Dear Colleagues,

Reflecting on the month of October at UMaine causes me to recognize once again what a vibrant and exciting place UMaine is. Virtually every day featured several examples of the achievements that reflect the widespread excellence that exists in our community. The month also included Homecoming Weekend, which is always an enjoyable event allowing a great many alums and friends to re-connect with the university.

I was delighted to get the recent news that UMaine has been selected by Barron's as one of the 247 "Best Buys in College Education." Earlier this year, as you may recall, Princeton Review included UMaine in its publication, "The Best 361 Colleges." Independent endorsements like these are nice, and they can help in raising the university's profile and in continuing to recruit and enroll good students. It is particularly gratifying to be noted in these two publications, because they are based in part on surveys of current students. It is a compliment to the good work and ongoing efforts of each faculty member and staff member that UMaine's students are telling these publications that the UMaine experience is a good one.

One October highlight was most certainly the ribbon-cutting event for the new Student Innovation Center. This beautiful new building holds great promise for UMaine's future, as it will serve as a place where our faculty and students will work to nurture creativity and foster innovation. At the recent event, renowned inventor (and UMaine graduate) Doug Hall promised his help in making UMaine's Student Innovation Center, and the related innovation engineering curriculum, the best programs of their kind anywhere in the world. That is an exciting prospect, and I believe we are on the way to making it happen, to the great benefit of UMaine students and the state's economy.

I base my optimism, in part, on the existing track record in this area. UMaine entrepreneurial activity has led Maine to a national ranking as the fourth most-successful state in creating spinoff businesses, per dollar of state investment. One great example is Intelligent Spatial Technologies, Inc., a business founded by UMaine graduate Chris Frank. Chris' signature product is the iPointer, a handheld device that combines various technologies to allow users to receive information about buildings and landmarks while exploring a defined area. It is entirely appropriate that the UMaine campus has become one of the first places where the iPointer will be in widespread use, as it will be used in our campus tours for prospective students and their families. Chris and Liz Downing, from UMaine's New Student Programs office, have worked very hard to add this wonderful feature to our campus tours.

Part of the Student Innovation Center plan calls for the creation, for next fall, of a related living-learning community at one of the residence halls near the new building. Provost Edna Szymanski is enthusiastic about the development of a series of such academic-oriented communities at UMaine, and she is working with a group of faculty members developing that idea and other strategies to help UMaine move to its rightful place in the top 50 of ranked national universities. Edna and the others are creating a comprehensive set of strategies that we expect will have an immediate positive impact on student recruitment and retention.

UMaine's current International Weeks activities, highlighted by Saturday's very successful Culturefest celebration, really serve to point out the degree to which UMaine is an international community. Earlier this semester, we hosted an excellent meeting recognizing the formation of the first Maine chapter of the Fulbright Association. International student enrollment is up this year, with over 400 students representing 72 countries. Director of International Programs Karen Boucias and her staff do a wonderful job in working with these students through the recruitment process, and of taking steps to assure their success after enrollment.

International Weeks events, activities coordinated by the ALANA Center in the Division of Student Affairs and any number of other on-campus events all serve to highlight the degree to which UMaine serves as a regional and statewide center of activity that draws attention to activities and perspectives from around the world. Additionally, a great many of our faculty members and some of our students study and work outside the U.S., and they return to our community enriched by the perspectives gained from those experiences.

Last week, UMaine hosted the presidents and international officers from four French universities visiting Maine as part of a University of Maine System initiative aimed at developing collaborations among institutions in Maine, France and Quebec.

Earlier in October, Class of 1983 UMaine graduate Janine DiGiovanni, a senior correspondent for the Times of London and a contributor to Vanity Fair who has reported from war zones for much of her career, returned to UMaine for the first time since her graduation to give a well-received talk on the effect of war on women and children.

Another interesting speaker who visited UMaine recently was Marjane Satarpi, a novelist and illustrator who was born in Iran, who gave two talks about her experiences during her visit to UMaine as the 2006 Anne Margaret Johnstone Memorial Lecturer.

The Hudson Museum, which is home to three new exhibitions, also brought in a highly regarded speaker, meteorologist and television personality Lou McNally, who talked about the history and impact of climate change in Maine. We are proud to count "Altitude Lou" among those who have earned a UMaine Ph. D.

Doug Allen from the UMaine philosophy faculty, a recognized expert on Mahatma Gandhi, continues to gain widespread notice for his knowledge and perspectives on Gandhi and related scholarly matters. Doug was one of three scholars to present keynote lectures at the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy International Conference on “Desire,” held in Pacific Grove, California earlier this year. He also recently presented a paper at the International Peace Research Association Conference in Calgary. During the summer, Doug delivered an invited plenary lecture at the World Association for Vedic (Hindu) Studies International Conference in Houston. At this conference, he was presented a “Veda Vidya Mitra Award” for “advancing true understanding and in recognition of meritorious contributions, engagement, support and selfless work made in the service of Vedic traditions.”

Anatole Wieck of the UMaine music faculty deserves kudos for an interesting program he's developed. "Música y Juventud" (Music and Youth) in Guatemala aims to help underprivileged young people improve their lives through music. Anatole is helping faculty at a Del Valle University and the National Music Conservatory in Guatemala city find ways to work with underprivileged children to raise their aspirations through classical music. The program is funded by a Fulbright Scholar Program grant.

