Dear Colleagues,
It is my pleasure to write with my
monthly update, reflecting on the University of Maine events and
accomplishments of the past month. I enjoyed catching up with many of
you at the recent UMaine employee breakfast. The 30 days of September
were full of those milestones and achievements, along with the
excitement that always becomes with a new academic year.
We are very pleased with the news about
UMaine’s enrollment, which continues to grow at a steady pace. Our total
student population should be about 12,100 when the official numbers are
announced on Oct. 15, and our new first-year class numbers approximately
2,105. Total enrollment and first-year student enrollment are at new
record levels, reflecting widespread appreciation for UMaine’s quality
and value. A closer look at first-year enrollment shows a sharp increase
in the number of students from Southern Maine, with a total of 520
students from Cumberland and York counties combined, as opposed to 379
last year. Our admissions staff members working in that part of the
state report a noticeable increase in student interest in UMaine. I
believe that this trail leads back to each member of our faculty and
staff, because our students are enjoying and succeeding at UMaine, and
they’re telling their relatives and friends back home.
I also enjoyed First-Year Family
Weekend activities during September, when we had the opportunity to
visit with several new students and their families, including many
parents who are UMaine alumni.
Several of those people told me how
excited they are about the spirit and excitement they sense this fall,
especially as it relates to the new Student Recreation and Fitness
Center, which is already transforming our university community in a most
positive way. More than 40,000 visits to the Rec Center have already
been recorded, an incredibly impressive number that really shows the
facility's impact on UMaine. It is getting very substantial use, as we
hoped it would, and it is getting rave reviews. The impact of that
facility on our community wellness and our community spirit, will be
ongoing and impossible to calculate. Congratulations to all who have
worked so hard to bring the Rec Center online, including Robert Dana,
Kenda Scheele, Jeff Hunt and David Mahan, along with many others.
The other new facilities and
initiatives in place this fall, including the renovated Hilltop Commons,
the First Year Residence Experience programming and the move of all
first-year students to neighboring residence halls, are all having their
desired impact. There is real evidence that our student community is
healthier and more productive than it has ever been.
Every year, we are all gratified to see
examples of our students doing well, and we recently received news of a
vivid example in the successes of Priyanth Chandrasekar, a 2007 graduate
who was president of UMaine Student Government last year. Priyanth, who
is a native of India, has been named the winner of the 2007 Alton T.
Zerby and Carl T. Koerner Outstanding Electrical or Computer Engineering
Student Award, given to the top student in the nation in those
disciplines. This is the second time in four years that a UMaine student
has won this prestigious award, with Matt Rodrigue having been honored
in 2004. On top of that, a UMaine student named Louise Veilleaux won the
award in 1979. UMaine is one of only three institutions, along with the
University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana and the University of
California, Berkely, to have had three Zerby/Koerner Award winners since
it was first awarded 42 years ago.
Just last week, we were thrilled and
grateful to announce a $12 million bequest from the estate of George L.
Houston, a 1937 UMaine graduate who died earlier this year. In
accordance with Mr. Houston’s message, we will use the funds to create
an endowment, known as the George L. Houston Scholarship Fund, to
support School of Forest Resources undergraduate scholarships and
graduate assistantships. The
impact of this bequest will be permanent and it will have a tremendous
impact on Maine’s vital industries related to our forests. It will allow
generations of UMaine-educated graduates to follow in the footsteps of
people like George Houston to assume leadership roles in these fields
and apply their education and skills to protecting and maximizing the
great resource that exists in our forests. UMaine’s School of Forest
Resources, with its tremendous faculty and under the leadership of
interim director Steve Reiling and Dean Ed Ashworth, is already held in
very high regard, and this bequest will help it to rise to an even
higher level.
Another September milestone was the
Sen. George Mitchell Lecture on the Environment, featuring Sen. Mitchell
and Yale University Dean Gus Speth, both of whom gave inspiring and
insightful talks before a large audience at Hauck Auditorium. It was a
pleasure to welcome Sen. Mitchell back to campus, and my thanks go to
David Hart, Ruth Hallsworth and the rest of the staff at UMaine’s Sen.
George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research for
organizing this wonderful event.
Another seminal figure in Maine
politics, former Gov. John Reed, also visited UMaine during September,
for an event unveiling his portrait at Buchanan Alumni House.
Interestingly, Gov. Reed’s grandson, Reed Duford, painted the portrait,
which is exceptionally nice. Gov. Reed, who graduated from UMaine in
1942 and first became governor in 1960, also gave a nice talk that day
to UMaine’s Charles F. Allen Society, which recognizes alumni and
friends who share the intent to support the University of Maine by will
or other form of planned or deferred gift $10,000 or greater.
