices and departments that make up the College under the leadership of President Elaine Hansen. On a daily basis, we rely on them for their expertise, good will, and shared goal of making Bates an institution of true distinction. Our accomplishments result from the collective efforts of us all.

I welcome your comments on this annual report. You may contact me at 207-786-6066 or email me (jreich@bates.edu).

Jill N. Reich Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty

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Supporting an Outstanding Faculty

The Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the

Faculty advances learning in the liberal arts tradition by recruiting,

developing, and evaluating faculty.

In 2006, the Center for Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College launched a multi-year study to discover what is most vital to student success. After surveying more than 3,000 students and interviewing another 300, they found that of all the factors that predicted a student's success, good teaching and high-quality interactions with faculty were the most important. The key is great teaching, and the key to great teaching is an outstanding faculty.

At Bates, the Dean of the Faculty's office supports our exceptional teacher-scholars by attending to each faculty member through the arc of his or her career. In this section we describe our efforts in 2007-2008 to recruit, retain, support, evaluate, compensate, and honor faculty colleagues.

Faculty Recruitment

The recruitment of faculty is a primary responsibility of the Dean of the Faculty's office. The office oversees the process through which academic departments and programs hire faculty for tenure-track and temporary replacement positions (see figure outlining process). Faculty committees devote considerable time and energy to searches, ensuring that the most qualified teacher-scholars fill positions at Bates. In 2007-2008 the faculty completed searches for five tenure-track hires: two in economics, and one each in English, physics, and religious studies. They also completed searches for more temporary replacement faculty than in years past. Twenty-five new faculty began service to Bates in 2008-2009 and twenty-nine temporary faculty returned to the College. A list of the new faculty hired in 2007-2008 for the 2008-2009 academic year appears in Appendix A.

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Faculty Tenure and Promotion in 2007-2008

One step in building and sustaining an outstanding faculty is a comprehensive review process. Faculty standing for tenure or promotion undergo a rigorous review by the Committee on Personnel, an elected committee of tenured faculty from the three academic divisions and the interdisciplinary programs. The Dean of the Faculty's office manages the complex process of personnel review, legislated by the faculty to ensure thoroughness and integrity. A similar review process is in place for physical education faculty and head coaches, though none were reviewed in 2007-2008. We congratulate those colleagues who were reappointed to the faculty without limit of tenure in 2007-2008: Áslaug Ásgeirsdóttir, associate professor of politics; Heidi Chirayath, associate professor of sociology; Meredith Greer, associate professor of mathematics; and Joseph Hall, associate professor of history. We congratulate those who were promoted in 2007-2008: Rachel Austin, professor of chemistry; Robert Farnsworth, senior lecturer in English; Lavina Shankar, professor of English; Henry Walker, senior lecturer in classical and medieval studies.

The Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching

In recognition of the faculty's long commitment to excellence in teaching, the late Robert H. Kroepsch '33, LL.D. '71, established the Ruth M. and Robert H. Kroepsch Endowed Fund for one or more annual awards to members of the faculty "in recognition of outstanding performance as a teacher during the previous twelve-month period." The Dean of the Faculty's office invites all students and alumni from the past five years to submit letters of nomination for the award. Each year, the Kroepsch prize is awarded to the faculty member who is judged to best stimulate student interest in the subject and foster desire for further learning and who is able to help students understand subject matter and its importance in a broad context. The Kroepsch awardee must demonstrate innovation in teaching and inspire a high level of

Committee on Personnel

Dennis Browne Russian

Dennis Grafflin History

Elaine Hansen President

James Hughes Economics

Nancy Kleckner Biology

Jill Reich Dean of the Faculty

Mary Rice-DeFosse French

Sarah Strong Japanese

Thomas Tracy Religion

Peter Wong Mathematics

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performance among students, and he or she must effectively integrate teaching and scholarship, demonstrating a deep commitment to student learning. In 2007-2008 the Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching was granted to Robert Farnsworth, senior lecturer in English, a gifted teacher, accomplished poet, astute and encouraging critic, and champion of poetry at Bates. Balancing the life of a writer and teacher, Rob has inspired and guided students of creative writing for nearly twenty years in courses on poetry and prose writing. He also teaches courses on American and Irish poetry and the relationship of poetry and place. His work is published in leading poetry journals, and he served for many years as poetry editor of The American Scholar. He has twice won the Kroepsch Award, and has recently won the PEN New England Discovery Award and a Summer Residency at the Frost Place, the New Hampshire home of Robert Frost. Endowed Professorships

Through a program of endowed professorships, Bates honors individual faculty members who have made singular contributions in their field through inspiring teaching, inventive scholarship, and dedicated service. By extension, endowed professorships honor all the faculty of the College by recognizing the importance of effective pedagogies, and scholarly contributions of new knowledge. Endowed professorships are established by generous donors who have a particular commitment to the intellectual life of the College and work to recognize faculty excellence in the liberal arts tradition. The distinguished faculty who hold endowed chairs are listed in Appendix B. First Stangle Chair

The Betty A. Doran Stangle Professorship in Applied Economics was established by Bruce E. Stangle '70, a Bates Trustee, and Emily S. Stangle '72, in honor of Bruce's mother, Betty Doran Stangle. In February 2008, Margaret Maurer-Fazio was inaugurated as the first Stangle Chair. The professorship honors the memory of a dynamic, inventive, and entrepreneurial woman and celebrates the essential interplay of teaching, learning, and scholarship at Bates by supporting the promise of continued achievement by one of our most talented faculty colleagues. Maggie Maurer-Fazio joined the economics faculty in 1994, bringing to Bates her expertise as a teacher and scholar of Asian economies and development economics. Maggie studies the meteoric development of the Chinese economy. In her far-reaching work she has examined rapid industrialization and the migration of rural Chinese to urban manufacturing centers, considering specifically the intersection of labor economics and family structure, gender roles, levels of education, and ethnicity and religion. Her teaching focuses on the economies of China, Japan, and less developed countries. She has introduced many Bates students to China in several Fall Semester Abroad programs and off-campus Short Term units in the country. For the past four years Maggie also has served with distinction as associate dean of the faculty, where her many projects have included faculty compensation review; budget analysis; an enhanced sabbatical program; an intercollegiate faculty development grant program among Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby; college planning; the faculty retirement program; and course enrollment analysis.

