Dear Colleagues,

I hope that your summer is going well and that this week's Independence Day holiday brings the opportunity to enjoy this special time of the year. While summer is now well underway, there is much good news to report about the achievements and activities involving our UMaine faculty and staff colleagues. Our campus is a busy place year-round, as it serves as a unique resource for our region and our state.

As I mentioned last month, this year's UMaine reunion featured the largest attendance figures in memory. We followed that up with a well-attended Stillwater Society Dinner, an annual event at which we honor UMaine's top donors. At that dinner, we were delighted to announce a $1 million gift from two great alums and friends of UMaine -- Allen and Sally Carroll Fernald of Camden. Allen and Sally serve as co-chairs of Campaign Maine, UMaine's ongoing comprehensive fundraising campaign. We are now almost exactly two years into the six-year campaign, and we have just passed the $60 million mark in donations. We are on track to reach our $150 million goal and I look forward to the day, hopefully very soon, when we can announce that we are halfway there. The campaign is really picking up momentum, and all of us involved in it are very grateful for the level of support from those who are helping us on this vital campaign.

Several new gifts have been announced over the past several weeks, but one warrants particular attention here. John McDonough, the just-retired associated dean in UMaine's College of Engineering, and his wife Claire McDonough, generously donated a scholarship fund for students in the School of Engineering Technology and the School of Nursing (Claire is a nurse). John and Claire's generosity, and their commitment to higher education, are much appreciated.

Reunion Weekend also featured the fifth anniversary celebration for UMaine's Buchanan Alumni House. I am struck by the degree to which this beautiful building, home to UMaine's alumni association and the University of Maine Foundation, has positively affected this university. It is the first place visitors, most notably prospective students and their families, see when they arrive on campus for tours. It is also the building where we host a great many important events, including receptions, news conferences and academic programs like guest lectures. Our partners, the alumni association and the foundation, are most gracious hosts and we very much appreciate the access to that first-class venue.

One June highlight was a terrific, well-attended reception for Bob Cobb, the retiring dean of UMaine's College of Education and Human Development. After 30 years as dean and even longer as an invaluable leader in the UMaine community, Bob leaves a UMaine legacy that will be hard to match. Those in attendance will long remember the humorous, insightful presentation by Bob's long-time colleague, Prof. Bill Davis. I wish the best to Bob, John McDonough and all of our colleagues who are moving into retirement this summer.

Congratulations to UMaine New Media Department Chair Owen Smith, who has been appointed by Gov. Baldacci to serve a three-year term on the Maine Arts Commission. The commission serves an important role in Maine state government, and Owen will bring valuable perspectives as an educator and an artist. He is also one of three Maine artists -- along with Andrew Hurtt and UMaine professor Alan Stubbs -- whose work is currently on display in "A Semblance of Resemblance" at UMaine's Lord Hall galleries.

Another UMaine artist, Arline Thomson, received nice recognition recently as the winner of the 2007 Vincent A. Hartgen Award, presented by the UMaine Patrons of the Arts. The patrons group has given this award annually for eight years, recognizing those who have made outstanding contributions to advancing the arts at UMaine. Arline was UMaine's first graphic designer, working in that role for 30 years, starting in 1962.

Two of UMaine's music faculty members have received recent recognition for their outstanding work. Composer Beth Wiemann, a professor in the School of Performing Arts, was one of five semi-finalists in the 2007 Opera Vista Competition, held in Houston, Tex. Excerpts from Beth's two-act contemporary opera were performed before a live audience, members of which voted for their preferred piece.

Kevin Birch, an accomplished organist who is also the music director at Bangor's St. John's Catholic Church, traveled to the International Organ Festival Germany to present a lecture on E. & G.G. Hook organs, one of which he plays at the historic York St. church. Kevin also performed the opening concert during the event in Germany.

In addition to Owen Smith, two other UMaine faculty members have been appointed to state government roles related to their academic expertise. Business professor Bob Strong has joined the Investment Advisory Committee of the Maine State Retirement System, where he will help supervise the investment of that fund's assets. Gov. Baldacci has also appointed Prof. Mac Hunter from UMaine's Dept. of Wildlife Ecology to the state Task Force Regarding the Management of Public Lands and Publicly Held Easements. That group will asses recreational use of public lands and make management recommendations.

Congratulations to Dick Young, Dennis Russell and everybody associated with UMaine's Volunteer Ambulance Corps (UVAC), which was recognized recently for outstanding long-term service. The Maine Center for Disease Control's Cardiovascular Health Program and Maine Emergency Medical Services' "Maine HeartSafe Communities" program provide competency ratings statewide. They recently upgraded UVAC from "basic" to "silver" in recognition of continued expansion and improvement of services. The staff and students involved in UVAC work extremely hard, and they are instrumental to the health and safety of everyone in our community. This recognition is good news, reflective of that hard work and commitment to service.

