The Academic Program

The material on this page is from the 1995-96 catalog and may be out of date. Please check the current year's catalog for current information.

The College believes that its emphasis on the liberal arts and sciences is justified both in sound educational principle and by the test of long experience. Bates is convinced that the broad knowledge achieved in a liberal education gives women and men a realistic, complex understanding of their world and prepares them for lives satisfying to themselves and useful to others.

The Liberal Arts and Sciences
Liberal learning is fundamentally concerned with personal growth, in both its intellectual and moral dimensions. The College believes that educated persons should welcome the hard academic work that is the price of discovery; that they should be stimulated by ideas, artistic expression, good talk, and great books; and that they should avow a continuing commitment to the search for truth in the methods of the sciences, the patterns of logic and language, and the beauties of art. The College believes that the first obligation of a student is the developing of her or his own abilities of mind; it holds further that the first duty of a liberal-arts college is to develop, encourage, and direct that process.

With intellectual development should come a deepening moral awareness. A college woman or man should have the ability to lead as well as a willingness to cooperate. Comprehension of the complexities of life should lead to a sympathetic understanding of others and a generosity in response to them. One should develop a sense of social and civic responsibility. A high sense of integrity should guide the student's every significant action.

Bates College has always held to these traditional values of the liberal arts and sciences. In a recent report to the Faculty, its Committee on Educational Policy offered a reaffirmation. The Committee wrote: "The highest purpose of Bates College is to provide a community with sufficient challenge and sufficient support so that the able undergraduate may mature in scholarship and in capacity for critical thinking and civilized expression. The graduate is more knowledgeable, to be sure, but above all he or she is capable of a reflective understanding of the self and its relationship to prior traditions and present environments."

The curriculum establishes the expectations for learning which form the foundation of the College's commitment to the liberal arts and sciences. College committees of Faculty members and students review the educational policies and the specific curricular offerings of the College. New fields of scholarship are introduced by the Faculty, and the most recent advances in technology are incorporated into the various disciplines. The College promotes the development of excellent writing and critical-thinking skills through all its curricular offerings, from the first-year seminar to the senior thesis. The College encourages students to pursue their own primary research as an extension of their regular course work, and offers opportunities and financial support to facilitate such research during the academic year and the summer months. Recognizing the fundamental role the liberal arts play in the development of social conscience and good citizenship, the College encourages students to integrate social service into their academic work and provides opportunities for service internships and field research on social issues. The five-week Short Term held every spring has encouraged educational innovation, including the integration into the curriculum of off-campus study. The calendar arrangement also provides a three-year option whereby able students, especially those with advanced standing, can accelerate their work and graduate earlier.

The Academic Calendar
The calendar calls for two semesters and a Short Term. The first semester ends in mid-December and the second ends in mid-April. A five-week Short Term concludes at the end of May. First-year and all other new students must be present for their matriculation at New Student Orientation in September. Although new students preregister prior to their arrival, they complete their registrations during the orientation period. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors register during periods established near the end of each semester.

Short Term. The Short Term provides an unusual opportunity for a variety of educational programs, frequently off campus, that cannot be offered in the regular semesters. These include marine biological studies at stations on the coast of Maine; geology field trips to the Southwest, Canada, and Scotland; art, theater, and music studies in New York City and Europe. The spring term allows for archeological investigations by students in history and anthropology, field projects for students in economics, psychology, and sociology, and social-service internships associated with academic departments; it provides special opportunities, on and off campus, for those carrying out laboratory experiments in the natural sciences. The term also allows for programs in foreign countries: the study of Shakespearean drama and Renaissance culture in England; art history in Florence; anthropological study in Bali, Greece, and Jamaica; ecological studies of Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands; and intensive study of the languages and literatures of the People's Republic of China, France, Germany, Spain, and Quebec. During past Short Terms, students and professors have also traveled and studied in the countries of the former Soviet Union and a range of Eastern European nations.

Students may complete a maximum of three Short Term units, although only two are needed to fulfill the degree requirement. Students wishing to register for a third Short Term unit receive a lower registration priority than students registering for their first or second unit. An exception to this ranking is made for three-year students, who are required to complete three Short Term units. The ranking does not apply to units requiring "written permission of the instructor" to register.

Three-Year Option. The three-year option is designed for the especially able student who may benefit from an accelerated undergraduate program that allows for earlier admission to graduate school or to career placement. The accelerating student takes five courses each semester and attends every Short Term, completing the degree requirement of thirty courses, sixty quality points, and three Short Term units.

Leaves of Absence and Reinstatement. Some students find that their academic motivation is reaffirmed and the college experience enhanced by an interruption of study for a semester, a year, or two years after their matriculation. Accordingly, the College permits students in good standing who believe that they would benefit from this kind of break to apply to the Dean of Students or the Associate Dean of Students for a leave of absence. The College guarantees reinstatement to the student at the end of the specified period, provided a registration deposit is made by August 1 for the first semester and December 1 for the second semester.