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Support for Faculty Learning and Scholarship

Bates expects members of the faculty themselves to be scholars who contribute to their fields through research presented at scholarly meetings, in peer-reviewed publications, and in other ways appropriate to their discipline. One of the most important ways the College supports this scholarship is by providing faculty time for their continued intellectual growth, research, and creative work. A list of faculty on leave in 2007-2008 appears in Appendix C. New Fellowship Supports Pre-tenure Leave

Bates is committed to supporting tenure-track faculty, who are both establishing themselves as first-rate teachers at the College while they pursue scholarly careers that will make lasting contributions to our understanding of the world and our place in it. The College grants a one semester, full salary pre-tenure leave after three years of full-time teaching to all tenure-track faculty members who request it. In 2007 the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation awarded Bates a four-year grant of $100,000 each year to support a member of the junior faculty whose work is in the humanities. The Whiting Fellowship recognizes the link between robust scholarship and outstanding teaching. While the criteria for the award focuses on excellence in teaching, the funding supports the faculty member’s scholarship by providing funds for a yearlong pre-tenure leave at full pay. In 2007-2008 Sylvia Federico, assistant professor of English, was named the first Whiting Fellow. She received a yearlong pre-tenure leave for the 2008-2009 academic year plus a stipend of $10,000 to support her research. Sylvia is an expert in medieval literature who approaches the Middle Ages as a topic of inquiry that we moderns can understand, appreciate, and make relevant to our own lives. She brings to her students a study of medieval literature that is not an inert, precious object to be studied from behind glass, but that is a living, vital body of work full of lessons for the contemporary world. A second Whiting Award of $15,000 was made to Hiroya Miura, assistant professor of music, who teaches theory and composition and is an outstanding young composer. He teaches in a way that encourages his students to read, play, and listen as one would when learning a new language. By drawing examples from a wide range of the creative arts, Hiroya encourages his students to think critically from the viewpoint of an artist. New Sabbatical Program

Sabbaticals are essential to an outstanding faculty because they support a period of focused and concentrated time to further pursue the scholarship, artistic work, research, and pedagogical study that sustain the excellence of a Bates education. Traditionally, faculty members have taken a semester leave at full pay or a yearlong leave at 50% of annual base salary. A long-term goal of President Elaine Hansen and Dean Jill Reich has been to strengthen the sabbatical program by increasing funding for yearlong leaves while at the same time encouraging faculty to seek external funding for their work. In 2007-2008, with the help of a four-year, $1,000,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, we launched such a program. The funds from the Mellon Foundation cover the costs of hiring visiting faculty to replace those on yearlong leaves during a period of transition into the program. The program enables eligible

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faculty members who make a timely and substantial effort to obtain external funding in support of their work to apply for a yearlong sabbatical at 80% of annual base salary. The College's basic sabbatical policy remains in effect for those who do not seek outside funding or who for other reasons elect a half-year leave. By requiring a faculty member to apply for outside funding, we ask them to think clearly and methodically about their planned leave and develop a sound research strategy. Thus, even if they do not garner external funding, we expect that this process will lead to a more meaningful and productive sabbatical. In 2007-2008 seven enhanced sabbaticals were awarded for the 2008-2009 academic year to Jennifer Koviach-Côté (chemistry), Emily Kane (sociology), John Kelsey (psychology), Francisca López (Spanish), Margaret Maurer-Fazio (economics), Mark Semon (physics), and Bonnie Shulman (mathematics). The Web site (http://www.bates.edu/sabbatical-funding.xml) provides detailed information about the enhanced sabbatical program.

Strengthening Faculty Compensation

The reputation of the College rests in large part on the strength of our faculty. In order to recruit and retain the very best teacher-scholars, Bates must offer salary and benefits that are competitive with our peer institutions, which are often recruiting the same individuals. Over the last eight years, the Dean of the Faculty's office has taken steps to improve faculty compensation by working with the Board of Trustees to raise starting salaries for tenure-track assistant professors, raise minimum salary floors at each rank, aggressively increase faculty salaries with special emphasis on issues of equity within ranks, and to ensure that pre-tenure leaves do not delay sabbaticals. In 2007-2008, salaries, the sabbatical program, and retirement incentives were the foci of our work. We continued to closely monitor our faculty salaries in comparison to a group of more than twenty comparable institutions and specifically to Bowdoin, Colby, and Middlebury colleges (BCM). Interpretation of these trends is complicated by the changing nature of individuals by years in rank. Still, within these constraints, patterns are informative. In 2007-2008, our review found that in comparison to the BCM benchmarks, we were holding steady at the rank of assistant professor and narrowing the large gap for full professors, but we had lost ground at the rank of associate professor. We therefore recommended to the Board of Trustees an increase in the faculty salary pool to continue to improve full professor salaries, pay special attention to the rank of associate professor, and maintain the competitive position of our salaries for assistant professors. Over the several years of this initiative, we have generally stopped losing ground in this arena.

The Retirement Program

The College must take the long view of faculty trajectory in its planning. In 2007-2008 the Dean of the Faculty's office analyzed the demographic profile of the faculty. The study revealed significant challenges and opportunities related to faculty retirements. For example, if faculty continue to retire before or up to the time they reach eligibility for full Social Security benefits, seventeen percent of our tenured faculty will retire within the next five years (between 2008-2012), thirty-six percent will retire within ten years (between 2008-2017), and fifty-one percent will retire within fifteen years (between 2008-2022).

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After we reviewed the College's retirement policies for tenured and physical education faculty, we recommended to the president and Board of Trustees that the current program be converted to a retirement incentive program. That recommendation was accepted by the Board at its May 2008 meeting. The new plan will begin 1 July 2009. To participate in this plan, tenured and physical education faculty and head coaches must enter into a retirement agreement on or before 1 July of the year in which they reach their full Social Security retirement age. The length of service required to participate in this plan has been changed from twenty-two years to fifteen years of full-time service to Bates consistent with the overall College's approach to retirement eligibility. The plan asks participants to resign tenure and choose from two leave and compensation options:

Two-Year Plan: Participants teach/coach full time for the first year at full salary and take a special leave in the second year with 120% of salary.

Three-Year Plan: Participants teach/coach half time for three years and receive 100% of their annual salary in the first year and 80% in the final two years. The retirement program remains voluntary and the benefits are unchanged. Retirees have access to the Rowe Fund for undergraduate tuition assistance for dependent children. Until they reach sixty-five years old, retirees may purchase health insurance through Bates at the College's group rates. Through the Office of Human Resources, we have offered workshops to help faculty prepare for retirement. More information on the College Retirement Plan can be found on the Web site (http://www.bates.edu/x117741.xml).

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Fostering an

Exemplary Academic Program

The Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the

Faculty advances learning in the liberal arts tradition by fostering the

development of academic programs.

General Education in 2007-2008

In 2003, the Bates faculty began the process of examining and redefining the Bates education: What are the hallmarks of a Bates education? What should every student learn? How do we prepare students to be educated persons in the twenty-first century? In this multiyear process, the faculty strengthened the College's commitment to the senior thesis or senior project, long a distinctive feature of a Bates education. The faculty also studied and revised the College's General Education requirements. New General Education requirements were approved by the faculty in March 2006, effective with the Class of 2011. The new General Education requirements mark a departure from the distribution requirements that characterized the previous General Education program, adopted in the 1970s, and looked instead at key competencies, habits of mind, and approaches to intellectual questions as guiding principals. The new General Education requirements seek to: 1) foster an understanding of how the several disciplines function and what they can teach us. This goal is met through the two General Education concentrations each student takes in addition to the major. 2) help every graduate meet the challenge of writing correctly and persuasively. This goal is met by a series of three writing-attentive courses that connect critical thinking and clear writing, taken at various points in a student's Bates career (W1, W2, W3). 3) ensure that all students have formal instruction at the college level in the methods and findings of the sciences and in quantitative analysis. This goal is met by taking three distinct courses that call for scientific reasoning, quantitative literacy, and a laboratory experience (S, L, Q). In 2007-2008, the General Education Implementation Team continued the multi-year process of launching the new requirements. This committee, including members of the First-Year Seminar and Writing Committee, the SLQ Committee, the Committee on Curriculum and Calendar, the Educational Policy Committee, and administrative staff, spent many hours ironing out the minute but essential details required for effective implementation. Registrar Mary Meserve and Eileen Zimmerman and her colleagues in the Administrative Computing Group were invaluable collaborators in creating an

