Dear Colleagues,

Understandably, much of our community's attention is focused on the Black Bear hockey team's opportunity to play for a national championship later this week. It is an exciting time at UMaine, and I extend my congratulations to coaches Tim Whitehead, Guy Perron, Dan Kerluke and Grant Standbrook, along with the rest of the hockey staff and all the players.

The hockey team's success is important on several levels. It connects UMaine with the statewide community in a significant way, as people from all over Maine share in the excitement and pride that come from the team's achievements. The success demonstrates that Maine and UMaine can be counted among the very best, not only in hockey, but in other pursuits as well. And, it helps to draw our collective attention to the great many people and groups in the UMaine community who excel in what they do.

A great example comes from our College of Engineering, from which another group of students recently participated in an international competition. The UMaine team, led by Prof. Mick Peterson, took second place in the annual Clean Snowmobile Competition, held in Michigan. The UMaine team's entry was solid in all respects, but won top honors in the Quietest Snowmobile and Most Economical Snowmobile categories. This is the kind of hands-on learning experience that serves our students so well, helping them to learn important concepts and prepare for life after UMaine. Our university is committed on many levels to reducing our impact on the environment, and it is particularly noteworthy when academic pursuits such as these also help us learn more about environmental sustainability.

On an individual level, congratulations go to UMaine senior Susan Saucier, a chemical engineering major from Millinocket. Susan has been Student of the Year by the Paper Industry Management Association (PIMA). She recently traveled to Florida to receive that award, and we look forward to following Susan's career after she leaves UMaine next month. Her future is very bright, indeed.

Dean Charlie Slavin from the UMaine Honors College has let me know that two UMaine students have been awarded prestigious Goldwater Scholarships. Chelsi Snow, a member of the Class of 2008 studying molecular and cellular biology, and Ben Burpee, a sophomore studying studio art and biology, received that good news last week. Additionally, chemistry major David Welch received honorable mention in the competition. Congratulations to Chelsi, Ben and David on this tremendous honor, which reflects well on all of us at the University of Maine.

UMaine's 65-member Symphonic Band, under the direction of Chip Farnham and Chris White, spent the past few days on the road with its annual spring tour and concert series at Maine public schools. The group made seven appearances, sharing the stage with young musicians at the schools and providing a first-class program. The bands make a terrific impression wherever they go, serving is outstanding ambassadors for the university. The same is true, by the way, of our band that supports Black Bear teams. The band made a real difference at last week's NCAA Hockey Regional Tournament in New York, and they do a wonderful job in every case of supporting our teams and fans.

Like all of you, I enjoy celebrating our student achievements and I recognize that we are fortunate to have so many students who work hard and give us reason to appreciate their successes.

I am always impressed by the willingness of our students, faculty members and staff members to work hard to help others. This is never more evident than during Spring Break, when a great many of our students give up their vacation to participate in Alternative Spring Break or other similar activities. I particularly enjoyed last week's Maine Campus story about the student group that traveled to Ecuador, volunteering in medical facilities in impoverished parts of that country. That story represented one very good example, but it's equally impressive that UMaine groups worked on eight projects in the U.S., and others traveled to Nicaragua and Honduras. The impact of these volunteer activities is immeasurable, and I am proud to be associated with those who give so much of themselves to help other.

We have good news to report with regard to UMaine's growing research enterprise. As you know, research expenditures are a common measure of a university's research operation. UMaine's increased 24 percent over one year, reaching an FY06 total of $93,153,000. Recognizing that research funding is going down nationally, this kind of growth and success on the part of our faculty is even more impressive. This brings us very close to our initial goal of $100 million and signaling impressive growth in this important area. Congratulations to Research VP Mike Eckardt and all the faculty members who are leading the way in UMaine research.

I have spent a good deal of my time in the past few weeks in Augusta, offering testimony and engaging legislators in discussions relative to UMaine's quality and value. Many of us are working hard to make a strong case for improved funding, which is essential to helping us continue UMaine's momentum and to optimally serve our students and our state. There are a number of important proposals under consideration, including bonds related to R&D and funding for infrastructure upgrades. Most importantly, there is considerable discussion about UMaine's base funding. Many legislators are telling me that they support UMaine, but that lawmakers face significant challenges relative to the budget. Every contact with a legislator makes a difference, and I urge each of you to make a call or send an email to your representatives in Augusta. The state Web site (www.maine.gov) includes information about how to best reach your legislators.