The Johnson Controls Educational Giving Program has awarded UMaine a $6,000 grant to support UMaine's important work in sustainability. We will use the money to fund a student coordinator, who will work as part of UMaine's Green Campus Initiative, to review UMaine's sustainability initiatives. The student coordinator will identify simple ways in which we can reduce carbon emissions, improve recycling and reduce waste. Under Vice President Janet Waldron's leadership, our community is really making strides in this area. This is a real source or pride for me, and I am pleased that UMaine continues to take a leadership role in being effective stewards of our environment.

As I mentioned at the outset, UMaine has been a busy place during June. Here are just a few examples of the conferences and meetings that connect UMaine's intellectual and infrastructure resources to the people of our state and beyond:

- UMaine's Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) hosted Maine's annual MLTI Student Tech Team Conference in June. This conference provides resources and ideas for those involved in implementing laptop-based teaching and learning in Maine's schools.

- More than 100 Middle School teachers from all over Maine were on campus last week for the annual Middle Level Education Institute, hosted by UMaine's College of Education and Human Development with leadership from Prof. Ed Brazee. This annual event is a wonderful resource for those teachers, who play such an important role in our education system.

- The second annual two-day sensor science and engineering summer institute was held at UMaine June 21 and 22, taking advantage of UMaine expertise and resources in that field of study. The institute is part of the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program in Sensor Science Engineering and Informatics at UMaine.

- Some 80 people visited UMaine for a late-June conference, "Re-thinking Communication Within Changing Global Contexts." This innovative conference, which was accompanied by a graduate seminar, was hosted by UMaine's Dept. of Communication and Journalism, with Prof. Nathan Stormer as its primary organizer.

- Lots of youngsters spend part of their summer at UMaine, participating in all kinds of activities that connect them to our community. These programs are very important to UMaine's future, and it is always fun to have those visitors among us. For example, sports camps are underway, CAD camp is next week and music camp starts later in July. The Page Farm and Home Museum recently hosted an interesting day camp, through which participants learned about what it was like to live in rural Maine during the era between the Civil War and World War II.

A Maine Folklife Center project demonstrates another connection between UMaine and area youngsters. Folklife Center staff, working through a project funded by the Maine Humanities Council, created a DVD, "The Writing on the Wall: Stories and Pictures from the Eastern Fine Paper Mill." The DVD, which included a companion video project created by Brewer Middle School students, debuted on June 14 at that school. Pauleena MacDougall and others from the Maine Folklife Center have worked extensively with Brewer Middle School students to preserve the history of that mill, which was an important part of Brewer's community for many years.

UMaine's Fogler Library has entered into an innovative agreement with a company called BookSurge International to digitize part of the library's collection and make certain out-of-print books available through Amazon.com's print-on-demand

service. Dean Joyce Rumery and the UMaine library staff deserve great credit for creative thinking as they deal with important issues related to library materials and digitization.

UMaine Prof. Marie Hayes, from the Dept. of Psychology and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMaine, is a key leader in the new Maine Neurogenetics Consortium, recently organized among scientists from institutions all around Maine. The group met for the first time at the Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health (MIHGH) in Brewer. UMaine is part of MIHGH, and Marie has an excellent laboratory facility there. This is an important scientific field, and the collaborations involving Marie and her students, along with colleagues from around Maine, will be important to supporting that research activity.

Sociology professor Steve Barkan is the new president-elect of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. He will become president of that 2,200-member interdisciplinary organization for the 2008-2009 year.

Mary Ellen Camire of the UMaine Food Sciences and Human Nutrition faculty continues to extend her expertise on the national level. Mary Ellen was recently named a fellow of the Institute for Food Technologists, in recognition of her ongoing contributions to food science.

I also congratulate Prof. Terry Shipps from the UMaine School of Nursing. She recently received the 2007 Leadership Award from OMNE: Nursing Leaders of Maine. That organization annually selects one person for this special recognition.

I was pleased once again this year to note the great involvement of the UMaine police department in the Maine Special Olympics Summer Games, held as always right here at UMaine. Special Olympics is a wonderful organization, and its programs are only possible because of the tremendous volunteer spirit demonstrated by many in the UMaine community, including our police. They joined 13 other public safety agencies in the State of Maine Torch Run, bringing that important symbol on the final part of its statewide journey to the opening ceremony at UMaine.

We received some exciting news from the America East conference during June when we learned that UMaine tied the University of Vermont for the 2006-2007 Academic Cup, an annual award to the institution with the highest grade point average for students in the conference's sports. UMaine and UVM student-athletes each averaged 3.07; 11 of UMaine's 16 America East teams had a 3.0 or better. Congratulations to the Black Bear student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators on this wonderful recognition.

Tremendous progress continues on UMaine's new Recreation and Fitness Center. I had occasion to visit the construction site recently, and I am happy to report that this magnificent facility is right on schedule. Water is in the pool, and many of the preliminary "finishing touches" have already been applied. Crews will continue to work up to the Aug. 31 opening, which will be an exciting and memorable event at UMaine. Memberships are on sale -- I have mine already -- and there's a one-month discount for those purchased before Aug. 17. More information is on the Campus Recreation Web site.

Once again, my best wishes for a wonderful July.

Sincerely,
 

Bob Kennedy

President