The Liberal Arts Tradition

The liberal arts are concerned with the intellectual and ethical dimensions of personal growth. The College seeks students who will fully engage in this enterprise; excited by ideas, artistic expression, challenging conversations, and eager to undertake the hard work that is the price of discovery. Each student must cultivate their own effective habits of mind; the College develops, encourages, and directs that process.

A Bates liberal arts education aspires to be truly transformational. Students are challenged to think judiciously and argue honestly, engage with ideas and individuals respectfully, and develop the confidence to change their mind; to grow. They should demonstrate moral awareness, developing a sense of personal integrity and civic responsibility.

The Bates liberal arts tradition is expansive, prizing a wide range of voices and seeking new perspectives on both longstanding and emerging questions. The College embraces new knowledge and analytical approaches through a dynamic curriculum. New fields of scholarship are introduced by the faculty, and the most recent advances in technology and pedagogy are incorporated into each field of study. Bates promotes the development of critical thinking and writing skills throughout the curriculum, from the First-Year Seminar program to rigorous Senior Capstone work. The College encourages students to pursue their own original research as an extension of their coursework and offers opportunities to do so. Recognizing the essential role the liberal arts play in the development of social responsibility and good citizenship, the College encourages students to study off-campus or abroad and to integrate community-engaged learning and research into their academic work.

Advising

Each Bates student has one or more advisors who provide advice to meet the student's particular needs in a number of areas. 

New students are assigned academic advisors from among members of the faculty, usually the student's First-Year Seminar (FYS) instructor. The advisor meets with a student during the student's first week on campus and continues to counsel the student until the student declares a major. The major department or program assumes the advising responsibility once the student has declared a major. Students usually work with a particular academic advisor in each major and each minor that they declare.

Students are required to declare a major no later than March 1 of the sophomore year; in the event that the student takes a leave in their first or second year at Bates, the major must be declared no later than their fourth semester. The student and the advisor meet during registration periods and on an informal basis whenever the student seeks advice about the curriculum, course selection, General Education, the major program, the thesis or senior project, progress toward the degree, graduate school, or other academic concerns. While faculty members provide academic advice, final responsibility for course selection and the completion of degree requirements rests with the student. The Office of the Registrar and Academic Systems provides students and advisors the ability to evaluate student progress toward the degree via Degree Audit in Garnet Gateway.

Besides the academic advisor, all students also work with a student support advisor (SSA). The SSA is a member of the Student Affairs staff, and the SSA supports student success by ensuring students know whom to go to when they need guidance, assistance, or just someone to talk to. Students are assigned a student support advisor prior to their matriculation and remain with their advisor for the duration of their enrollment at Bates. While academic advisors provide the primary academic advising for students, student support advisors are an additional point of contact and support for students who have concerns or questions about their academic plans.

In addition to working with two profession advisors – the academic advisor and the student support advisor – first-year students also have two peer advisors. Each student has a junior advisor, who is an older student who lives with first-year students in their residential first-year center. And, through their required First-Year Seminar, students work with an FYS Writing-Course-Attached Tutor who is available to assist students in completion of writing and other assignments in their FYS.

All students also can access the Student Advising Portal, which is an online repository and self-help resource that includes information on academic policy, academic support resources, student support resources, important dates and deadlines throughout the academic year, and more. Academic advisors and SSAs can also assist students in navigating the Portal.

In addition to the academic advisor(s) and student support advisor, faculty committees and the Bates Center for Purposeful Work provide guidance on graduate and professional schools. The Committee on Graduate Fellowships provides general information and supervises the selection process for national and international graduate fellowships and grants. Students planning professional careers in health fields are aided by the Committee on Medical Studies; these students can also access the Pre-Health Advising Support and Resources Portal. Students interested in graduate or professional schools are encouraged to contact these committees and the Center for Purposeful Work's 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.