General Education Implementation Team

Matthew Côté Chemistry

Meredith Greer Mathematics

Joseph Hall History

Glen Lawson Chemistry

Mary Meserve Registrar's Office

Kerry O'Brien Dean of the Faculty's Office

Ellen Peters Institutional Research and Assessment Support

Helen Regan Education

Bonnie Shulman Mathematics

Susan Stark Philosophy

John Strong Religion

Eileen Zimmerman Information and Library Services

Jill Reich Dean of the Faculty's Office

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online course designation processes for W, S, L, and Q courses, a General Education concentration proposal system, and an online major declaration system, all which were in place to begin fall 2008. Discussions about policies and procedures associated with course selection and registration, advising, major/minor/concentration declaration, and degree audit helped us examine our work processes and streamline the real or virtual paperwork required of students and faculty. The implementation team also developed a communication plan for the implementation, creating a General Education Web site (http://www.bates.edu/gened2011.xml), holding open meetings for faculty, and other constituents. As the implementation of the new General Education program continues in 2008-2009, the team will track enrollments and further refine policies to ensure that students can meet those requirements in a timely manner. The 2008-2009 academic year is the most challenging of this initiative as we must provide courses to meet the new and old General Education requirements. As a result, we continue to track the required number of seats in General Education courses each term to accommodate all students, both those in the classes of 2009 and 2010 who are enrolled under the old General Education regime, and those in the classes of 2011 and 2012, who are fulfilling the new General Education requirements. In addition, the team continues to oversee the development of assessment tools to evaluate student learning under the new General Education program (see Assessment of Writing, below, for example). Review of Course Enrollment Patterns

Although the division chairs study enrollment patterns and curriculum needs when considering reauthorization and replacement requests, over the past few years, we have experienced increasing concern about course enrollment patterns. During this time, the Committee on Curriculum and Calendar has reported increasing numbers of requests for course enrollment limits based on new pedagogies and course goals. The registrar has faced constraints on classroom availability. And, the Dean of the Faculty's office added extra science courses in January 2008 to ensure that seniors could meet their graduation requirements. Still, students frequently complain about access to classes required for graduation, and nonscience majors anxiously seek seats in non-lab science classes which fill up quickly. In response to these concerns, the dean asked a group of faculty members to investigate these issues by identifying the trends and patterns in the College's enrollments, and the scope of the problems, discussing the issues and options for addressing problems, and proposing short- and long-term recommendations to solve these problems. With the help of Robert Leighton, enrollment analyst, and Ellen Peters, director of the institutional research and assessment support, the group collected and looked at both statistical and focus-group data in the following areas:

• trends in the numbers and proportions of limited and unlimited classes by division and department/program

• trends in department/program total and class enrollments • changes in level of course offerings by division and department/program • sources of unusually large classes • transcript analysis comparing class size and variability across majors • student perceptions of the registration process • student perceptions of the impact of class size on learning

Course Enrollment Group

Amy Douglass Psychology

Margaret Maurer-Fazio Dean of the Faculty's Office Economics

Dolores O’Higgins Classical and Medieval Studies

Paula Schlax Chemistry

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Interim reports were made to division and department chairs at the end of the academic year. Data collection and analysis will continue in 2008-2009, with recommendations to follow. Registrar Search

The registrar is one of the most important academic officers of the college. The registrar manages all student academic records; course development, registration, and scheduling programs; and classroom scheduling. Bates has one of the most progressive and sophisticated academic records systems among liberal arts colleges, and serves as a national leader and a model for other institutions. In October 2006, the College launched an exhaustive, yearlong national search for a new registrar. In fall 2007, Mary K. Meserve, the College's associate registrar and then-interim registrar, was unanimously recommended for the position. In a field of strong candidates, Mary was judged to be the most knowledgeable, able, and wise. She was applauded by colleagues as a thoughtful supervisor, a skilled collaborator, and a fair and compassionate resource for students. Mary received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Smith College. She joined the Bates Office of the Registrar in 1993 as records administrator. She was promoted to assistant registrar in 1994, and to associate registrar in 1997. Mary served as interim registrar from October 2006 to December 2007. She is currently overseeing the academic records implementation of new General Education requirements and the design of a new online degree audit system, which will be launched in 2008-2009. Learning Commons Initiative

The Learning Commons initiative led by the Dean of the Faculty's office, in conjunction with the Dean of Students' office, and Information and Library Services, began in 2005 with funding from a grant from the Mellon Foundation. The grant supported an analysis of how best to support student learning and faculty teaching along with the development of next steps. At that time, we charged a group of faculty and administrators with investigating ways to bring together services currently scattered throughout the campus that support students in writing, quantitative competencies, academic courses, and computing and technology, and that serve faculty in developing innovative pedagogy. From visiting existing centers at peer colleges and exploring the literature, they developed a concept they named the "Learning Commons" and set about creating ways to enhance services and efficiencies through greater communication, coordinated goals, and organizational efficiencies. During the next two years, this conception took shape and came closer to reality when Gene Wiemers, vice president for information and library services, designated 4,000 square feet of space in Ladd library for the project. Once the Learning Commons is in place in the library, it will be a vibrant, welcoming student and faculty learning space that can be configured for many uses. Based on the concept that all of us are learners, it will connect, develop, and consolidate the support and services that are important for the success of faculty and students. The Learning Commons will also be a center that fosters innovative and entrepreneurial thinking among faculty, students, and staff, promotes partnerships that cross offices and departmental boundaries, and encourages collaboration among those who work with students and faculty.

Learning Commons Group

William Ash Imaging and Computing Center

Joanne Cole Peer Writing Project

Grace Coulombe Math and Statistics Workshop PALG Program Mathematics

Mathieu Duval Imaging and Computing Center

Tedd Goundie Dean of Students' Office

Holly Gurney Dean of Students' Office

Patricia Hager Writing Workshop

Judith Head Dean of the Faculty's Office

Margaret Imber Classical and Medieval Studies

Laura Juraska Information and Library Services

Jill Reich Dean of the Faculty's Office

Andrew White Information and Library Services

Gene Wiemers Information and Library Services

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During 2007-2008, the Learning Commons group followed two paths. First, representatives from several offices that provide support for students and faculty met biweekly for productive conversations about ways they can partner to provide better assistance. The group engaged in new ways of thinking about how best to promote excellence at Bates, with a particular focus on peer tutoring and pedagogical support for faculty. Second, the group worked with architect Peter Anderson of Physical Plant to think about the configuration of space in Ladd library that will serve as the core of the Learning Commons. While the space currently available in the library is not sufficient to achieve all our goals for the Learning Commons, the group agreed that working together to develop the space offers a rare and important opportunity to consolidate some of the essential services that support learning and teaching, to enhance communication among offices that serve students and faculty, and to better communicate to students and faculty where they can find the help they seek. The vitality and importance of this initiative was reflected in the president's strategic planning process. During the past year, all four planning groups recommended a center for teaching and learning. In her September 2008 letter to the Bates community, President Hansen called for the creation of such a center. Our office looks forward to continuing progress in the coming year on the Learning Common initiative. Writing at Bates