A student in good academic standing who withdraws from the College may be reinstated at the discretion of the Dean of Students or the Associate Dean of Students. A student not in good academic standing who withdraws or is dismissed from the College must apply to the Faculty Committee on Academic Standing for readmission. Before such a student can be considered for readmission, he or she must be separated from the College for at least one full semester and must provide evidence of serious purpose and of academic or professional involvement. Candidates for readmission for fall semester must submit their credentials by May 15. Those seeking readmission for winter semester must submit their credentials by November 15.

General Education
Throughout the College's history, its Faculty has expected all students to pursue certain common patterns of study as well as to complete a major or concentrated focus of study. The Faculty continues to believe that there are areas of knowledge and understanding, modes of appreciation, and kinds of skills that are of general and lasting significance for the intellectual life.

In establishing these General Education requirements, the Faculty reflects its conviction that the graduating student should have a critical appreciation of scientific and social scientific knowledge and understanding. It is believed that experience with theories and methods of at least one science and at least one social science leads to awareness of both the importance of such knowledge in the modern world and its limitations. In addition, the Faculty is convinced that the graduating student should have an appreciation for the manner in which quantitative techniques can increase one's capacity to describe and analyze the natural and social worlds.

The Faculty also believes that the graduating student should understand both the possibilities and the limitations of disciplined study in the humanities and history. Such study permits a critical perspective on the ideas, values, expressions, and experiences that constitute our culture. It also encourages respect for the integrity of thought, judgment, creativity, and tradition beyond twentieth-century America. The Faculty also encourages each student to do some study in a foreign language.

The First-Year Seminar Program
The First-Year Seminars are limited-enrollment courses that may be taken only by first-year students. Topics vary from year to year, but they always represent a broad range of issues and questions addressed within the tradition of the liberal arts and sciences. The First-Year Seminars enable entering students to work with faculty and other students in the context of a small class; they provide closely supervised training in techniques of reasoning, writing, and research; and they foster an attitude of involvement and active participation in the educational process.

First-Year Seminars carry full course credit toward the baccalaureate degree and are offered each fall and winter semester. A seminar may fulfill a General Education requirement in the humanities and history, and designated seminars may satisfy the quantitative requirement. First-year students are encouraged to consult the listing of seminars at the beginning of the catalog section on Courses and Units of Instruction.

Major Fields of Study
While the Faculty believes that each student should have essential familiarity with the main fields of liberal learning -- the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences -- it also believes that a student must choose a field of special concentration -- a major -- to gain the advantages that come from studying one academic subject more extensively and intensively. This major field occupies a quarter to a third of the student's college work and may be related to the intended career following graduation.

Departmental Majors. Majors may be taken in fields established within the academic departments. There are twenty-three such majors: anthropology, art, biology, chemistry, East Asian languages and cultures, economics, English, French, geology, German, history, mathematics, music, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, religion, rhetoric, Russian, sociology, Spanish, and theater. The specific requirements for each major are explained in the introductory paragraphs to the department's courses and units of instruction.

Students may also register for a double major, which requires completion of all major requirements, including the comprehensive examination and/or the thesis, in two academic departments. The double major must be approved by the Chairs of both departments.

Interdisciplinary Program Majors. The Faculty has established interdisciplinary programs in which students may major. These include: African American studies, American cultural studies, biological chemistry, classical and medieval studies, and women's studies. The programs are administered by committees made up of Faculty members from different departments. Requirements for these programs are indicated in the curriculum section of the Catalog. An interdisciplinary program in environmental studies was approved by the Faculty in 1995; it will be available for the class entering in September 1996. Prior to its formal establishment, students may choose to major in this area through programs arranged on an individual basis.

Individual Interdisciplinary Majors. In addition to established departmental and interdisciplinary program majors, a student may propose an individual interdisciplinary major, should that student discover a well-defined intellectual interest that crosses one or more of the boundaries of the established fields of concentration. An interdisciplinary major involves a detailed program of study, with courses drawn from at least two departments but only one senior thesis and/or comprehensive examination. The thesis may be supervised, graded, and credited within one of the departments involved; or it may be sponsored by a member of the Faculty under the Interdisciplinary Major Thesis designation. The following list samples interdisciplinary majors that past students have developed.

Biopsychology Literature and Performance

Bioethics Scenography

Environmental Studies Religion in the American Experience

Northern Studies Middle Eastern Politics

South Asia Regional Studies Judaic Studies

Aesthetics-Philosophy of Art Juvenile Law

Latin American Studies African American Performance

Radical Images of America Art and Physics

Studies in Power Relations Ancient Studies

Classical and Dramatic Studies The Meaning of the Renaissance

Psychology of Religion-Belief Systems Tradition and Transformation in the Third World

Cognitive Science

Detailed guidelines and an application for this kind of major are available from the Registrar. Proposals for interdisciplinary majors must be submitted to the Registrar for approval by the Committee on Curriculum and Calendar early in the junior year. Students interested in seeking approval of this kind of major should consult with the Chairs of the relevant departments and with the intended major advisor.