The First-Year Seminar Program

Each first-year student must enroll in a first-year seminar, a limited-enrollment course specifically designed for first-year students, during their first fall semester at Bates. Topics vary from year to year, but seminars represent a broad range of interdisciplinary issues and questions addressed within the tradition of the liberal arts. First-year seminars enable entering students to work with faculty and other students in a small class; they provide closely supervised training in techniques of reasoning, writing, and research; and they foster an attitude of active participation in the educational process. 

First-year seminars carry course credit toward the baccalaureate degree and are offered only in the fall semester. All first-year seminars fulfill the first-level writing requirement [W1] and may fulfill other requirements, including but not limited to Mode of Inquiry requirements, major requirements, minor requirements, or general education concentration (GEC) requirements. 

A student’s first-year seminar instructor typically serves as their pre-major academic advisor, and they serve in that role until the student declares a major and receives a new advisor who teaches in that major. Descriptions of first-year seminars are found in the current version of the Bates Catalog; the first-year seminars offered in a particular semester may be found in the online schedule of courses.

Short Term

Short Term provides a unique opportunity for coursework that cannot be offered in the regular semesters. Short Term allows time for field projects in a variety of disciplines; social-service internships associated with academic departments and programs; and immersion in studio art practice, dance, theater, and laboratory science. Short Term also offers an opportunity for pedagogical innovation, including practitioner-led courses taught by experts in a variety of fields and curricular redesign courses in which students help faculty reimagine their course offerings. Short Term offers courses in other countries; recent off-campus Short Term courses have focused on ecology in the Galápagos Islands, literature and culture in China, sustainable urbanism in Germany, Shakespeare in London, and theater and film in Hungary.

The Senior Thesis/Capstone

A distinctive feature of the Bates curriculum is the senior thesis or capstone, which is offered by all departments and programs that offer a major, and is required for most majors. The faculty believes that a Bates student is well prepared to undertake a significant research, performance, or studio project in the final year of study in the major. The traditional senior thesis involves one or two semesters of original research and writing, culminating in a substantial paper on a research topic of the student's design. Such an effort requires that the student possess a deep understanding of the subject area, its theoretical underpinnings, and its research methodology. The student must also be able to think critically and comprehensively about the topic, and must be able to advance a well-formulated argument. Conducting a senior thesis draws on a student's past academic experience and requires considerable independent thinking and creativity, self-discipline, and effective time management.

The student is guided in this process by the thesis advisor. Many departments and programs bring thesis students together in seminar courses in which they meet regularly to discuss current literature, research methodologies, and their own progress. Many departments and programs require students to deliver formal presentations of their thesis work.

Some departments and programs offer or require thesis work that includes theatrical or musical performance, film and video production, curriculum development, community-based research, or studio art work and exhibition. In rare instances, qualified students may undertake a joint thesis in which two students collaborate on one project.

Several departments and programs offer alternatives to the thesis through which a senior may culminate their career at Bates, including portfolios, comprehensive examinations, or capstone research seminars. Specific information on the work required of seniors in the major fields is detailed in the Catalog section for each major.

The Honors Program

The College's Honors Program promotes, develops, and recognizes work of higher quality than ordinarily required for the baccalaureate degree. The program encourages students to achieve mastery of a specific topic within the context of a major through extensive independent study and research. Honors study proceeds throughout fall and winter semesters of the senior year under the guidance of a faculty advisor; some students begin honors research in the summer preceding the senior year.

The Honors Program consists of a substantial written thesis and an oral examination on the thesis. In an alternative offered by some departments, eligible students elect a program consisting of a performance or a project in the creative arts, a written statement based on the project, and an oral examination on the project. Examination committees include the thesis advisor, members of the major department or program, at least one faculty member from a different department or program, and an examiner from another institution who specializes in the field of study.

Honors theses become a part of the archives of the College, held on SCARAB, Bates's online repository for publications. More information is available on the Honors Program website.