Bates is located on a 133-acre traditional New England campus, anchored with a beautiful historic Quad. On the east side of the Quad is the academic heart of campus, the George and Helen Ladd Library. To the west is the chapel, named in memory of the late Peter J. Gomes ’65, an influential and beloved preacher, minister, professor, and author. To the north, overlooking Lake Andrews, the Olin Arts Center is home to a concert hall and the Bates College Museum of Art. Schaeffer Theatre is among several performance venues that support theater and dance. On the south side of campus, Bates has created a dynamic new hub of campus life, featuring a mix of residential spaces and student services, including a major renovation of historic Chase Hall (1919). A $75 million facilities investment in STEM teaching and research includes the Bonney Science Center (2021) and a renovation of Dana Chemistry Hall (1965) as state-of-the-art teaching centers. Extensive athletics facilities comprise the eastern edge of campus. Along the Maine coast, Bates manages the 574-acre Bates–Morse Mountain Conservation Area, for research and teaching. The adjacent Shortridge Coastal Center includes an 80-acre woodland and freshwater habitat.

Information and Library Services

Information and Library Services (ILS) supports the mission of the College with reliable and responsive information and technology resources, services, and programs to meet the evolving needs of the College community. ILS helps students, faculty, and staff embrace the continuous change that prevails in technology use, information access, and communications media. Library services are provided in the George and Helen Ladd Library, which addresses the general curricular and research needs of the College; and in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, which houses the archives, manuscripts, rare books, and other special collections of the College.

In addition to a robust technology infrastructure for all manner of academic and administrative work, there are three specialized computer labs: the Visualization Studio in Coram Library which specializes in GIS, 3D printing, and the visual representation of data; the Digital Media Studios in Pettigrew Hall, supporting multimedia and video production; and the Language Resource Center in Roger Williams Hall, which supports language and other humanities programs. More information is available on the ILS services website.

The Library

The George and Helen Ladd Library provides books, periodicals, sound and video recordings and other library materials in print and electronic formats, as well as access to online databases and other resources essential for student and faculty research. The library offers a physical learning environment conducive to individual and group study and research, and provides easy access to information in a variety of formats. The Library includes nearly 950 study spaces, all with wireless network access. More than 600 seats have electric power for charging portable devices. A fully equipped instruction room and staffed reference area are located on the main floor. Group study is encouraged on the two lower floors, in the first floor Academic Resource Commons, and in the third floor Salter Room, which is equipped with a screen-sharing system. Otherwise, the upper two floors are reserved for quiet study.

The Library's website provides access to the Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin (CBB) combined library catalog and all electronic resources licensed by Bates. Ladd Library functions as the primary point of service, with access, research, and technology services centrally located. In addition to individual consultation, research librarians provide instruction for classes and other groups of students on research skills and library and other information resources.

In all, the library contains some 600,000 cataloged volumes in print and more than 38,000 audio and video recordings. It provides access to thousands of sources of information online, including more than 70,000 periodicals and 700,000 electronic books, sound and video resources. CBB libraries together constitute a combined collection of more than two million volumes. The three college libraries collaborate closely to plan and build these collections, providing faculty, students, and staff the systems to use CBB resources before searching elsewhere. The Bates identification card allows Bates students, faculty, and staff to borrow materials from the Bowdoin and Colby libraries. Through the MaineCat statewide catalog and interlibrary loan, Bates users may initiate loan requests for materials at other academic and public libraries nationwide.

Archives and Special Collections

The Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library fosters research and scholarship by encouraging access to Bates College records and other historical materials by students and faculty, as well as scholars from the community at large. These collections enable students from Bates and elsewhere to perform historical research using primary documentary material. The collections have three major divisions: the Bates College Archives, the Manuscript Collections, and the Rare Book Collection.

The Bates College Archives serves as the official repository of records, publications, photographs, honors theses, oral histories, and other materials of permanent administrative, legal, fiscal, and historical value. It documents the history of the College from its founding in 1855 to the present.

The Manuscript Collections contain materials related to the history of Bates College, including papers of faculty members, alumni, and student work. Because of its roots as a Freewill Baptist institution, the library collects materials related to Freewill Baptist organizations and individuals. The Edmund S. Muskie Papers include almost all the extant records documenting the life and work of Edmund S. Muskie (1914–1996), a 1936 Bates graduate who dominated Maine politics from the mid-1950s to 1981. Serving as governor, senator, and Secretary of State, Muskie became a national leader for environmental protection, government reform, and fiscal responsibility.

The Rare Book Collection includes publications created by and pertaining to the Freewill Baptists in Maine and New England; nineteenth-century French history and literature; fine-press books published in Maine; Judaica; nineteenth-century books on natural history, particularly ornithology, and publications by Bates faculty and alumni.