The Honors Program
The College's honors program also gives qualified students an opportunity to do extensive independent study and research in their major fields. Interdisciplinary majors are eligible to participate through the department in which their theses are supervised, graded, and credited. Honors awarded for special distinction in the major fields are on three levels: Honors, High Honors, and Highest Honors. Honors study usually is carried on throughout the senior year under the guidance of a faculty advisor. Students normally enter the program at the end of the junior year. Students who wish to be nominated to the honors program should apply to their major departments or programs.

The honors program consists of the writing of a substantial thesis, and an oral examination on the thesis and the major field. Some departments require a written comprehensive examination as well. In an alternative offered by some departments, eligible students elect a program consisting of a project in the creative arts; a written statement on the project, if requested by the department; a written comprehensive examination, if requested by the department; and an oral examination on the project and on courses in the major. The oral-examination committee includes the thesis advisor, members of the major department, at least one faculty member not a member of the major department, and an examiner from another college or university who specializes in the field of study.

Secondary Concentrations
Foreign Languages. In addition to completing a major, a student may elect to complete a secondary concentration in Chinese, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Latin, Russian, or Spanish. Application for a secondary concentration should be made to the Chair of the appropriate department. A secondary concentration requires a minimum of seven courses in the given language (or six courses and a designated Short Term unit). All courses taken at Bates must be from the curriculum of the department. At least one of the seven courses must involve a study of literature or culture (taught either in the language or in translation), but only one course in translation may be counted toward the concentration. A student may petition to have up to three comparable courses, completed at other institutions either in the United States or abroad, apply toward the secondary concentration.

Computer Studies. A student may elect to complete a secondary concentration in computer studies in addition to a major. Required for this secondary program are four courses designated as the core courses, and three additional courses or units selected by the student from an annually designated list of curricular offerings involving computer design or application. The four core courses required for the secondary concentration in computer studies are Computer Science 101, 102, plus any two from Computer Science 201, 202, 301, or 302. In addition, three designated component courses must be taken, for a total of seven courses.

Requirements for the Baccalaureate Degree
The Course and Unit Credit System. A student's progress toward the baccalaureate degree is measured by course credits and unit credits. All courses offered in the fall and winter semesters carry one course credit; all curriculum offerings in the Short Term are accorded one unit credit. Each candidate for the baccalaureate degree must complete thirty-two course credits and two Short Term units, except students who elect to complete the degree in three years. Three-year students must complete thirty course credits and three Short Term units.

Entering students who have secured a satisfactory grade in a college-level course similar to any course needed to satisfy the General Education requirement may petition the Chair of the appropriate department for an exemption from such courses. Exemption from particular courses or major requirements, excluding General Education requirements, may also be achieved by satisfactory performance on the Advanced Placement tests of the College Entrance Examination Board.

Grades and Grade Reports. The Faculty of the College assesses student academic performance by assigning the following grades: A, B, C, D, F. Quality-point equivalencies for these grades are described below. A grade of "ON" is used to indicate that a course requires two semesters of work to receive one credit and that a final grade will be determined at the end of the second semester. A temporary grade of "DEF" indicates that a student has secured, through a faculty member and the Dean of Students, a formal deferral for incomplete course work. Incomplete work for which deferred grades are given must be completed in a specific period of time as determined on the deferral form. The deferred grade will become an "F" grade if the work is not completed on time. Faculty members may choose to use Satisfactory ("S") or Unsatisfactory ("U") grades to assess the work of all of their students in any given Short Term unit.

Grade reports are sent to students approximately four weeks after the end of each semester. Parents who qualify under FERPA regulations to receive copies of dependent students' grade reports are sent them one week later.

Transfer Credits After Admission to the College. Students may transfer up to eight course credits after they have enrolled at Bates. These courses must be taken at regionally accredited four-year institutions of higher learning, and they must be appropriate to a liberal-arts college and comparable in quality to those offered at Bates College. Correspondence, extension, community college, and continuing-education courses may not be transferred. Of the eight courses allowed to be transferred, no more than two may be summer-school courses. All transfer credits must be officially transferred no later than the end of the first semester of the senior year. Students must achieve a minimum grade of C- in each course offered for transfer. Grades earned in courses accepted for transfer are not computed when determining the student's grade-point average in the College. Transferred courses are equivalent to one Bates course credit and two Bates quality points. The Registrar's Office administers post-matriculation transfer credit and the Faculty Committee on Academic Standing is responsible for all decisions concerning transfer courses.

Degree Requirements. Students may pursue courses leading to the degree of either bachelor of arts or bachelor of science.

