Dear Colleagues,

I hope that you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving break and that you are enjoying the holiday season. As we begin the final month of the fall semester, it is time once again to reflect on a few of the exciting things that are happening in our community. November was a month filled with the achievements and milestones that make me proud to be associated with such a thriving, exciting university.

Congratulations to Eric Landis from the UMaine civil engineering faculty, who was recently named Maine Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Faculty members from institutions all over Maine are eligible for the annual award, and I am pleased to note that UMaine faculty members win quite regularly. The award recognizes outstanding teaching, and Eric is certainly a worthy recipient. His students and colleagues are enthusiastic in their praise for Eric, who is also an outstanding researcher. I am pleased that he has received this recognition, which reflects well on Eric, the College of Engineering, and the entire UMaine faculty.

Speaking of the UMaine engineering faculty, we have recently received some interesting information about that group's research productivity. Data from the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) show that UMaine engineering faculty members average more than $212,000 in research funding each year. The UMaine number is far higher than that at any of the other five land-grant universities in New England. This tells us a lot about the talent, stature and work ethic of UMaine's engineering faculty, along with the college's leadership.

It seems that every month we have more good news about impressive rankings for the university or for a unit, and this is no exception. The international Web site EconPhD.net has ranked UMaine's Resource Economics program 50th in the world. Even better, UMaine's program in the sub-discipline of environmental and resource economics is ranked 37th. This reflects very well on the outstanding work of UMaine's faculty in these important areas, and I offer my congratulations to all involved.

In mid-November, we joined the University of New England in announcing plans to develop a joint pharmacy degree program. Initial plans call for some of the students to spend the first three years of the six-year program at UMaine, participating in our community and beginning pharmacy studies. For UMaine, this will mean more good students, and enhanced programming in important scientific disciplines. Moreover, it will help the state address a critical need and will offer more opportunities for bright and motivated Maine people to stay in the state for their education and for good jobs.

We were approached by another New England pharmacy school, within the past few weeks, to establish a similar arrangement, but we opted to partner with UNE because we much prefer an in-state arrangement. Maine depends on UMaine, as it should, to take a leadership role in solving problems and helping assure a brighter future for the state and its people. Our arrangement with UNE will also allow us to expand on our existing research relationships, generally involving UMaine's Graduate School of Biomedical Science and related programs. In fact, I believe that it is the research component of the UMaine/UNE program that will make it stand out from most other pharmacy degree programs. That will allow us to expand our teaching and research in pharmacology, metabolism, medicinal and natural product chemistry and, also with UNE, develop a Pharm D/PhD program under the auspices of the GSBS. These arrangements will also significantly boost the possibilities for spinoff businesses and related economic development.

I was pleased to note that we had another outstanding election day turnout at the UMaine polling location. It is immensely gratifying to see so many members of our community, particularly students participating in the process for the first time, taking advantage of the opportunity to vote. So many in our community, including students, faculty members and staff members -- particularly those in student affairs -- work very hard to make sure that the UMaine community is informed and engaged. One interesting initiative involved the New Media Department, which created an extensive Web site that provided access to abundant sources of information about candidates and issues. Not only do our students and others participate in significant numbers, they do so with knowledge of the issues and appreciation of the important role played by each individual.

Congratulations to the staff at the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center on hosting a successful and well-received gubernatorial debate in the final week before the election. The event was broadcast statewide on public television and radio, sending a good message to the people of Maine about this university's important role in public discussion of important issues. Several of our students participated, asking questions from the audience, and Prof. Michael Socolow was one of the panelists. All represented UMaine very well.

Vice President Janet Waldron and others have done a wonderful job in recent years helping to focus community attention on the value and importance of UMaine's beautiful historic buildings. Along those lines, we were pleased to host a November reception celebrating the 100th anniversary of Carnegie Hall, given to UMaine by Andrew Carnegie. Originally a library, Carnegie is a beautiful building that helps make up a vital core of historically significant buildings on our campus. As we did with Lord Hall, I hope that we will be able to find ways to preserve and renovate those buildings, so that they will continue to be of usefulness and value for decades to come. Those buildings are part of what makes UMaine special, and these efforts will help us link the university's glorious past to its promising future.