Technology Services

Information and Library Services (ILS) provides a technology-rich environment in support of the mission of the College, which includes hardware, software, consultation, instruction, and information resources to faculty, students, and staff. ILS also provides many employment opportunities for students in which they can develop or enhance technology, communications and other work skills.

All faculty, students, and staff are assigned credentials that allow secure access to Bates computers and network services, including wireless and wired ports, on-line services, mail, calendar, printing, network storage, software, videoconferencing and proxy service for access to on-campus services and numerous library research databases from anywhere in the world. All members of the College community must comply with the Bates College Computer Use Policy.

Garnet Gateway

Bates offers faculty, students, and staff transactional services through a secure online site, Garnet Gateway. Students use Garnet Gateway to view their schedule, grades, and transcript; register for courses; view their progress toward degree requirements; view their financial aid award; complete course evaluations; declare their major(s), minor(s) and General Education concentration(s); elect student officers; evaluate study-abroad programs; nominate faculty for teaching awards; obtain enrollment verifications; and request official transcripts.

Faculty members use Garnet Gateway to view course rosters; report student grades; schedule courses; manage their advising responsibilities; receive student course evaluations; and express preferences for classroom location and equipment. Faculty and staff members, as well as student employees, use Garnet Gateway to access payroll, tax, and other employee information.

Academic Technology

Bates students and faculty members use technology extensively in their learning, research, and teaching. This is made possible by a wide range of services and facilities. There are more than 175 workstations clustered at Carnegie Science Hall, the Coram Visualization Studio, Hedge Hall, Ladd Library, Pettengill Hall, Pettigrew Hall, and Roger Williams Hall. All classrooms and the majority of event and meeting spaces have high-speed network connections, computers, and digital projection. Special facilities include interactive classrooms with large video screens for group instruction and videoconferencing, screen-sharing, classroom and presentation capture systems, plotters, 3-D printers, scanners, and digital editing machines for producing broadcast-quality video and audio. Academic technology staff consult closely with faculty and students on designing, building, and supporting a variety of projects for teaching, learning, and scholarship. More information can be found at the Curricular Research Computing website.

Digital Media Studios

The Digital Media Studios, located in the ground floor of Pettigrew Hall, comprise a suite of specialized studio and lab spaces with an expert staff to help students and faculty explore creative uses and production of traditional and emerging digital media. The studios include three private video editing suites, a radio interview studio, a flexible studio space, and an instructional lab. Additional resources allow for live broadcasts and remote recordings. The tools and facilities within the Digital Media Studios are used across academic disciplines, and are designed to encourage, emphasize, and explore the collaborative connections among teaching, learning, storytelling, the arts, and interpersonal communication in a modern digital world.

Laboratories

Laboratories and studios for student and faculty use are located throughout the campus. Biology, chemistry and biochemistry, earth and climate sciences, environmental studies, neuroscience, and physics teaching and research laboratories are housed in the Bonney Science Center, Carnegie Science Hall, and Dana Hall. Astronomy students and faculty use the Stephens Observatory with its 0.32-meter reflecting telescope and the Spitz A-3 planetarium projector, also located in Carnegie. Archaeology and psychology laboratories are housed in Pettengill Hall.

The departments of French and Francophone Studies, Hispanic Studies, German and Russian Studies, and the Program in Asian Studies (Chinese and Japanese) use the Language Resource Center in Roger Williams Hall. The center is equipped with computers, a document camera, and multi-region players with video projection for classroom instruction. The lab is also outfitted with cameras and video recording equipment for capturing activities in the context of courses.

Resources for the Arts

Schaeffer Theatre, a 300-seat proscenium-style space, is the mainstage venue for the Department of Theater and Dance and the summer home of the Bates Dance Festival. The Department of Theater and Dance also presents faculty, staff, student, and guest artist work and offers studio courses in the more intimate facilities of the Gannett Theater, the Martin Andrucki Black Box Theater and the Marcy Plavin Dance Studios.  Upcoming events for the 2025-26 Theater and Dance season can be found here.

The Olin Arts Center provides the Department of Music with music studios and rehearsal rooms for individuals and groups, a sound laboratory for digital composition, and classrooms for lecture courses. The acoustically exceptional 300-seat concert hall is the site of performances ranging from student thesis recitals and concerts by Bates musicians to special appearances by internationally known performers. 