Each candidate for graduation must complete the following requirements:

Either (a) thirty-two course credits, sixty-four quality points, and two Short Term units; or (b) thirty course credits, sixty quality points, and three Short Term units. Option (b) is available only for students who graduate in three years. The following values are used in the computation of quality points:
```
A+ = 4.0   B+ = 3.3   C+ = 2.3   D+ = 1.3
A  = 4.0   B  = 3.0   C  = 2.0   D  = 1.0   F  = 0
A- = 3.7   B- = 2.7   C- = 1.7   D- = 0.7   ON = 0
```
All prescribed work in the major field, including at least eight courses.
In the senior year, satisfactory achievement on a comprehensive examination in the major field, or a senior thesis, or both, as determined by the major department.
Registration in each regular semester for no fewer than three or no more than five academic courses.
Senior work in the major field must be completed while in residence.
Satisfactory completion of four physical education activity courses. The requirement may be met through department-approved participation in intercollegiate athletics, club sports, and activity courses, or any combination. The requirement is to be completed by the end of the second year on campus.
General-Education Requirements. The following four requirements must be fulfilled in addition to the requirements noted in 1-6 above:
1. At least three courses from the curriculum in biology, chemistry, geology, or physics and astronomy. Two of the courses must be a department-designated set. Only a department-designated Short Term unit, as listed in the introduction to the department's course offerings in the Catalog, may serve as an option for the third course. A student major in one of these departments must fulfill this requirement by including at least one course or designated unit outside the major but within one of the departments noted above. This course or unit may be one required by the major department.
2. At least three courses from the curriculum in anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, or sociology. Two of the courses must be a department-designated set. A department-designated Short Term unit may serve as an option for the third course. A student major in one of these departments must fulfill this requirement by including at least one course or designated unit outside the major but within one of the departments noted above. This course or unit may be one required by the major department.
3. At least one course or unit in which the understanding and use of quantitative techniques are essential to satisfactory performance. Designations of these courses and units are made by the departments and cited in this catalog. Courses and units designated as satisfying requirements in the natural sciences and in the social sciences - see a) and b) above - also may be designated to satisfy this requirement.
4. At least five courses from the curriculum of three of the following fields: art, English, foreign languages and literatures, music, philosophy, religion, theater, rhetoric, and history. Three of these five courses must comprise an approved cluster, which is a group of courses organized around a principle of coherence. The cluster normally must be drawn from at least two of the fields listed above. The cluster may include one course in the social or natural sciences, but not more than one. The two remaining courses need not be related to the cluster. A secondary concentration in a foreign language or participation in the Bates Fall Semester Abroad Program may replace the three-course cluster.
Lists of Faculty-approved clusters are published yearly. Before registration for the first semester of the senior year, a student may propose an alternative cluster, which must be approved by the Faculty Cluster Development Committee. Forms for making such proposals are available in the Registrar's office. In the Committee's design of clusters or in its approval of student-initiated clusters, one course from outside the humanities and history may be included. Such a designated course may fulfill both the course and field-distribution requirements.
In addition, candidates for the bachelor of science degree must complete either Chemistry 107-108 or Chemistry 109, Mathematics 105-106, Physics 107-108, or their equivalents (Advanced Placement credit, transfer credit, or placement out of a course and substitution of a more advanced course in the department).
Liberal Arts-Engineering Combined Plan. After three years of full-time study at Bates, qualified students may enroll in a two-year engineering program at Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Case Western Reserve University, or Washington University in St. Louis. Upon completion of this five-year program, students receive both an undergraduate degree from Bates College and a bachelor of science in engineering from the engineering-school affiliate. Students who wish to pursue this line of study should consult with the faculty advisor for the Combined Plan within the first two weeks of their undergraduate careers.
Academic Honors. The College recognizes academic achievement through two kinds of honors: general honors and major-field honors. (see p. 13).
There are three gradations of general honors based on the students' total achievements. Cum laude goes to those with a quality-point ratio of 3.400 to less than 3.600; magna cum laude, 3.600 to less than 3.800; summa cum laude, 3.800 or higher.

Off-Campus Study Programs
The Bates Fall Semester Abroad Program. The College sponsors one or more fall semester abroad programs under the direction of members of the Faculty. In 1994 the programs were held in Berlin and Tokyo; in 1995 the program will be in Nantes, France. The objectives of this program include combining academic work with a cross-cultural learning experience, and providing students with significant improvement in a foreign-language proficiency. Four course credits are awarded for successful completion of the program, which includes intensive language instruction and seminars in topics relevant to understanding the host country. Grades are included on the Bates transcript and figured in the student's grade-point average. Although this program is open to all students, preference is given to new matriculants. Additional information is available from the Office of Admissions and the Office of the Dean of Students.