A wonderful UMaine holiday tradition continues this month, as the College of Education and Human Development continues its annual Holiday Book Drive. Dean Bob Cobb and others work very hard on this book drive, which involves collecting books for donation to children in the area. The UMaine bookstore and the Old Town-Orono Kiwanis Club are partners in this activity, as is the Dept. of Psychology's Child Study Center. Hundreds of area youngsters benefit from this tradition, which is now in its 29th year.

Members of various UMaine student groups deserve our accolades for the great work they do in developing programming and activities that help UMaine connect to the greater community in important ways. A great example occurred this month, when the UMaine Muslim Student Association developed a series of talks and events aimed at informing the public about the culture of Islam. More than 70 students worked for two months to develop the series of events, so that they would have the opportunity to let others know what Islam is really about. By all accounts, the activities were informative and well-received, opening the doors to a valuable and interesting exchange of ideas.

Congratulations to Wayne Slade and Margaret Estapa, graduate students in the UMaine School of Marine Sciences, who received student paper honorable mention awards at the recent Ocean Optics XVIII conference in Montreal. Wayne's adviser is Prof. Emmanuel Boss; Margaret's co-advisers are Emmanuel and Larry Mayer.

UMaine doctoral student Christy Finlayson also deserves our kudos this month. She placed first in the 4th European Conference on Biological Invasions poster competition in Vienna, Austria with her poster "Considering Biocontrol and Biological Invasions: An Experimental Unit for Primary and Secondary School Classrooms." Selected from more than 200 other posters, Christy’s entry was the only one that focused on education with regard to biological invasions. The poster, created by Finlayson and area primary and secondary school teachers with whom she works, was based on her work with local youngsters as a National Science Foundation GK-12 Fellow. The GK-12 program connects graduate students with K-12 students and their teachers.

I was pleased to see this week's commuter week series of activities, organized by UMaine's Commuter and Nontraditional Student Programs Office, along with the Off Campus Board. This was a well-conceived set of events, which included representatives of Orono and Old Town. It provided access to lots of valuable information for UMaine's commuter students, who outnumber the UMaine students who live on campus. It is important that we provide services of value to our commuter students, and I commend Barbara Smith and the others who worked hard to organize this week's events.

Each semester, the UMaine School of Performing Arts presents a wide range of high-quality music, theater and dance performances. One highlight from this semester occurred in early November, with the student production of "Wintertime," a postmodern comedy by Charles Mee. A cast of nine, under the direction of Prof. Tom Mikotowicz, staged seven performances at Hauck Auditorium.

UMaine's Bureau of Labor Education has received a $120,000 Susan Harwood Training Grant from OSHA to develop a series of safety programs for construction workers in Maine. Construction is a very significant industry in Maine, and the bureau will provide a valuable service through job site safety training programs. Like many UMaine units, including several in the Division of Lifelong Learning, the Bureau of Labor Education provides valuable outreach services to the people of Maine, extending UMaine's expertise and resources far beyond the borders of our campus.

Despite the nice November weather, I have a hunch that some wintry conditions will visit us soon. I'd like to remind each of you that UMaine's Inclement Weather Policy is online at http://www.umaine.edu/insideumaine/InclWeather.htm, and it's probably worth reviewing at this time of year. Any time there is a change in the class schedule, an announcement will be recorded at 581-SNOW (1-800-581-SNOW outside the Orono/Bangor area). While the information will also be made available to the broadcast media, the telephone option is much more more timely and reliable. As always, we recognize the value of class time and we will only make

changes under the most serious weather circumstances.

December is always an enjoyable month at UMaine, as we wrap us the semester and enjoy the holiday season. I hope each of you has the opportunity to enjoy the season with you family and friends, and to reflect with pride on all that has been accomplished at UMaine in 2006. It has been a year filled with individual accomplishment and institution-wide progress on many fronts. Each member of our community has contributed in significant ways, and I am most thankful for the role each of you has played in making this a memorable year.

Sincerely,

Bob Kennedy
President