UMaine doctoral student Leigh Stearns, a terrific UMaine ambassador and valuable contributor to our community in many ways, received well-deserved recognition recently when she was selected by NASA as one of ten graduate students to participate in the International Astronautical Congress in Spain. The event brought administrators from NASA and other space exploration organizations together with leading scientists from around the world to discuss space-related research and technology. Leigh was selected for her groundbreaking techniques using satellite imagery to study the changing dynamics of Greenland's glaciers.

Congratulations go this month to Knud Hermansen of the UMaine School of Engineering Technology faculty, who has been selected as one of Professional Surveyor Magazine's "Surveying Profession's Top 25," a list of the most influential people in the surveying community over the past 25 years. The magazine story said that Knud's varied experiences give him "a wealth of knowledge...to draw upon in becoming a renowned educator."

Liz DePoy, professor in UMaine's Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies, frequently recognized by her peers for outstanding scholarly work, has received another prestigious honor. Liz is in Washington, D.C. today to receive the 2006 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Association of University Centers on Disability (AUCD), for contributions to that organization and the field of disability studies.

Habib Dagher, director of the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center, received the University of Maine Foundation's Abram W. Harris Award at the foundation's annual luncheon earlier this month. The annual award recognizes Dagher's "transformational leadership" in developing the center to its current stature.

The Maine Development Foundation honored UMaine's Jake Ward with its prestigious annual Kenneth M. Curtis Leadership Award. Jake, who has participated in MDF's Leadership Maine Award, was recognized for his outstanding contributions to statewide economic development efforts.

I was pleased to be present last week when Mary Cathcart from UMaine's Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center was recognized as one of the 2006 Maryann Hartman Award winners. Sarah Hudson and Lee Sharkey were similarly honored, and Young Women's Social Justice Awards went to high school students Hazel Stark and Amelia Butman. UMaine's Women in the Curriculum and Women's Studies Programs organize the annual awards, which recognize accomplished Maine women for outstanding achievement in the arts, politics, business, education and community service.

Congratulations also go to Kim Johnston, senior associate director of admissions at UMaine, on her selection as president-elect of the Board of Directors of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). That is the largest association of counselors involved in the college admission process, with more than 9,000 members.

We were very pleased early in October to host an enthusiastic group of statewide leaders who joined us in celebrating the publication of "Maine's Ice Age Trail Down East Map and Guide." Based on decades of research by UMaine earth scientist Hal Borns, this beautiful publication outlines a self-guided tour through Hancock and Washington counties. It was designed by UMaine Canadian-American Center cartographer Mike Hermann, and it will be enjoyed by a great many people with interest in Maine's fascinating coastal geology. Additionally, U-Haul has applied an eye-catching Ice Age Trail graphic to the side of more than 1,000 trucks that travel all over the U.S. That provides quite a distinct form of recognition for this interesting UMaine program.

We recently saw a great example of the trademark UMaine compassion that shows in so many ways during the course of each year. Tammy Light and the staff in the Office of Student Records did a great job in organizing a bone marrow donor registration drive to add new people to the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. Organized on behalf of student records student employee Nathan Cunningham, who is himself battling a serious disease, the drive as a resounding success, with some 283 showing up to register. Those members of our community who participated can take great satisfaction in the fact that their generosity may some day help save someone's life.

The 2006 Combined Charitable Appeal for University Employees is also off to a good start, with pledges totaling $14,922.54 in the first week. Sharon Buchanan and Mary Skaggs are in their second year managing this effort at UMaine, and they do a wonderful job. UMaine employees have always been exceptionally generous in this effort, and I am certain this year will be no exception.

Congratulations to the UMaine Student Women's Association and Safe Campus Project for a well-received "Take Back the Night" rally a couple of weeks ago. This annual event draws attention to concerns related to sexual violence. It provides a good opportunity for students and others in our community to stand united in our resolve to keep UMaine safe.

I hope you are enjoying, as my family and I are, the 2006-2007 Black Bear sports season. The hockey team's great start and #1 national ranking, Kirby Davis' second consecutive America East men's cross-country individual championship, an outstanding season for the women's soccer team and the football team's 4-1 record in Atlantic 10 play are among the highlights. UMaine's student-athletes work very hard, and I am proud of their success, both in competition and in the classroom.

Tonight at 8 p.m., UMaine will host a gubernatorial debate, to be broadcast statewide on television and radio by the Maine Public Broadcasting Network and sponsored by UMaine's Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center. Prof. Michael Socolow is one of the panelists, and there will be opportunities for selected UMaine students to ask questions of the candidates. It promises to be an interesting event, and I hope many in our community, especially students, will attend. Associate Dean of Students Angel Loredo has been working with a student group since the beginning of the semester, through the UMaine/UVote program, to provide a series of programs intended to help UMaine students and others inform themselves and prepare to cast a ballot next Tuesday. Voting is a great privilege in our society, and I was very pleased two years ago when our students turned out to vote in record numbers. UMaine/UVote and other activities help to create an environment where civic engagement is valued, and we should all be pleased that UMaine is a place that appreciates involvement in the process by all citizens.

Sincerely,

Bob Kennedy
President