Writing has always been important to a Bates education, but the three-tiered writing requirement adopted as a cornerstone of the new General Education program called for writing to move to the heart of campus life and learning. Faculty have reacted enthusiastically to the challenges of the new requirements. In 2007-2008, all first-year seminars and several other courses were designated as first-level (W1) courses with a renewed focus on writing. Faculty certified more than 120 courses that concentrate on writing at the intermediate level (W2), with more than 1,000 seats available for sophomore and juniors in 2008-2009. The senior thesis and several upper-level seminars were designated as writing attentive at the senior level (W3). To accomplish the goals for writing set out in the new curriculum, faculty asked for new opportunities to discuss what they expect of students and how to best approach the teaching of writing in their courses, and they called for greater support for student writers. In summer 2007 the Davis Educational Foundation responded to a proposal led by the Dean of the Faculty's office by awarding the College a grant of $255,000 over three years to support a writing initiative reflecting these goals. During the first year, the initiative created a program of peer-writing assistants, offered workshops and other faculty development opportunities around writing, established a program to assess student writing, and began thinking about how best to update the Writing Workshop, a campus institution for twenty-five years.

The Peer Writing Project

The Davis Foundation grant enabled the College to establish the Peer Writing Project, a two-pronged program that benefits both students and faculty. The Peer Writing Project attached peer writing assistants to a variety of writing-attentive courses and established a Peer Writing Center in the Ladd library. Joanne Cole joined Bates in spring 2007 as director of the Peer Writing Project, designing and establishing a center that far exceeded expectations for a

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program in its first year. Already, the Peer Writing Project has enriched the culture of writing at the College by offering new resources and creating a visible center where feedback on writing is a process available to all students. Peer writing assistant positions provided leadership opportunities for sophomores, juniors, and seniors and gave them the chance to work closely with faculty. Assistants reported that they benefitted as much as the students they served, learning to write better while building their mentoring and teaching skills.

Located in the former copier room of Ladd library, the Peer Writing Center is a bright, open, inviting space staffed Sunday through Thursday evenings. Its location and student-friendly hours made the Peer Writing Center convenient and accessible. By year's end more than 370 individual drop-in conferences had been held in the Center. Not surprisingly, visits from first-year students predominated in the fall, but by second semester, as word spread, the Peer Writing Center saw nearly as many sophomores as first-years; juniors and seniors participated as well.

In tandem with the Peer Writing Center, thirteen first-year seminars had peer writing assistants in the fall semester. They served as a friendly, familiar, knowledgeable, built-in resource for both academic writing and issues surrounding the transition to college. During winter semester, writing assistants, typically majors or "course alumni," staffed four 100-level and seven 200-level courses, including several courses with substantial enrollments. Course-attached writing assistants conferred with students at all hours and days of the week, all over campus and electronically.

The thirty-two peer writing assistants became academic role models and mentors, conducting more than 900 one-to-one conferences with hundreds of students. Twenty-four courses across the disciplines were directly supported by peer writing assistants. Essential to the long-term success of the peer writing initiative is support among faculty. Twenty-one faculty members across disciplines and ranks worked with course-attached writing assistants, and many more faculty nominated students to become writing assistants and encouraged students to visit the Peer Writing Center. Twenty faculty have requested writing assistants for their first-year seminars for fall 2008, and more than eighty students have applied to be peer writing assistants in 2008-2009.

The 2007-2008 peer writing assistants and the faculty who worked with them are listed in Appendix D.

Faculty Development around Writing

We recognize the importance of supporting faculty development around pedagogy. With the launch of the new General Education writing requirement and the incorporation in 2008-2009 of second-level (W2) courses required for sophomores and juniors, we placed significant emphasis on writing in faculty development programs in 2007-2008.

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Pedagogy Series: Tools for Teaching in the New Curriculum

The monthly Tools for Teaching series, featuring faculty discussions about pedagogy, was organized by Rebecca Fraser-Thill (psychology). The series programs focused on themes identified by the faculty at the 2007 May Conference on Pedagogy. Topics ranged from the second-level (W2) writing requirement to crafting clear assignments

The series program can be found in Appendix E.

New Faculty Series

Introducing new faculty to the culture and demands of an institution like Bates is critical to their success here. In winter 2008, under the leadership of Margaret Imber (classical and medieval studies), the Dean of the Faculty's office sponsored a monthly series on teaching and research. The series provided new faculty a comfortable place to come together to ask questions, the opportunity to talk with expert senior colleagues, and a setting for building a cohort of peers. We look forward to expanding this pilot in 2008-2009 into a yearlong series, beginning with a three-day workshop in August 2008 on teaching at Bates and addressing syllabus design, assignments and assessment, teaching in large and small classes, curricular design, library and academic support resources, the online academic records system (Garnet Gateway), course management technology (Lyceum), and classroom technology. Margaret and other faculty will follow the August workshop with monthly sessions on topics chosen by the new faculty.

Third Annual May Conference: Reports from the Field

The third annual May Conference, a day-long meeting on pedagogy on 16 May 2008, was organized by Margaret Imber, Joanne Cole, and Patricia Hager of the Learning Commons Group. Sixty faculty and five staff were joined by Luanne Greeley Bond, program officer of the Davis Educational Foundation. With its focus on writing, the conference dovetailed with the two-day workshop earlier in the month that examined student writing (see below).

The conference program can be found in Appendix F.

Assessment of Writing

In 2007-2008 we launched a college-wide assessment of writing, a central element of the writing program and our General Education curriculum. The Look at Student Writing exercise took took place in May 2008. This exercise built on an earlier event in March, when Carol Rutz, director of writing at Carleton College, came to Bates to talk with faculty about the writing portfolio used at Carleton. She emphasized the ways that looking critically at student writing helped the Carleton faculty think about what they value in student thinking, analysis, and writing. Carol returned in May to lead sixty Bates faculty in an examination of first-year students' papers. Faculty read and ranked five common papers as the basis for a lively discussion of what they value in student writing, the differences in writing across disciplines, and the rigor and level of work faculty expect in first-year seminars. Faculty agreed on some common goals for writing, focusing on writing as a way of thinking and communicating. The assessment process begun in 2007-2008 will continue with reading papers

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from first-year students in January 2009 and a pilot assessment of senior theses in spring 2009.

To further deepen their understanding of student writing, first-year seminar faculty came together in May 2008 to look at data from interviews of first- and second-year students from the New England Consortium on Assessment of Student Learning (NECASL) panel study, the recent Sophomore Survey from the NECASL group, and the Bates Your First College Year (YFCY) survey. The data helped faculty think about how to tackle issues around writing and other challenges facing first-year students. In both the NECASL interviews and our YFCY surveys, first-year students identified time management as a major academic issue. In response, the staff of our peer tutoring programs came together in spring 2008 to talk about how we might offer support in this area. In 2008-2009, peer writing assistants in the Peer Writing Project will receive training in time management and other study skills.