Study Abroad. To provide opportunities for academic study and research not readily available on campus, the College supports study in universities and select academic programs outside the United States by qualified students during one or two semesters in the junior year. Bates has found that the variety of academic disciplines, the different methods of study, and the experience of living in a foreign culture often enhance a student's academic career. The College believes that it is essential for the student to be as fully integrated into the foreign university system as language skills allow, associating freely and individually with the regular students.

Under this program students have studied in more than thirty-five countries. In recent years, the universities have included Bath, Bristol, East Anglia, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Sussex, and York in Great Britain; Trinity College and the University Colleges of Cork, Dublin, and Galway in Ireland; and the Universities of Melbourne, New South Wales, Queensland, and Sydney in Australia. In non-English-speaking countries, students study in American college programs selected for their academic quality, emphasis on full immersion experiences, and association with foreign universities. Students have studied throughout Western Europe, as well as in China, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Japan, Nepal, and Russia, and in numerous additional countries in Africa and Central and South America.

To be eligible for the Junior Year Abroad or the Junior Semester Abroad, a student must have an overall 2.5 cumulative average at the time of application for study abroad. A student may become ineligible if this average drops below 2.5 at any point in the application process or after admission to the foreign institution. Registration as a four-year student, including such residence during the sophomore year, is required. The student must also consult with and obtain the approval of the Chair of the major department. If other than an English-speaking university is selected, a certificate of proficiency must be secured from the Chair of the relevant foreign-language department. The Committee on Off-Campus Study also considers the student's personal maturity and character, as well as capacity for independent work, in determining eligibility. Admission to a particular university is entirely dependent upon its decision with regard to the individual applicant. The number of students who may study abroad for only the winter semester may be limited by the College.

The student who participates in the Junior Year Abroad program or the Junior Semester Abroad program is fully registered in the College and is eligible for College scholarships and grants. A registration fee of $175 is charged; all other expenses are determined by the foreign program and are the obligation of the individual student. Additional information and applications for all off-campus study programs are available through the Office of the Dean of Students.

Washington Semester Program. Bates participates in the Washington Semester Program administered by American University. Residence in the District of Columbia for the fall semester enables students to study and research firsthand the policies and processes of the federal government.

Maritime Studies. Bates is one of a small group of select colleges participating in the Williams College-Mystic Seaport Program in American Maritime Studies. In addition to taking courses in American maritime history, marine ecology, maritime literature, marine policy, and oceanography, students are introduced to navigational and shipbuilding skills. They also spend approximately two weeks at sea, sailing and conducting research. All the facilities of Mystic Seaport, including its exhibits and the G. W. Blunt Library, are available to the participants. Students spend one semester in the program.

India. Bates is a member of the South India Term Abroad (SITA) consortium. This program provides an opportunity during the fall semester for students to study Indian language, history, culture, and related topics in Tamil Nadu. The curriculum, taught by Indian faculty and faculty of the consortium colleges, is designed to ensure broad exposure to South Asian life and culture.

Sri Lanka. Bates College has joined with other institutions to sponsor the ISLE program for study in Sri Lanka. The program, offered during the fall semester, gives qualified students the opportunity for immersion in Sri Lankan culture under the guidance of a faculty member from one of the sponsoring colleges.

Exchange Programs. Qualified sophomores and juniors may study for one semester or a year at McGill University in Montreal, or Washington and Lee University in Virginia. Exchange programs with Morehouse and Spelman colleges in Atlanta provide Bates students with the opportunity to study for a semester at a historically black men's or women's college. A minimum grade-point average and approval by the Off-Campus Study Committee are required.

Transfer Credit Opportunities. Many students choose to expand their Bates experience by attending classes at other institutions, from which they may receive transfer credit for completed courses. Usually these courses are taken at state universities and private colleges, but courses from more specialized programs, such as the Center for Northern Studies in Vermont, the Salt Center for Documentary Field Studies in Maine, and the New York Studio School, may also be transferred. Students interested in pursuing these opportunities should consult the guidelines for transferring credit on page 19.

College Venture Program. Bates, in cooperation with Brown, Connecticut College, Hobart and William Smith, Holy Cross, Vassar, Wesleyan, and William and Mary, offers a job placement service for students who choose to interrupt undergraduate education by taking a leave of absence. Students who elect not to be in attendance for Short Term may also use this program to secure employment from mid-April to September. A limited number of half-year or full-year placements are available for graduating students. The student may choose employment from nearly three hundred career-entry positions in a wide variety of fields. This service is often used by students to test their interests in these various careers.

Student Research Opportunities
Bates offers students a number of opportunities to conduct directed or independent research, off or on campus, during the academic year and the summer months.

Research Internship Programs. The College encourages qualified students to earn course credit by participating in special research programs offered off campus by other educational and research institutions. Faculty of the department closely associated with the research area are familiar with these opportunities, and students should apply to them through the department Chairs. Internships are usually for one semester or a Short Term during the upperclass years. Biological research internships are available to qualified students at the Bigelow Laboratory for Oceanographic Studies in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, and other nationally recognized research laboratories in the natural sciences.

