Dear Colleagues,

We can all reflect with pride on 2007 and the wonderful year it was for the University of Maine and our students. A list of highlights would be very long, but it would certainly include record enrollment and graduation, voter approval of two bond referenda that will have a positive impact on UMaine for decades and unprecedented private giving to our university. None of this would have been possible without the day-to-day achievements that characterize UMaine and that are only possible because of our great faculty and staff.

As we move into 2008, a year I approach with great optimism, I write to reflect on some of December's high points.

From a personal perspective, I was delighted to see so many faculty members, staff members and students at the holiday parties Mary and I hosted at the president's house. Those events are annual highlights for us, and we look forward to them with great enthusiasm.

The holiday season brought dozens of examples of the generous nature of the UMaine community. One was an effort by students in UMaine's American Society of Civil Engineers and Associated General Contractors chapters, who designed and built and new wheelchair ramp for the Old Town Museum, applying their initiative and the expertise they're gaining as UMaine students to a most worthy cause.

The UMaine College of Education and Human Development completed its 30th annual holiday book drive, working with local Kiwanians to provide books to area youngsters. It's always a real highlight when the children from UMaine's Child Study Center visit Shibles Hall to bring their donated books, and to spend some time with the college staff. Dean Anne Pooler read holiday stories to those children this year, and I suspect she enjoyed the visit just as much as the kids did.

Crossroads Ministries in Old Town is a fine example of the kind of community agency that does great work to support our friends and neighbors, and I am really proud of the extent to which UMaine groups support that cause and many others like it. During a span of just a few days in mid-December, the Maine Business School, Alternative Sprint Break, the UMaine Alumni Association and the UMaine Chapter of Golden Key International Honor Society all ran fundraisers or collections to support Crossroads. The impact of those efforts in December will reverberate through the local community for months to come, providing another example of the kind of good neighbor UMaine and its people strive to be.

Speaking of generosity, we were delighted to receive two wonderful gifts to support the University of Maine Museum of Art in downtown Bangor. Prof. Jon Ippolito from UMaine's Dept. of New Media has donated several paintings by his late father, the highly regarded Abstract Impressionist Angelo Ippolito. Jon and his family, including his wife, Prof. Joline Blais, have honored us with this incredibly generous donation. Angelo Ippolito's work has been displayed in some of the world's greatest art museums and galleries, and this gift adds some exceptionally significant art to the museum's collection.

Another gift to to the art museum, from Machias Savings Bank, will make it possible for the museum to offer free admission all the way through 2008. This gift is in memory of Ted Leonard, a great UMaine graduate and Bangor attorney who was a tireless advocate for the arts and the UMaine Museum of Art. Ted died in October and his friend, Machias Savings Bank President and CEO Ed Hennessey, found a wonderful way to honor Ted's memory, creating a new level of access that will enhance the community's appreciation of the arts and the UMaine museum.

Phil and Susan Morse, members of the UMaine Class of 1964 who have been among their alma mater's most generous supporters, also deserve our thanks for a $1 million donation, through the Boston Red Sox Foundation (Phil is a Red Sox owner and vice chair), providing the catalyst for a series of improvements to UMaine's outdoor athletic facility playing surfaces. Plans, which are subject to approval by the Board of Trustees later this month, call for resurfacing Morse Field at Harold Alfond Stadium, for creating a new synthetic surface field hockey facility and for adding synthetic turf at Mahaney Diamond.

Congratulations to Katie Horst, a junior nursing major from Lake Placid, N.Y., who was randomly chosen from the UMaine students registered with umaine.txt (www.umaine.edu/umainetxt) to receive an iPhone. Apple, Inc. donated the iPhone, through UMaine's Computer Connection, to help UMaine promote more registrations with umaine.txt, the university's emergency messaging system. This service, which features text messaging and other means of communication during an emergency, is open to faculty members and staff members, as well. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to register so that you will have access to the most up-to-date information in the event of an emergency.

Another UMaine student, senior chemistry major Kendra Look, was recently recognized as the 100,000th person to visit UMaine's Student Recreation and Fitness Center. The Rec Center has been an incredible addition to the UMaine community, far exceeding even our most optimistic hopes for its first few months of operation. Monthly memberships are now available for those who are interested in giving it a try. Call 581- 1082 or visit here for more information.

The Rec Center also served as an excellent stand-in for the Maine Center for the Arts in December, as UMaine's Hudson Museum hosted its annual Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance Sale and Demonstration. This is a terrific event, which provides first-hand access to opportunities to find our more about the culture, traditions and art associated with this amazing artform. People come from all around New England and even beyond for this event, which is one of the largest of its kind in this part of the country. Collectors and shoppers really enjoy the access to the beautiful baskets and other crafts.