Given our state's financial challenges, it is important that institutions around Maine maximize efficiencies and find ways to share resources as we work toward common goals. UMaine has taken a leadership role in this regard, developing collaborative arrangements like the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Maine Institute of Human Genetics and Health and our planned pharmacy program with the University of New England. We also recently announced a new plan that will positively affect Maine's community colleges, particularly Southern Maine Community College and York County Community College. Dean Dan Sandweiss, Dean Bob Cobb, Prof. Sue Estler and others have worked with officials at those colleges to create a program through which the community colleges' faculty members can earn UMaine doctoral degrees. SMCC President Jim Ortiz expressed this as an important need when he and I spoke last summer, and I am pleased that we are moving toward helping support those institutions and their faculty.

UMaine has also created a new School of Economics by combining the departments of Economics and Resource Economics and Policy. This school, which has great potential to enhance our ability to serve student needs and address statewide concerns, is unique because it is in two colleges: the College of Business, Public Policy and Health and the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture. Like UMaine's new School of Policy and International Affairs (SPIA), this structure will create new collaborative arrangements among the outstanding faculty members involved, and it will create new opportunities related to teaching, research and public engagement.

SPIA, specifically its William S. Cohen Center for International Policy and Commerce, served as the co-host, with National Defense University, of an early-March international conference on nuclear disarmament in the Middle East. This was an impressive event, at which this important issue was discussed for two days by some of the world's leading experts, including UMaine Prof. Bahman Baktiari. Bill Cohen, the Bangor native and former Secretary of Defense, gave the keynote address at the conference, which also featured former State Dept. official Paul Grossman and a series of academic experts, diplomats and military analysts. This was the first time than NDU has opened its doors to another institution as a co-host, and people there were delighted with the outcome. We are planning a follow-up conference, to be held at UMaine, in 2008. I was extremely proud to see UMaine represented so well, and acknowledged as a primary contributor, at an event of this magnitude. This demonstrates the great potential of SPIA, the Cohen Center and other similar UMaine units to raise the institution's profile and help demonstrate our remarkable quality on an international level.

One of our internationally recognized experts, Prof. Paul Mayewski, director of the Climate Change Institute, was featured Sunday night in a segment on the CBS News program "60 Minutes." CBS correspondent Scott Pelley and a crew spent ten days with Paul and his colleagues in February, during a research expedition to Antarctica. This is the second time in two years that Paul has been part of a "60 Minutes" segment, reflecting the tremendous stature he holds in his field of study. Paul was also a keynote speaker at the March 17 Explorers Club Annual Dinner, a black-tie event attended by 1,000 people at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. He became an Explorers Club Fellow in 1979 and was given the organization's Citation for Merit in 1995.

Another example of UMaine's broad reach and impact occurred last week. In Congressional testimony, the undersecretary of Homeland Security used UMaine's Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center's composites container research program as an example of effective homeland security-related research.

Congratulations this month to some of our other faculty members who have received notice or recognition for their good work:

- Music professor and soprano Nancy Ogle's CD " The Truth About Love: poems and music of w.h. auden" has proven so popular that Capstone Records has reprinted the recording; a distributor in Spain specifically requested 500 copies

- Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, from UMaine's Dept. of Food Science and Human Nutrition, has been named a Senior Fulbright Specialist, recognizing her expertise on the health benefits of blueberries

- Dorothy's departmental colleague, Mary Ellen Camire, has been named president-elect of AACC International, a group of cereal scientists that provides technical and health information about grains as food

- Renae Moran, from UMaine's Dept. of Plant, Soil and Environmental Sciences and Highmoor Farm in Monmouth, is the new chair of the northeast section of the American Society for Horticultural Sciences

Seven members of UMaine's staff are the new members of the UMaine Diversity Leadership Institute. They will begin their training at the national Conference on Race and Ethnicity in late May, and will continue through the year with monthly UMLDI sessions on topics of privilege and social justice. At the end of this year, the UMLDI will include 15 active alums, all working to make our community more inclusive. The new members are:

Myer Taksel, Athletic Academic Counselor, Academic Support Services for Student Athletes

Sandra Tijerina, Intake & Retention Specialist, TRIO—Maine Educational Talent Search Program

• Deborah Mitchell, Crime Prevention Specialist, Public Safety

• Linda Reed, Administrative Assistant II, Cooperative Extension

• Kathy Ingraham, Assistant Director, Student Financial Aid

• Marlene Charron, Assistant Director, Conference Services

• Catherine Pease, Senior Associate Director, Human Resources

It seems hard to believe that we are entering the last full month before the end of this remarkable academic year. Plans are well underway for Commencement and all the related activities, and I look forward to joining all of you in celebrating the great accomplishments of our faculty, students and staff as the 2006-2007 academic year winds down.


Sincerely,


Bob Kennedy
President