Support for Research During the Academic Year. The College encourages students to pursue research associated with regular courses and Short Term units, independent studies, and the senior thesis. Funds are available through competitive grant programs that provide financial assistance for student research, including the acquisition of books, data sets, and musical scores, supplies and equipment, and travel to research facilities and scholarly conferences. Information and applications are available in the Office of the Dean of the Faculty.

Summer Research Opportunities. Bates Faculty members are actively involved in scholarly research, and offer qualified students the opportunity to work with them as research apprentices during the summer months. These opportunities offer stipends rather than academic credit, and are available directly from faculty researchers funded through faculty grants, or through the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, which manages a number of student summer research grant programs. Students are encouraged to explore off-campus summer research opportunities as well. Funding is available to conduct off-campus fieldwork and to support the work of a student at another research facility.

The Writing Workshop
The College values students' ability to think critically and to write clear, vigorous prose. The Writing Workshop assists in honing those skills by providing a staff of professional writers who assess each student's needs and implement individual tutorials. Generally, students establish regular, hour-long meetings with a particular writer to work on academic papers.

Students may use the Workshop to learn to analyze assignments, generate and organize ideas, revise drafts, and polish their writing. Special assistance is available for writing in science courses. Staff writers also offer informal workshops in creative writing. The program is open to all students throughout their career at Bates.

To ensure proper attention to learning to write well, the First-Year Seminars and Writing Workshop Committee of the Faculty establishes standards for evaluating students' writing. Students who do not meet these standards are advised to elect a First-Year Seminar or other course that emphasizes writing, or to seek instruction at the Writing Workshop.

Academic Advising
It is the privilege and right of students to have an academic advisor during the college years and to benefit from the advice of members of the Faculty in planning a curriculum to meet their particular needs. New students are assigned academic advisors, who hold individual conferences with students during their first week on campus. These advisors continue to counsel the student until the major department assumes this responsibility upon the request of the student -- no later than the end of the second year. The student and the advisor meet during registration periods and on an informal basis whenever the student seeks advice about the curriculum, course selection, or other academic concerns. While faculty members provide academic advice, final responsibility for course selection rests with the student.

Responsibility for graduate-study and professional-study guidance is shared among the members of the student's major department, special Faculty committees, and the Office of Career Services. Each department gives a member of its faculty the responsibility for providing information and counsel in this area. Three standing committees of the Faculty also aid in this effort: The Committee on Graduate Study provides general information and supervises the selection process for various graduate fellowships and grants; students planning professional careers in legal and medical areas are aided by the Legal Studies and the Medical Studies committees. Students interested in these fields or in other graduate and professional schools are encouraged to contact these committees and the Office of Career Services' counseling staff early in their college career so that a curriculum and a series of related internships and work experiences can be planned to meet their professional goals.

Office of Career Services
Some students come to college with definite careers in mind; others are uncertain as to their career focus and need ample opportunity to explore various possibilities. The principal charge of the Office of Career Services is to help students become aware of their interests, skills, and values and how these combine and relate to the varieties of career possibilities available to them after graduation. The Office complements faculty members' academic-advising efforts by providing a variety of integrated career services. These services include confidential career counseling, computerized career-interest testing, an extensive library of occupational and professional career information, and videotaped mock-interview equipment for student training; summer, leave-of-absence, and full-time, entry-level employment listings; a 4,000-member alumni and parent career-advisory network; confidential reference service; numerous internship programs; weekly student newsletter; a series of career-oriented and job-hunting skills symposia, workshops, and conferences; on- and off-campus interviews with prospective employers and with representatives from graduate and professional schools; and career-counseling services for alumni. Students are encouraged to utilize the services of the Office of Career Services early, in order to integrate effectively their academic, career, and personal needs and goals into a professional focus. Since the Office of Career Services does not function as a job or internship placement agency, early and frequent use of the service will lead to mastery of career processes and to independence and empowerment in one's future professional life.

The Library and Academic Facilities
The Library. The George and Helen Ladd Library is one of the most central and important facilities of the College, housing books, periodicals, government publications, music scores, maps, microforms, sound recordings, video recordings, access to on-line databases, material on CD-ROM, and other items essential for students and faculty to carry on their research. The Library offers a quiet, congenial environment in which study and research can take place and provides easy access to information in a variety of formats. There are approximately six hundred study spaces, including individual carrels, lounge chairs, and seating at tables, work stations, listening stations, and viewing stations. Quiet study is encouraged throughout the building, except in designated areas where group studying and conversations may take place.