The Writing Workshop

In December 2007 the College honored Joyce Seligman on the occasion of her retirement after twenty-five years of dedicated service to the College as the founding director of the Writing Workshop. For a generation, the Writing Workshop has provided support for student writers and faculty who teach writing. The Writing Workshop continues to play a central role in our enhanced focus on helping all students develop as excellent writers, offering one-to-one writing support by professional writers, each assigned to certain disciplines of the academic program.

The renewed attention to writing across the College is reflected in the increasing vitality and programming available through the Writing Workshop, under the leadership of Patricia Hager, interim director. During Short Term 2008 the Writing Workshop staff sponsored a series of faculty development workshops on cultivating good writing in students. In the first workshop, Seri Rudolph Lowell talked about critical reading as the basis of good writing. She was followed by Michele Pavitt, who discussed strategies to clarify and combat plagiarism. Richard Wile then offered a workshop on crafting clear assignments. Pat Hager concluded the series with a presentation on responding effectively to student papers.

The Writing Workshop staff has plans to offer more workshops for students and faculty development discussions in 2008-2009.

This renewed attention to writing through curriculum change, faculty development, and student support has generated a lively and productive growth in teaching and learning throughout campus. As we search for new director of writing in the coming year, we continue to develop ways to inspire and support students and faculty around writing.

First-Year Seminar Writing Prize

The new General Education requirements call for writing-attentive courses taken at different stages in a student's career so that attention may be given to the writer as he or she develops intellectually and academically. The process begins with the first-year seminar and other W1 courses, where college writing

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unfolds as a dialogue between a student writer and a professor within the framework of a course assignment. To draw attention to and celebrate writing in the first year, the Dean of the Faculty's office sponsors a writing competition for students enrolled in first-year seminars.

At the end of the fall semester, first-year seminar faculty submit an example of the best writing from their students. A committee of faculty and staff writers examines the entries and award a top prize and two or three honorable mention awards. Since the entries come from many different seminars, there is great variation in purpose and style among the papers, but the committee looks for sound thinking, clear organization, and coherent and articulate prose. Early in the winter semester the Dean of the Faculty's office hosts an award ceremony to recognize the writing achievements of these first-year writers.

In 2007-2008 the First-Year Seminar Writing Top Prize went to Theodore Sutherland '11. Honorable Mentions were awarded to Jennifer Diefendorf '11, Tyler Mehegan '11, and Emily Mulligan '11.

Mathematics and Statistics Workshop

In discussions about General Education, the Bates faculty reaffirmed that an educated person must be able to understand quantitative information and make informed judgments based on that understanding. Furthermore, as mathematics is increasingly integrated into the study and conduct of science—and the social sciences and the humanities as well—the need for students from a range of disciplines to develop mathematical competencies is escalating. Since 2000, the Mathematics and Statistics Workshop has been an important resource for Bates students, supporting learning in mathematics and quantitative literacy by teaching and tutoring students and supporting faculty in several disciplines. In 2007-2008, students received help in Calculus I and II; Linear Algebra; Multivariable Calculus; Mathematical Models in Biology; Abstract Algebra; statistics courses in economics, biology, and psychology; courses in astronomy and environmental studies; and the senior thesis. The Math Workshop is directed by Grace Coulombe, who also teaches in the mathematics department and supervises the Peer-Assisted Learning Group leaders. Grace trains and supervises the twenty-nine peer math tutors who staff the Math Workshop. The Math Workshop offers services on both a drop-in basis and by appointment. The workshop provides one-on-one peer tutoring in quantitative skills and understanding. Throughout the fall and winter semesters, nightly two-hour help sessions are held for groups of students in calculus courses. Instructors may refer students to the Math Workshop for help, or students may seek assistance on their own. The workshop also provides tutorial sessions in the use of graphing calculators; software programs such as MATLAB, Minitab, Maple, SPSS, and Excel; and in typesetting mathematical documents using LaTeX. Students drop in to review math topics or to use the computer resources. In addition, Grace offers workshops in algebra, trigonometry, and pre-calculus to prepare students for calculus. She also guest lectures in non-math courses where specific mathematical or statistical concepts are covered. The Math Workshop is invaluable for students who use it. Tutors, too, benefit; they receive extensive training before they begin their work, and as tutors, they gain experience as teachers of math and quantitative studies thereby solidifying their own

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understanding of the material as they help other students learn. After Bates, many go on to teach mathematics at the secondary or college level. Students who worked as Math Workshop tutors in 2007-2008 are listed in Appendix G.

Students Teaching Each Other in the Sciences:

Peer-Assisted Learning Groups

The Peer Assisted Learning Group program (PALG), now in its fifth year, provides regularly scheduled, out-of-class, peer-facilitated study sessions for students in challenging introductory science courses. In 2007-2008 these courses included Organismal Biology; Cell and Molecular Biology; Atomic and Molecular Structure; Chemical Structure and Its Importance in the Environment; Chemical Reactivity; Chemical Reactivity in Environmental Systems; Organic Chemistry I and II; and Modern Physics. PALG leaders incorporate the development of appropriate study strategies (e.g., taking notes, graphic/visual organization, questioning techniques, vocabulary acquisition, problem solving, and test preparation) as they review course material. PALG leaders are trained in pedagogical techniques and use collaborative learning strategies to help students formulate and answer their own questions. In most sessions, students work in groups, share what they have learned with others, and often work out solutions on the blackboard. PALG leaders are students who demonstrated competence in the course when they took it in a previous semester. Leaders attend all class sessions, take notes, and read all assigned material. PALG leaders work closely with the faculty teaching the courses to ensure that their efforts are complementary. Faculty meet with their PALG leader weekly to discuss common problem areas for particular topics, the leader's plans for upcoming sessions, and concerns about students. Students have high praise for the PALG program. One student wrote, "PALG should definitely be continued in Org[anic Chemistry]. It was such a help/opportunity to get peer advice and work in cooperative groups." Some students find the PALG program improves their comfort level while they study the sciences. A student wrote, "For people who aren't very confident in their math and science skills, attending PALG sessions are very worthwhile, especially when you cannot effectively study on your own." A third student reported, "My confidence in the subject was always stronger after I left my PALG sessions. I am definitely going to take more science courses." Pamela Baker oversees the program; Grace Coulombe implements it, trains leaders, monitors sessions, and works with the faculty who use PALG leaders in their classes. A list of PALG leaders and participating faculty can be found in Appendix H. The Hughes Summer Scholars Program

We must develop future scientists from a wide range of backgrounds if we are to flourish in a diverse society and an increasingly complex world in which science and technology play a pivotal role. When members of the Dean of the Faculty's office, led by then Associate Dean Pamela Baker and Assistant Dean Kerry O’Brien, worked with science and mathematics faculty to write a grant proposal to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) in 2003, they proposed a pilot summer program in mathematics and science designed to recruit, retain, and support students from diverse backgrounds who plan to pursue studies in mathematics and science. After two years of