The Olin Arts Center is also home to the Department of Art and Visual Culture and its studios, as well as classrooms for painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, ceramics, and art history.
The Bates College Museum of Art presents dynamic and topical exhibitions and educational programs in its three main galleries and academic building satellites that support interdisciplinary teaching across academic disciplines. The Museum, housed in the Olin Arts Center, holds a collection of around 10,000 objects, including the internationally-recognized Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection, and a wide range of artworks by artists from diverse cultures, backgrounds, perspectives, and eras. The Museum organizes and hosts many events each semester, such as visiting artist discussions, hands-on artmaking, and a dynamic podcast. It also supports an active and engaged internship program.

The new Immersive Media(IM) Studio in Coram Hall serves as a center for creative arts and technology. It provides students, faculty, and staff opportunities to integrate technology into the arts curriculum through courses, workshops, and artist residency programs. Created as part of IMPACT21st (Innovation, Media, Process, Arts, Collaboration and Technology for the 21st Century), the state-of-the-art multichannel video projection and audio space offers new approaches to teaching and learning in the arts and supports the Bates community in collaborative endeavors. Faculty and students are able to reserve the IMStudio to develop, produce, and exhibit a class or thesis project for days or weeks at a time, exploring the integration of new technology into their work. Guests are also invited to submit proposals for events, exhibitions, or other projects. The proposal form, with more technical information about the space, can be found here.

Bates College Museum of Art

The Bates College Museum of Art is central to the intellectual and cultural life of Bates and beyond. As a teaching museum, the museum brings a world of ideas to campus through a significant collection, engaging educational opportunities, and a vibrant program of exhibitions. Through these, the museum aligns and integrates with academic disciplines across the curriculum.

Recent interdisciplinary exhibitions have explored contemporary diverse and innovative work about rural America, a group traveling exhibition on Indigenous art today, the art of the Anthropocene, avant-garde 1980s multimedia artists from Slovenia, and drawings connecting the work of iconic New England modernists Marsden Hartley and Edward Hopper. Co-curricular programming infuses art into the cultural and social life of the College and the geographical region. The collection of around 10,000 objects provides students and scholars opportunities for longer-term study and close examination of works of art and material culture. The Museum is especially proud of being the repository for many Marsden Hartley drawings and ephemera; modern and contemporary fine art and craft; pre-modern prints; contemporary Chinese art (particularly photographs); Pre-Columbian, African, and Southeast Asian ritual objects; and works by artists of national and international significance working in Maine. Programming includes tours, lectures, gallery talks, and artmaking workshops. Hands-on and deeply engaged internships in many areas of museum work are available for students each semester. Educational and outreach programs connect collections and exhibitions to area K-12 students and their families, as well as other area groups.

Exhibition and public programs are free and open to the public. The Museum is open twelve months a year, six days a week, except between exhibitions, during some College breaks, and holidays. More information can be found on the Bates College Museum of Art website.

Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area and Shortridge Coastal Center

Bates manages 574 acres of undeveloped Maine coastline for conservation, education and research purposes. Lying between two tidal rivers near the end of the Phippsburg peninsula, the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area (BMMCA) includes salt marshes, barrier dunes, mature spruce-fir forest, and rare pitch pine forest. Granite ledge outcrops offer panoramic views of the Gulf of Maine and a narrow road offers walk-in access to the largest undeveloped barrier beach in the state.

The College conducts educational programs, scientific research, and literary study consistent with conserving the ecological and aesthetic values of the property. Current and ongoing research led by Bates faculty is focused on salt marsh responses to sea level rise, carbon cycling, sweetgrass transplanting in marsh systems and forest ecology. Visiting scientists study salt marsh nesting birds in the context of sea level rise and changing migration patterns of shore birds. Public visitation is also permitted, with over 20,000 visitors annually.

The Shortridge Coastal Center is located within two miles of the BMMCA. It provides housing for coastal researchers, students, and artists during the summer months and a setting for course work and for student, faculty, and staff gatherings during the academic year. The Center sits on eighty-acres of granite outcrops and forested wetlands, including a large freshwater pond. The property is part of a large block of adjacent undeveloped and conserved lands owned by the Town of Phippsburg and the Phippsburg Land Trust. In collaboration with this land trust, the College helps maintain several miles of trails that connect approximately 300 acres of protected land.

Both the Shortridge Coastal Center and BMMCA provide a base of operations for faculty-student research projects and other partnership activities between the College and state agencies, nonprofit organizations, and the Phippsburg community. Recent partnerships with the community include educational programs with area schools, collaborative work on climate adaptation with town officials, and summer field research to support ongoing projects and monitoring by Bates faculty and students as well as management of the BMMCA. Requests by faculty and student groups to reserve the use of Shortridge may be made through the Shortridge Coastal Center Reservation Form.