The central point of access for information is the on-line public access catalog (OPAC), whose terminals are located throughout the Library. A joint enterprise initiated in 1989 with Bowdoin and Colby colleges, the catalog has nearly one million bibliographic records representing the cataloged collections of all three libraries. The system also provides information about the periodical holdings of other Maine libraries (MULS) and access to thousands of periodical resources in the Expanded Academic Index (EAI) and CARL UnCover databases. The Reference Department can conduct searches in a variety of sources, including approximately 15,000 volumes and many additional works on CD-ROM. Reference librarians with expertise in the social sciences, the humanities, the natural sciences, and government publications offer bibliographic instruction in many of the courses in the curriculum, as well as consultation on an individual basis. The audio area on the ground floor contains both sound and video recordings, and the periodicals area provides microform readers for material in that format -- newspapers, periodicals, books, and documents.

In all, the Library owns over 602,000 volumes in print, 290,000 pieces of microform, and 21,000 recordings, and provides access to numerous sources of information on-line. The Ladd Library resources are augmented by the collections of Colby and Bowdoin colleges, which offer another 1,700,000 items. The bar-coded Bates ID card allows Bates students and faculty to borrow materials over the counter at either of those libraries, and interlibrary loans can be initiated at Bates. The three college libraries consider their collections to be part of the total material available to their students and faculty and encourage using the consortium's resources before searching elsewhere. Turnaround time for such lending is usually two or three days.

The College Library was founded in 1863 with fewer than 800 volumes, but had more than 20,000 when Coram Library opened in 1901. In 1883 it was designated the first depository for United States government documents in Maine; it now has over 120,000 printed government documents, 185,000 in microformat, more than 5,000 maps, and hundreds of items recently issued on CD-ROM. The Library is also a selective depository for documents of the State of Maine. When the Ladd Library opened for the first time in September 1973, all of the branch libraries of the College were brought into the central building. The ground level of Ladd Library was completed in 1982, providing a centralized periodicals area, government documents stacks, the audio area, and art and music stacks, and freeing up space for special collections on the second floor. The latest Library expansion in 1992 included the installation of easily movable compact shelving to house a large portion of the collection.

The Special Collections include nearly 2,000 rare books, one of the strongest collections in America of early Baptist publications (reflecting the College's origins), the Jonathan Stanton Natural History Collection, the Phelps Collection of signed first editions, the Isaac Rice collection of nineteenth-century works in French and German, publications of Maine small presses, the Marsden Hartley Collection (consisting of books owned by the early twentieth-century painter and poet, a Lewiston native), the Berent collection of Judaica, works by authors associated with Bates, both alumni and staff, and some archival material related to the College and its history. It has more than 15,000 volumes in its collections and thousands of other manuscript and archival documents.

The Edmund S. Muskie Archives. The Archives documents alumnus Edmund S. Muskie's career in public service from his first election to the Maine House of Representatives in 1946 to his appointment as U.S. secretary of state in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter, and his activities since leaving public office. It also holds a permanent collection of memorabilia from Muskie's personal and public life. The Muskie Archives represents the first such facility in Maine to be established as a separate repository at an institution of higher education. The collection--one of the largest in the nation on a non-presidential political figure--provides students from Bates and elsewhere an opportunity to gain firsthand experience in historical research using primary documentary material, complementing the College's academic programs. It is also a rich source of documentation for historians, political scientists, and other scholars studying the political and social history of Maine and the nation since World War II.

The presence of the Archives on campus underscores the College's commitment to the study and discussion of public affairs, which enrich intellectual discourse at the College. Each year the Archives sponsors lectures, symposia, and conferences on national and state politics, foreign policy and environmental issues, and other matters of public policy to which Muskie made important contributions. The Edmund S. Muskie Archives was dedicated on September 28, 1985.

Information Services. User Support Services, located in Pettigrew Hall, offers a fully integrated microcomputer network system for Macintosh and IBM-compatible personal computers, with access to the international Internet system and to several Bates computers. Dormitory rooms are fully networked, enabling students to connect their personal computers to the Bates College Network. The College recently established the Bates Campus-Wide Information System (CWIS), with World Wide Web connections to on-campus and Internet-wide information (URL: http://www.bates.edu/). Students use a number of different types of computers, depending upon the application. Under the UNIX operating system, the Bates main academic computer, a DEC 5000/260, supports programming in BASIC, FORTRAN, PL1, C, and other languages. In addition to the main Treat Gallery academic facility in Pettigrew Hall, over 150 public microcomputers and terminals are clustered in Coram Library, Libbey Forum, Dana Chemistry Hall, Carnegie Science Hall, and Ladd Library. Special facilities include "interactive" classrooms with large video screens for group instruction, graphics terminals, plotters, laser printers, scanners, and a microcomputer training room. The Libbey Forum Computing Laboratory is used primarily by social-science students who analyze data in economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology using statistical-analysis packages including SPSS, MINITAB, and TSP. Bates supports a growing number of social-science studies from ICPSR as well as economic time-series data.

