Office of the President, general records

The institution now known as Bates College began life in 1855 as the Maine State Seminary. Oren Burbank Cheney, the driving force behind the creation of the Seminary, became the school's first 'principal' that year as well. Only when the Seminary became Bates College in 1864 did Cheney adopt the title of President, a position he retained until retirement in 1894. He was succeeded by George Colby Chase, an 1868 graduate of Bates. Chase oversaw impressive growth and change at Bates, tripling the number of students, and served as President until his death in 1919. His successor, Clifton Daggett Gray, guided Bates through two dynamic decades, dealing with the Great Depression and World War II. He retired in 1944, turning the reins over to Charles Franklin Phillips, who would serve until his own retirement in 1966. Phillips instituted the Bates Plan of Education and presided over a number of post-war building additions to the campus. Bates' fifth President was Thomas Hedley Reynolds, who oversaw perhaps the most dramatic time of change and development on campus, including changes to the physical landscape, and elimination of much of the structure and regulations that separated men and women on campus. Reynolds retired in 1988, and was succeeded by Donald West Harward. Harward's tenure was, to date, the shortest of any Bates President, as he retired from the position in 2002. During his presidency, Harward placed greater focus on off-campus study, community involvement, and student's senior thesis. His successor, and the current President, was Elaine Tuttle Hansen, a former Provost and Professor of English at Haverford College.