2007 Hughes Summer Scholars

José Cervantes '11 Davina Dukuly '11 Justin Giroux '11 Quan Ho '11 Shameena Khan '11 Hong Nguyen '11 Noel Nguyen '11 Lauren Okano '11 Sebastian Pedraza '11 Frangely Ventura '11 Frankie Lamar White Jr. '11

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planning, led by Thomas Wenzel (chemistry) and Pamela Baker (biology), the first Hughes Summer Scholars Program (HSSP) took place during the summer of 2007. Through a competitive process, eleven incoming first-year students were chosen to come to campus for six weeks in the summer preceding their first year to take two college-level courses focused on lab science and mathematics. Professor Wenzel served as the director of the program and also taught a first-year seminar, Forensic Chemistry. Grace Coulombe (Mathematics and Statistics Workshop; mathematics), taught the math course, Mathematics across Time and Cultures. The courses met five days a week with several labs per week. Assisting the faculty were two upper-class teaching assistants (Katelyn Provencher '08, chemistry; Benjamin Reed '08, mathematics). The Hughes Scholars lived together in a small residential house with two upper-class residence fellows (Eugene Kim '08 and Lucia Piacenza '08), former junior advisors who provided residential life oversight and scheduled social activities for the weekends. The program staff also included Carmita McCoy, associate dean for student transition, and Jessica Mellen, residential life coordinator. Marylyn Scott, director of multicultural recruitment, led the admissions recruiting effort. The eleven Hughes Scholars (five women and six men) included a cross-section of the incoming class: most had strong high school math and science backgrounds; most were first-generation college students; several were new Americans. The group included African American, Asian American, Caucasian, and Hispanic students. Their courses were rigorous and the pace was brisk, but students reported that they learned a great deal, not only about chemistry and math, but also about the expectations of college-level work. Many of the students have a declared science or math interest and those students have persisted in math and science through their first year. All returned to Bates in 2008-2009. Four 2007 HSSP students worked on campus during the summer of 2008: Hong Nguyen '11 was the teaching assistant in math for the 2008 summer scholars program; Lauren Okano '11 and Sebastian Pedraza '11 were molecular biology researchers for Pamela Baker; and Noel Nguyen '11 worked in Admissions. We continue to mentor the 2007 summer scholars and track their progress as they move through their college careers. In a college without a summer session, launching a summer academic program was a formidable challenge. Many colleagues in other offices—Admissions, Dean of Students, Registrar and Academic Systems, Information and Library Services, Payroll, Security, Ladd library, Institutional Research and Assessment Support, Communications and Media Relations, College Store, Physical Plant, and Dining Services—were invaluable in getting the HSSP underway. The program was funded for two years (2007 and 2008) by the HHMI grant. The Advancement office is currently seeking funding to continue this program. In addition, the Admissions office reported that the program was an effective recruiting tool in our efforts to attract a more diverse student body. The summer scholars program in math and science is recognized as an innovative program of the College's Diversity Initiative.

The Sophomore Hub

In fall 2005, the offices of the Dean of the Faculty and the Dean of Students joined other offices in examining the sophomore year at Bates. While surveys and focus groups with students indicate that most sophomores at Bates do not experience a "sophomore slump," we judged that we need to better communicate to students the importance of the sophomore year in their intellectual, academic, and social development. During the

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sophomore year, students make important decisions about their future. It is the year they declare their major; the year they decide whether or not and where they want to study abroad in their junior year. It is the year when many leadership opportunities from peer tutoring to positions in residences become available to them. To inform students about the distinctive features of this pivotal year of college life, the Dean of the Faculty's office collaborated with other offices to create a Web site for sophomores called the Sophomore Hub (http://www.bates.edu/Sophomore-Hub.xml). Ted Coulombe, digital technician for academic support in the Dean of the Faculty's office, designed the site and provided the technological skills. The site, unveiled for sophomores in September 2008, provides information on declaration of the major, research and other funding opportunities, off-campus study, internships and jobs, leadership opportunities, and more. Finding ways to communicate with students is an ongoing challenge. We will be tracking their use of this site to assess its effectiveness.

Learning Associates

Central to the strength of a Bates education are the intense and deep relationships formed between faculty and students, and the quality of learning that results from sustained contact between them. To complement the depth of intellectual exploration among students and faculty, the College engages "learning associates," experts in many fields who hail from Maine and around the world. Learning associates help students and faculty by bringing new meanings and perspectives to a subject. Learning associates may be on campus for a day, a week, a semester, or a year, or may have a "virtual residence," working with students via e-mail, critiquing research methodology or results, or reading emerging senior theses. These experts expand the knowledge base available to students and faculty, challenge the neatness of discipline-based academic thinking, and provide rich contexts for translating ideas into action in the real world. The Learning Associates Program, originally funded by a Mellon grant, is now supported through an endowment generously established by the Christian A. Johnson Foundation. The Mellon grant provided $100,000 in support of the program annually; more than 100 proposals were funded over six years. The Johnson endowment annually generates approximately $55,000 to sustain the program. Given the reduced annual budget, the faculty committee that reviews proposals decided to discontinue semester-long resident learning associates, concentrating instead on residencies of one week or less. Twenty-seven awards were made to faculty sponsors in 2007-2008, and seven proposals have been funded for projects scheduled to take place early in 2008-2009. A list of the 2007-2008 learning associate grants awarded to faculty appears in Appendix I. The Hughes Teacher-in-Residence:

Supporting Current and Future Teachers

In its second year, the Hughes Teacher-in-Residence Program brought a precollege teacher to the campus to teach, study, and mentor. Funded by the College's 2004 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the program grew out of an established precollege outreach program in math and science education designed to meet three major goals: 1) to provide an on-site mentor and role model to our students pursuing certification in teaching; 2) to encourage more of our students to consider precollege math and science teaching as a career, and 3) to enhance science and math

Sophomore Hub Group

Theodore Coulombe Dean of the Faculty's Office

Roland Davis Dean of Students' Office

Tedd Goundie Dean of Students' Office

Judith Head Dean of the Faculty's Office

Georgia Nigro Psychology

Kerry O’Brien Dean of the Faculty's Office

Stephen Sawyer Dean of Students' Office

Sagaree Sengupta Graduate Fellowships Advisor Michael Wisnewski Office of Career Services