The College's computer systems have continued to expand in response to user needs. All students may obtain an access ID which allows them access to the Bates computers and network services, including the library catalog and electronic mail. The main academic computer has 128 megabytes of memory and 9.00 gigabytes of on-line disk storage. Current machine usage is in excess of fifty thousand hours annually. Most students use the computing facilities each year, for class assignments, research, writing papers, work for campus organizations, and communication via electronic mail.

Courses in computer science are offered by the Department of Mathematics, and many other departments of the College offer courses which use computing extensively. In economics, for example, integration of theoretical and empirical work requires computer use for statistical analysis and modeling. In the psychology microcomputer StatLab, data sets are generated to simulate research studies which students analyze and interpret. The music department uses microcomputers to teach composition and introduce graphics applications; in chemistry, experimental data are collected and retrieved for analysis and simulation. The foreign-languages computer laboratory offers interactive multimedia learning with CD-ROM and video-disk readers. Art students are experimenting with multimedia works created with computers. Currently, over eighty microcomputers and several work stations are in use in laboratory settings in the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Foreign Languages, Geology, Mathematics, Music, Physics and Astronomy, Psychology, and Sociology.

Students may also develop their computing skills by working as assistants, consultants, or programmers for Computing Service.

The Laboratories and Studios. The natural sciences are housed in the newly renovated Carnegie Science and Dana Chemistry halls. In Carnegie are laboratory facilities for biology, physics, and geology. Astronomy students and faculty use the Stephens Observatory with its 0.32-meter reflecting telescope and the Spitz A-3 planetarium projector. Experimental work in psychology is carried on in the psychology laboratories, which are located in Coram and Carnegie.

The Departments of Classical and Romance Languages and Literatures and of German, Russian, and East Asian Languages and Literatures enjoy audio laboratories and audio-visual classrooms in Hathorn Hall, for instruction in language skills. These individual and group laboratories are complemented by the fifty listening stations in the audio area of the George and Helen Ladd Library.

The Department of Theater and Rhetoric, located in Pettigrew Hall, uses the proscenium stage of the Miriam Lavinia Schaeffer Theatre, which seats over three hundred. In addition, the Department conducts experimental and studio work in the smaller facilities of the Gannett Theater.

The Olin Arts Center. Built with a gift from the F. W. Olin Foundation of New York and Minneapolis, the Olin Arts Center opened in the fall of 1986. The Center provides art studios for painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, and ceramics. It also provides the Department of Music with music studios and individual as well as group rehearsal rooms. A three-hundred-seat concert hall is included in the building.

The Museum of Art. Within the Olin Arts Center, the Museum of Art offers students and the public opportunities to study the visual arts. It houses the College's permanent collection of internationally significant works of art and maintains an active exhibition schedule. In the upper gallery are exhibitions of contemporary and historical arts, solo and group invitationals, and an annual student exhibition. The permanent collection is often on view in the lower gallery on a rotating basis. Lectures, tours, and workshops are offered as a part of the Museum's educational program.

The Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area. The College is the beneficiary institution of 574 acres of undeveloped barrier seacoast located about fifteen miles south of Bath, Maine, and has been entrusted with the management of this rare property. The land lies between two tidal rivers, the Morse and the Sprague, and includes over 150 acres of salt marsh and a mile of hard, sandy beach backed by extensive dunes and by the granite ledges and woods of Morse Mountain. This property is being preserved as a forever-wild area on which geological, botanical, and zoological studies of the beach, marsh, and dunes are carried out. The principal researchers are Bates College faculty and undergraduates, as well as scientists from other educational and research institutions.

Confidentiality of Education Records
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) is a federal law designed to protect the privacy of education records, to establish the right of students to inspect and review their education records, and to provide guidelines for the correction of inaccurate and misleading data through informal and formal hearings.

Bates College maintains or may access computerized education records in the offices of Career Services, faculty advisors, Dean of Students, Financial Aid, and the Registrar. Students may inspect and review their education records upon request to the appropriate record custodian within forty-five days from the receipt of the request. Bates College reserves the right to refuse to permit a student to inspect those records excluded from the FERPA definition of education records and to deny transcripts or copies of records not required to be made available by FERPA if the student has an unpaid financial obligation to the College or if there is an unresolved disciplinary action against him or her. Fees will not be assessed for search and retrieval of the records; however, there may be a charge for copying and postage.

The Registrar's Office makes available copies of the federal regulations and the institutional policy on educational records as well as additional information about the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.

Biopsychology	Literature and Performance
Bioethics	Scenography
Environmental Studies	Religion in the American Experience
Northern Studies	Middle Eastern Politics
South Asia Regional Studies	Judaic Studies
Aesthetics-Philosophy of Art	Juvenile Law
Latin American Studies	African American Performance
Radical Images of America	Art and Physics
Studies in Power Relations	Ancient Studies
Classical and Dramatic Studies	The Meaning of the Renaissance
Psychology of Religion-Belief Systems	Tradition and Transformation in the Third World
Cognitive Science