Congratulations to Prof. Ali Abedi and
UMaine’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Communications Society chapter. It has been named one of the four best
chapters in the world by that international organization. UMaine’s is
the only North American chapter to be recognized with this honor, along
with a chapter from Latin America, one from Europe/Middle East and one
from Asia.
UMaine audiologist Amy Booth, who is
incredibly dedicated to providing hearing services to underserved
populations, has joined an international team of health professionals
providing hearing aid assessments and audiology screenings at the
Special Olympics World Summer Games, getting underway this week in
China. Amy has worked very hard with Maine Special Olympics for many
years, and her tireless efforts to help others are commendable.
It was nice to see representatives of
so many student organizations turn out last week to sign an anti-hazing
pledge as part of National Hazing Prevention Week activities. The UMaine
Dean of Students Office and the UMaine Dept. of Athletics are providing
real leadership in helping students and others in our community
understand hazing and its implications.
As is the case every month, I have
interesting items to report about the accomplishments of UMaine’s
faculty members.
Prof. Liam Riordan from UMaine’s
history faculty has written a new book “Many Identities, One Nation: The
Revolution and Its Legacy in the Mid-Atlantic.” In this book, Liam
examines early American society, looking at religious, racial and ethnic
diversity in the pre-Revolutionary mid-Atlantic region.
Prof. Sandra Caron has worked very hard
to create a self-guided walking tour that highlights UMaine women and
the contributions they have made to the university’s history. It’s
called “The Walking Tour and UMaine Women: Past and Present.” UMaine
multimedia producer Kim Mitchell and others collaborated with Sandy on
this effort, which shines a bright light on some of the most important
people in UMaine's past and its present.
Marie Hayes, a professor in UMaine’s
psychology department, was a key player in a Sept. 14-15 Bar Harbor
neurogenetics conference. Marie is an allied senior scientists at the
Maine Institute for Human Genetics and Health (MIHGH), a collaboration
involving UMaine, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems and The Jackson
Laboratory. The meeting brought together neurogenetics researchers from
around Maine to further develop collaborations and scientific networking
opportunities.
UMaine’s School of Policy and
International Affairs’ Bangor Foreign Policy Forum presentation series
is getting strong reviews for bringing interesting and insightful
speakers to our area, to deliver talks each month in Bangor. In
September, Deepti Choubey, deputy director of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace's Nonproliferation Program, discussed U.S.-India
relations and other issues related to nuclear proliferation.
Maine Sea Grant at UMaine deserves
kudos for organizing a presentation on the dynamics of
scientist/journalist relationships, featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist Ken Weiss of the Los Angeles Times and science communications
expert Nancy Baron. Local journalists and others in our community joined
in a lively discussion about that interesting and important subject.
Nine Orono High School students
recently made presentations based on their summer research projects
developed with UMaine faculty members in UMaine’s Forest Bioproducts
Research Initiative (FBRI). This is a wonderful example of good local
students taking the opportunity to work with, and learn from, UMaine
experts in the important research fields of forest-based consumer
products, chemicals and energy.
Congratulations to the seven new
members of the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame. The new inductees include Ed
Barrows '42 (football), Andy Bedard '00 (men's basketball), Kevin
Buckley '81 (baseball), Mike Flynn '97 (football), Vanessa McGowan-Ray
'00 (cross country/track and field), Garth Snow '92 (men's ice hockey),
and George Wood (equipment manager). We look forward to the Hall of Fame
induction ceremony, always a Homecoming Weekend highlight.
I hope that most of you have registered
with UMaine.txt, the university’s emergency messaging system. It’s a
free service, and you can register online at
www.umaine.edu/umainetxt.
Once you’re signed up, you will receive cell phone messages and/or email
messages in the event of a campus emergency.
The other primary element of our new
emergency situation communications system is a siren, located on the top
of Class of 1944 Hall. We’re going to begin conducting regular siren
tests on Mondays, starting Oct. 8 (Columbus Day). On that day, at 12
noon, the siren will sound at full volume for three minutes. Every
Monday thereafter, it will sound on low volume for three seconds at 12
noon. We’re also planning a full-scale test of the entire messaging
system on Friday Oct. 19, beginning at 11:55 a.m.
In closing this month, I would like to
remind you that two referendum questions on the November ballot will
have an impact on UMaine. Question 2 is a $55 million jobs bond, while
Question 3 seeks $43 million for a variety of capital purposes,
including $11.3 million for classroom and laboratory upgrades at UMaine.
The University of
Maine System has created a Web page with a good deal of relevant
information.
My thanks to each of you, for the great
work you do on behalf of our students and our state.
Sincerely,
Bob Kennedy
President