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teaching and learning in area K-12 schools, many of which are under-resourced in the sciences. The Hughes Teacher-in-Residence program offers a lectureship in education to an experienced middle or high school science or math teacher on leave from his or her position to spend a year at Bates. The first teacher-in-residence was Edmund Zuis (Bates '88), a physics teacher from Oak Hill High School (Maine School Union 44). In 2007-2008 Weslene Marble, a middle school teacher from Mount Blue Middle School (Maine School Administrative District 9), served as teacher-in-residence. In the first semester the teacher-in-residence may audit or take for credit Bates courses to strengthen his or her background in science or math. Ms. Marble audited PHYS 103, Musical Acoustics, and BIO 221, Plant and Fungal Diversity. She also participated in the teacher education program, sitting in on and co-teaching some sessions of EDUC 460, Student Teaching I, observing and mentoring two of the student teachers. In the winter semester she taught EDUC 235, Teaching Math and Science: Curriculum and Methods. Ms. Marble brought experience "from the trenches," teaching our students how to effectively develop science and math curricula, navigate national and state learning standards, assess student learning, design labs and field experiments, and effectively manage a classroom. Each student undertook a thirty-hour placement in a science class in an area school. Five students accompanied Ms. Marble to the National Science Teachers Association Conference in Boston. In Short Term, she offered a course at the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area in Phippsburg, EDUC s25, Creating Educational Experiences at Morse Mountain. The course taught Bates students how to develop and run science field trips, which they then presented to students from her school district and from Phippsburg. Ms. Marble reports that her year at Bates reaffirmed her commitment to teaching and gave her new pedagogical and curricular ideas to take back to her middle school classroom. The 2008-2009 teacher-in-residence is Gretchen Feiss, a science teacher from Mount Ararat Middle School (Maine School Administrative District 75). The Teacher-in-Residence Program has added an important dimension to the education department's offerings by focusing specifically on science and math teaching. The courses offered in the program are foundational in two General Education concentrations, C004, Science Education, and C021, Science Education for Prospective Teachers of Children and Early Adolescents. Though we have received positive feedback from students, area teachers, and the teachers-in-residence themselves, the future of this program is unclear, since its funding source (HHMI) was not renewed.

The Harward Center for Community Partnerships

The Donald W. and Ann M. Harward Center for Community Partnerships continues to invigorate the campus by building meaningful connections with the community, from Lewiston-Auburn to communities around the world. Community engagement in a liberal arts environment means conducting scholarship for the public good; educating students for responsible, active citizenship; bringing the College's skills and knowledge to bear on public issues; and learning from the lives and experiences of community members. Under the direction of David Scobey, Harward Professor of Community Partnerships, the Harward Center sponsors a vibrant service-learning program, faculty grants programs, student volunteer and leadership programs, and myriad campus community lectures and public fora. The Harward Center also oversees the Bates-Morse Mountain

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Conservation Area and the Bates College Coastal Center at Shortridge, both in Phippsburg. The center works actively with over 100 community partners; more than a third of the faculty incorporate service-learning and community engagement activities into their courses. The Harward Center's Web site (http://www.bates.edu/harward-center.xml) provides extensive information including its annual report for 2007-2008. Some highlights of 2007-2008 include the Harward Center's launching of its Community-Based Research Fellows Program, which supports significant student research with community partners. The center's three-year partnership with Museum L-A culminated in the spring 2008 opening of Weaving a World: Lewiston's Millworkers, 1920-2008, a social history exhibition drawing on oral histories and archival research undertaken by students in five courses. The Downtown Education Collaborative, a partnership of seven institutions, including and led by Bates, is committed to educational advancement in and with the downtown Lewiston. During the past year, they hired Sherry Russell as director and opened a storefront education center in Lisbon Street. The Harward Center also launched the Civic Forum, a discussion series on issues of importance to Bates, Maine, and the world. And, the center hired Laura Sewall as director of the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area. Laura replaces Judith Marden, who retired in 2008.

The Bates College Museum of Art

The Museum of Art brings together artists, faculty, students, staff, and the larger community to engage in discussions about aesthetic, cultural, and political questions raised by the visual arts. The museum dedicated the 2007-2008 academic year to an exploration of the environment and its intersections with the arts. In Green Horizons (9 June-9 December 2007), an interdisciplinary exhibition and education project generously supported by the Synergy Fund, the Maine Arts Commission, and the LEF Foundation, participating artists and collaborating faculty asked artistic, environmental, economic, and social questions about an urgent twenty-first-century topic: "What is green and what is sustainable?" Among the many artists featured in the exhibition were those who created new works in unique collaborations with faculty, staff, students, and community organizations. Christina Bechstein worked with David Scobey of the Harward Center for Community Scholarships. Seitu Kenneth Jones and Bruce Barnes collaborated with Kimberly Ruffin (English). Julie Patton worked with environmental studies professor and eco-poet Jonathan Skinner. PearsonWidrig DanceTheater and composer Robert Een developed a major work for the Bates Dance Festival with festival director Laura Faure. Carol Dilley (dance) and William Matthews (music) collaborated on a new multimedia work. Two other exhibitions considered the Maine environment specifically. Wilderness within, Wilderness without (18 January -4 March 4 2008) featured Bridget Besaw's contemporary photographs of the Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail, a string of ancient Wabanaki canoe routes followed by Henry David Thoreau in 1846, 1853 and 1857. Different Trails: The Artists' Journey to Katahdin Lake (4 April-24 May 2008) featured the work of nineteen contemporary artists and their views of and from Katahdin Lake in Township 3 Range 8. The artists were among those involved in the Katahdin Lake Campaign that helped conserve a piece of the Maine wilderness containing a pristine Katahdin Lake, an old growth forest, and a view that has inspired generations of artists.

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Exhibitions of the museum also featured students' work. The annual Senior Exhibition (4 April-24 May 2008) presented the senior thesis work of studio majors Chad Casey '08, Whitney Fahy '08, Rachel Harmeling '08, Emily Hopkins '08, Eugene Kim '08, Melissa Shaw '08, and Sean VanderVliet '08. Art and visual culture major Hisa Abe '08 curated the exhibition, The Kimono and Traditional Culture (4 April-19 July 2008), which examined the role of the kimono in Japanese design and culture through an installation of kimonos and ukiyo-e woodblock prints.

The 2007-2008 year launched an ambitious collections management project to update all records of the collection and photographing objects. The goal of this initiative is to build a Web-based database on the museum's holdings that can be accessed by faculty for teaching and research.

The Athletics Program

In the tradition of the liberal arts, Bates is committed to educating the whole person intellectually, ethically, socially, and physically. Physical education courses, clubs, and intramural and varsity athletics give students the opportunity to compete, to work together toward common goals, and to develop as leaders. For all Bates students, the healthy living that results from an active lifestyle will sustain them throughout their lives. Athletics and academics have always been mutually supportive at Bates; the focus on the scholar-athlete has sharpened under the leadership of Director of Athletics Kevin McHugh. In his first year as Bates athletic director, Kevin has brought leadership, vitality, thoroughness, and expertise to all aspects of our athletics and physical education programs. He restructured his group into subcommittees (Academics and Curriculum, Communications, Promotions, and Marketing; Awards; and Mission and Vision Planning) to better coordinate their work. The department launched the Friends of Bates Athletics, an alumni and parent organization dedicated to coordinating social activities at athletic contests and fundraising for athletics. Kevin also worked with the Student-Athletic Advisory Council, composed of representatives of thirty varsity teams leading them in crafting a new mission on behalf of all student athletes; one that focuses athletics at Bates on good sportsmanship, academic excellence, and involvement in the campus and the community. The faculty Committee on Athletics was reinstituted to assist Athletics and to enhance communication between the coaches and the academic faculty. On playing fields, Bates athletes excelled. A highlight of the year was the NCAA Division III Tennis National Championships, held at the Wallach Tennis Center in the spring. Planning is underway for the NCAA Men's and Women's Skiing National Championships, which will be hosted by Bates in March 2009. A Culture of Inquiry to Foster Excellence:

Department and Program Reviews

For two decades, the Dean of the Faculty's office has sponsored a program of academic department and program reviews, designed to help departments and programs reflect on their goals, identify what is working and what is not, refine their curricula, develop a dynamic intellectual culture, and plan for the future. These reviews also pay particular attention to the way the department or program relates to other departments and programs and to the academic program as a whole. Usually departments and programs volunteer to participate

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in this process with each department and program reviewed about once a decade. Occasionally, a review is required by the dean and the division chairs particularly when a faculty position is to be considered for reauthorization.