Congratulations to Hal Borns, who "retired" from the UMaine faculty after 50 years in 2005 but still keeps up a very busy schedule, for prestigious recognition by the Maine State Society of Washington, D.C. That group recently honored Hal with its 2007 "Big 'M' Award," given for professional achievements and service to the state and its citizens. Hal's career includes a remarkable teaching legacy, the first National Science Foundation competitive grant UMaine ever received, 28 field seasons in Antarctica (where a glacier is named for him) and service as the founding director of UMaine's Institute for Quaternary Studies, now known as the Climate Change Institute.

Jane Conroy, a Cooperative Extension faculty member working in Piscataquis County, has received the National Extension Association for Family and Consumer Services (NEAFCS) Continued Excellence Award. This national recognition acknowledges Jane's long-term work in providing education resources to help people and families manage finances and develop good consumer buying habits. She has also been a NEAFCS leader, extending her expertise on a broad scale.

Stuart Marrs, UMaine music professor and division chair, was invited to co-present the Percussive Arts Society International Convention's keynote address recently. Stuart and a colleague from the SUNY-Buffalo faculty gave a presentation to more than 600 people on Elliot Carter's "Eight Pieces for Four Timpani." That organization is considered to be the leading assembly in the percussive arts.

"A Stray Dog," a play by UMaine part-time English instructor William S. Yellow Robe, was part of the Native Theater Festival in New York City during December. William collaborates closely with Prof. Margo Lukens, and his play was one of five performed at the event, held at the Public Theater in New York.

Congratulations also go this month to Dorothy Klimis-Zacas of UMaine's Dept. of Food Science and Human Nutrition. The International Society of Trace Element Research in the Human (ISTERH) has selected Dorothy as its treasurer, an announcement made at a recent international conference in Greece.

A pair of National Science Foundation grants will enable UMaine faculty members to provide interesting outreach to Maine's children through supercomputer technology and a dedicated portal that students will be able to access through classroom laptops. One grant will buy a second UMaine supercomputer and the other will develop the software to transfer data so that students can access UMaine data to gain better understanding of subjects like global warming. Those involved in these exciting projects include Phillip Dickens, Sudarshan Chawathe and James Fastook from the Dept. of Computer Science, and Yifeng Zhu and Bruce Segee from the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Another interesting story from December involves research by Prof. Bob Steneck from the UMaine School of Marine Sciences, one of several authors of an article in the journal Science looking at the impact of rising ocean temperature and acidity on coral reef ecosystems. The research, which drew international news interest, also suggests implications for marine ecosystems in other parts of the world, including the Gulf of Maine.

Working with mechanical engineering professor Justin Poland, a group of UMaine seniors is working on a capstone project to improve energy consumption in a UMaine building. The four students are designing a new heat-recovery system for UMaine's Engineering and Science Research Building. After the design is complete in May, Facilities Management will determine if it's feasible to add to the building. If that works out, the potential savings are very significant. As we explore every way possible to save energy and reduce UMaine's impact on the environment, this kind of practical application of classroom knowledge is particularly exciting.

The UMaine chapter of the American Marketing Association hosted a Dec. 8 statewide business conference, open to students from all over the state who are interested in business careers. The day-long event featured statewide business leaders, informational seminars, network opportunities and venues for potential employers and interested students to interact. The AMA chapter, in the Maine Business School, is very active and provides abundant opportunities for UMaine students and others to get practical business experience.

Another group of students, those who work at UMaine's Witter Farm, deserve kudos for more exceptional work. For the second consecutive year, Witter Farm won Agri-Mark's milk quality award for this region. The faculty, students and staff work very hard at the farm to develop good production protocols and it's nice to see them get this kind of well-deserved recognition.

I would like to offer my best wishes to Jan Williams, who has just retired from UMaine's Office of Student Records. Jan has been an invaluable UMaine staff member for a long time, but perhaps her greatest contributions are known to only a few. Jan has long been the primary coordinator of the hundreds of details that go into making UMaine commencement ceremonies so enjoyable and inspiring. Thousands of graduates, and their families, have enjoyed those special occasions just a little bit more because of the great leadership and attention to detail that Jan provided. I'm certain that future ceremonies will be just as good, but it will take a lot of hard work to make up for not having Jan on the commencement team.

Finally this month, congratulations to the Navy ROTC for a hard-fought win over the Army ROTC in UMaine's first Army-Navy football game, played at 6 a.m. in the Mahaney Dome on the Friday before the annual game between the service academies. These students and the military personnel involved in UMaine ROTC work hard, and they bring great sprit to our university community.

I hope you enjoy a Happy New Year and that you share in my enthusiasm for the year that lies before us. There are certainly some exciting times ahead at UMaine, as we work together to continue as Maine's college of choice for top students while providing the new ideas and unique public engagement that characterize UMaine as an invaluable resource for the people of Maine and beyond.

Sincerely,
 

Bob Kennedy

President