Dear Colleagues,

It seems particularly appropriate that beautiful weather greets us on this first day of September, which also happens to be move-in day for the UMaine Class of 2010. More than 750 members of our community will participate in today's Maine Hello activities, as we greet the new students and their families at the curb when they arrive at UMaine's residence halls. We will help them move their belongings and get comfortable in their new surroundings, extending that famous UMaine hospitality that has been part of the fabric of this university for 141 years. Like everybody who participates in it, I really enjoy the Maine Hello. It is particularly gratifying to see how pleased the new students and their family members are when they're greeted by a friendly UMaine professor, staff member or student in a blue Maine Hello polo shirt.

While the Maine Hello activity gets most of the attention, it's important to remember that it is only part of a very important activity called Fall Welcome Weekend, which really gives our first-year students a great opportunity to get acclimated and comfortable before they begin classes on Sept. 5. The schedule includes social activities, orientations, updates and plenty of time for the students to become acquainted with each other and with the people who can help them navigate the first part of their college experience. Those students also get a good dose of the kind of friendly atmosphere that makes UMaine such a warm and welcoming community. All of these efforts to get our new students off to a good start really make a difference to those students and their families.

Once again this year, we are delighted with the results of UMaine's student recruitment and enrollment efforts. UMaine's enrollment continues to grow, and we anticipate a total student population of 11,528 when classes get underway. The new first-year class, which is the largest in UMaine's history, includes 1,950 students, marking a seven percent increase over last year. We also anticipate a four percent increase in students from Maine, and another remarkable increase from out-of-state, with 19 percent more of those students than last year. Forty-seven countries and 45 states will be represented in our student population Campus residence halls will be at capacity, with 3,800 students living on campus.

The members of the Class of 2010 have strong records of school and community leadership. We look forward to their full participation in all of the aspects of the UMaine community.

I hope you will all join me in welcoming our new provost and senior vice president, Edna Mora Szymanski. Edna came to us in mid-August from the University of Maryland, where she has been serving as a dean. Edna has a long, distinguished record as a scholar and a leader in higher education. She is off to a great start at UMaine, applying great intellect and energy to a variety of projects. I am delighted to have her as part of our administrative team, and I know that she is looking forward to getting to know more members of our community.

As we look toward the future, it is critical that we continue to work hard to find creative ways to recruit outstanding students to UMaine. One great example, created through the leadership of Dean of Lifelong Learning Bob White, is UMaine's new Academ-e early college program. Schools from all around Maine are given the opportunity to nominate qualified students to participate in Academ-e, through which the students take one of seven selected UMaine courses for both college credit and high school credit. For the most part, these courses will be taught using distance technologies. Last week, 176 students from all around Maine, including several home-schooled students, came to UMaine for a one-day orientation and to attend their first class meeting with their fellow students in a UMaine classroom. These are high-achieving students, and they will have the opportunity through this program to learn what UMaine is all about while they participate in an active and exciting learning community. It is our hope, of course, that many of these students will eventually enroll at UMaine, bringing their talents and their drive to succeed to our student population.

It was certainly a productive and fulfilling summer. I continue to spend a good deal of my time working on UMaine's comprehensive fundraising campaign, as do others in our community. We have been visiting with UMaine friends and supporters all around Maine and in other states. The feedback is strong, positive and unanimous. These people, all of whom are highly accomplished, are telling us how pleased they are with the university as it is today, and how much they appreciate what it has done for them. They want to help us continue to grow stronger so that UMaine may continue to serve its students and the state in important ways.

The fundraising news, like the enrollment news, is very good. We raised over $18.3 million from private sources in the year that ended on June 30. With the exception of 2002, when UMaine received a gift of a very valuable industrial patent, this is the largest annual fundraising total in UMaine history. Much credit goes to Vice President for Development Barbara Beers, along with Amos Orcutt and the staff at the University of Maine Foundation and the University of Maine Alumni Association, led by its president, Todd Saucier. We have terrific fundraising partners and wonderful donors, along with an internal development structure that is becoming stronger all the time under Barbara's leadership. I really believe that we are poised to make great strides very quickly. In fact, we have received some very generous gifts during the first two months of the new fiscal year, putting us on track to continue to grow in this important area.

I was very pleased last week when we heard from the Princeton Review that UMaine has once again included UMaine as one of its "Best 361 Colleges in the U.S." This is particularly good recognition, because it is based in large part on surveys of our students. I consider that to be just about the best endorsement we can get. If our students are having good experiences, that suggests to me that the university has significant strength in important areas, including academic programs, student life and student services. We also recently received the good news that UMaine's undergraduate business and engineering programs were ranked in the top 150 nationally by U.S.News & World Report. This is a testament to the strong leadership in those areas, along with the great work of our faculty and staff.

We recognize these rankings as being important, as research shows that they are a variable that is taken seriously by prospective students and their families. We are developing plans to make improvements and modifications in certain areas to help UMaine move up in those rankings, with an ultimate (and, to me, eminently realistic) goal of breaking into the top 50 nationally in our category. I am convinced that UMaine is of similar quality, better in some cases, to the universities that are listed at that level now. Working together, we can make the adjustments that will result in better national recognition of the excellence that we all know exists at UMaine.

As always, the beginning of an academic year brings new programs, initiatives and facilities. UMaine has changed a great deal in recent years, as we have worked to keep up with contemporary expectations and the needs of our students. This fall is no exception, as we continue to see our campus evolve and grow. October will mark the opening of UMaine's new Student Innovation Center, which epitomizes much of what UMaine is all about. This facility will provide space for motivated students to work with faculty experts on how to develop businesses and business plans. This is a way to capitalize on what I like to call the "power of the idea," a concept that really drives so much of what we do and which our students can use to tap into their own entrepreneurial spirit and creativity.

If you haven't had a chance to see it lately, you will most likely be amazed by the progress that has been made at the Student Recreation Center construction site. That $25 million facility will open next year, and I believe it will transform the student experience at UMaine. It will be the largest building ever built on campus, with over two acres of floor space. It will be a first-rate facility, creating opportunities for our students and others to participate in all kinds of recreational and positive social activities.

Next week, we will welcome the first Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) class at UMaine. As you may recall, this school was created last year as a collaborative project involving UMaine and our statewide partners: Jackson Lab, Maine Medical Center Research Institute, the Mt. Desert Island Biological Lab, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, the University of Southern Maine and the University of New England. The 12 UMaine Ph.D. students enrolled in the program all have great credentials, and they are poised to work with faculty members and other scientists to advance biomedical science. At the same time, the GSBS will provide the foundation for the development of businesses related to the science involved. The GSBS has tremendous potential, and I am delighted at the progress that has been made so far.

The fall sports season is already underway, with some teams already in competition and others in the final stages of preseason preparation. UMaine's student-athletes do a wonderful job, both in the classroom and on the field of play. I know that the athletics department is working hard to find ways to involve faculty and staff members in supporting the teams. Ticket information, including details on a special football ticket rate for faculty and staff, is online at http://goblackbears.cstv.com/tickets/main-tickets.html.

I hope each of you has a pleasant holiday weekend.

Sincerely,

Bob Kennedy
President