A typical review calls for an extensive self-study by the department or program, which addresses a specific set of issues identified by the faculty in conjunction with the Committee of Five (the division chairs and dean). The self study is followed by a review by an internal committee of three to four faculty members from other disciplines, and then a review by a committee of three to four peers in the discipline from other colleges and Research I universities. Following these reviews, the department or program offers a response and develops a measurable plan for the near and long term that is discussed with the dean and relevant division chair.

In 2007-2008 the College completed a review of the Department of Biology and began a review of the Program in Environmental Studies and the Department of Theater and Rhetoric.

A list of academic department and program reviews undertaken to date may be found in Appendix J.

New England Consortium on Assessment of Student Learning (NECASL)

Bates continues its participation and leadership in the New England Consortium on Assessment of Student Learning (NECASL), a project in place since 2005 with funding from the Teagle, Mellon, and Spencer foundations. The consortium of seven highly competitive liberal arts colleges (Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Middlebury, Smith, Trinity, and Wellesley) and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) studies key points in student decision during their college career. Jill Reich is one of the founding members and leaders of the project; Heather Lindkvist (anthropology), directs the work at Bates.

The NECASL project focuses on several critical transition points in the academic careers of students: the transition from high school to college, the choice of a major, the decision of whether or not to study abroad or participate in other significant off-campus experiences, and the capstone experience, and postgraduate planning during the senior year. These are points when students are most reflective, most able to articulate how and what they are learning, and most engaged in dialogue with others about what kinds of experiences are best suited to their academic interests and goals.

In 2006-2007, the consortium launched a longitudinal panel study of thirty-six students from the Class of 2010 following them from their first to last college years. Three sets of student-conducted interviews revealed how students make the transition from high school to college and how our institutional practices and curricula affect that transition. Trained student interviewers continued these conversations twice again in 2007-2008, during their sophomore year, and administered a survey to the sophomore class of each college. Questions focused on how students choose a major field of study, how they consider study abroad during their junior year, and their intellectual and social spheres. These

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qualitative duties expand ongoing institutional surveys providing opportunities for analysis within and across institutions.

While coding interviews and compiling data from the seven schools continues, preliminary data about the first college year have been shared with faculty who teach and advise first-year students. This ambitious project will help all of us develop a richer and more nuanced perspective on student learning by probing the ways students engage the curriculum, experience intellectual and social transitions, discover their intellectual and civic passions, and develop into mature learners, engaged scholars, and responsible citizens.

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Sustaining Excellence

The Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the

Faculty advances learning in the liberal arts tradition by cultivating

excellence in the academic and intellectual life of the Bates community.

Supporting Faculty Scholarship

Bates strongly advocates the model of the teacher-scholar in the liberal arts tradition: faculty who are engaged in scholarship and creative work create a dynamic academic program in which teaching and thesis advising are informed by the latest developments in a discipline and the values and attitudes of the scholar. Faculty who are seekers of new knowledge serve as important role models for our students, who are developing as educated adults responsible for their own ideas and learning. In the most visible of these efforts, the College offers financial support for faculty research through a number of programs. New tenure-track faculty are awarded start-up funds to launch their scholarship at Bates. Intramural grant programs funded through endowments and operating dollars support faculty work. These internal College funds are expanded by institutional grants to the College, such as those from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the NIH-funded Maine INBRE (IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence) that support research for faculty and student collaborators, as well as for curriculum and lab development. Most scholarship support is awarded through competitive grant programs administered by the Dean of the Faculty's office and other offices such as the Harward Center for Community Partnerships. Faculty committees oversee these grant programs making decisions about the proposals and awarding the funds. There are many ways through which the College seeks to support the scholarly work of our faculty. These range from previously mentioned sabbaticals and leaves, to support for conference travel, opportunities for collegial gatherings and exchanges, and direct funding for scholarly activities. The 2007-2008 results of the ongoing scholarly work of the faculty entitled Report of Professional Activities of the Faculty can be found on the Dean of the Faculty's office website (http://www.bates.edu/Prebuilt/par-2007-2008.pdf). This report lists all faculty publications, performances, exhibitions, and scholarly presentations between 1 June 2007 and 31 May 2008. The report reveals the depth and range of faculty research interests and the ways in which faculty share their work with national and international scholarly communities.

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The Committee on Faculty Scholarship

The Committee on Faculty Scholarship was established to provide faculty leadership and oversight of programs that support faculty scholarship. This elected faculty committee promotes and supports the scholarly and professional work of the faculty, advising faculty and consulting with administration about resources and infrastructure required for scholarly and professional work. The committee develops intramural grant programs and distributes institutional funds for faculty scholarship and professional activities. The committee also assists faculty seeking external funds, and works to bring greater visibility to the scholarship of the faculty and the intellectual life of the College. The Committee on Faculty Scholarship directs the Bates Faculty Development Fund, a pooled fund of operating and endowment support that offers modest ($500-$5,000) grants to faculty proposing exemplary scholarly work. In December 2007, the committee awarded Bates Faculty Development Grants to faculty members from all ranks and all academic divisions of the College. Awards totaling $75,090 supported projects ranging from new studies to finishing book manuscripts. Together with the Committee of Five, the Harward Center, and other focused committees, this group has awarded a wide range of support to faculty and their students (see Appendix K).

The committee also promotes a culture of faculty scholarship at Bates. As part of this effort in 2007-2008, the committee sponsored two sessions in the Excellence in Scholarship series. In the first session, the 2006-2007 Phillips Faculty Fellows, Mark Kessler (politics), Michael Sargent (psychology), and Thomas Tracy (philosophy and religion), discussed their sabbatical research. In the second session, Trian Ngyuen (art and visual culture, Asian Studies), Erica Rand (art and visual culture, women and gender studies), and Rebecca Sommer (biology) offered a panel presentation on their strategies for finding time, energy, and resources for their scholarship. Looking ahead, the committee developed guidelines for its new enhanced sabbatical program funded by the Mellon Foundation. This $1-million grant provides support for faculty who seek a full-year sabbatical at 80% salary if they apply for external funding. The committee revised the guidelines for the Phillips Faculty Fellowship program to interface with the new sabbatical policy (see http://www.bates.edu/sabbatical-funding.xml). The committee also reviewed the draft policy on intellectual property policy, currently under development through the Educational Policy Committee.

Mellon Faculty Innovation Grants

In November 2007, Bates received a $450,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support faculty innovation in three areas: 1) the new General Education program, with particular focus on the development of General Education concentrations and their associated cours