Dear Colleagues,

As we wrap up the final week of spring semester classes and move toward an exciting series of events next week, I would like to reflect on the month of April at the University of Maine.

I must begin by expressing my thanks to Edna Mora Szymanski for her outstanding work as provost during the past two years. As you know, Edna has been named president of Minnesota State University Moorhead. I'm very familiar with that institution, and I am certain that Edna will do very well there. The positive impact of Edna's leadership at UMaine will be felt for years to come, and I am grateful for her contributions. I am very pleased that Sue Hunter has agreed to step into the provost's role at UMaine, and I look forward to working with her even more closely. Sue is a highly respected and well-liked member of our academic community, and she will make an outstanding provost.

Along similar lines, I am pleased to have nominated Jeff Hecker to become dean of UMaine's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Jeff, like Sue, has been a great faculty members for many years and I am pleased that he is willing to take on this new role. We will ask the Board of Trustees to ratify both these appointments at its next meeting.

Congratulations also go to the 18 UMaine faculty members who were granted tenure and/or promoted at the Board of Trustees' most recent meeting. The complete list of those outstanding professors is online here.

Two federal government grants -- announced just five days apart in April -- show the relevance and impact of UMaine research.

Thirty million dollars from the Dept. of Energy will support the construction of a biorefinery at the former paper mill in Old Town. That grant continues the work of Prof. Hemant Pendse and scientists at UMaine's Forest Bioproducts Research Initiative, moving toward making ethanol from forest bioproducts, through a process based on patent-pending technology created by Prof. Adriaan Van Heiningen. The funding was awarded to a consortium involving UMaine, Red Shield Environmental and American Processes Incorporated.

A Dept. of Defense grant of nearly $13 million will fund the next stage of Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center R&D work aimed at developing composite shipping containers fitted with sensors that allow for tampering detection. This work has significant potential implications for both the shipping industry and for homeland security. This grant was awarded to Maine Secure Composites, an AEWC spinoff company. Congratulations to AEWC director Prof. Habib Dagher, Anthony Viselli and others on the AEWC faculty and staff for reaching this important milestone.

There are interesting and important similarities in these two news items. In each case, these grants represent an important step toward large-scale commercialization of UMaine technology. These projects are already quite evolved, as partner businesses have recognized their potential and have become involved. And, in each case, UMaine students have already benefited from the opportunity to participate in R&D work, and the new grants will create even more opportunities for current and future students. Maine started investing in research later than most states but, led by UMaine ingenuity and creativity, we are catching up and moving toward greater economic development with statewide implications.

Other faculty achievements this month include the election of math education professor Tod Shockey as vice president of TODOS: Mathematics for ALL. That group works to "advocate for an equitable and high-quality mathematics education for all students -- in particular Latino/Hispanic students." Tod is an expert in ethnomathematics.

Two UMaine anthropologists, Prof. Dan Sandweiss and Ph.D. candidate Kurt Rademaker, have been honored by the Society for American Archaeology. Dan, who is also dean and associate provost for graduate studies, received the society's Presidential Award at its annual meeting. Kurt received the Kellogg Award for geoarchaeological research.

I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to the winners of UMaine's annual employee achievement awards. Paulette Ferland, an administrative assistant who works at UMaine Army ROTC and Orman Jackson, an Estabrooke Hall custodian, have received the Classified Employees Advisory Council's 2008 Outstanding Classified Employees of the Year Awards. AEWC assistant director Bob Lindyberg and Graduate School Associate Dean Scott Delcourt have been similarly honored by the Professional Employees Advisory Council.

UMaine's Paulette, Orman, Bob and Scott will be formally honored at the annual employee recognition dinner on May 14, two days after the annual retiree recognition event. These are always great annual events, and I hope many of you will be able to attend.

On the subject of staff achievements, I am pleased to note the six new members of the UMaine Diversity Leadership Institute. This group will begin their training at the national Conference on Race and Ethnicity in late May, and will continue over the next two years with monthly UMLDI sessions on privilege, equity and social justice. The new members are:

Stephen Allan, Administrative Assistant, Wabanaki Center

Shelly Chasse-Johndro, Project Coordinator & Instructor, Project Opportunity, College of Education & Human Development

Sara Henry, Disabilities Counselor, College Success Programs

Debra Kantor, Extension Educator, Maine Cooperative Extension-Somerset County

John Kidder, Human Resources Officer, Human Resources

Valerie Smith, Research Assistant Professor, Center for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies

As we approach commencement and the related activities, where we will pay tribute to so many students for their achievements, it is nice to have the opportunity to focus on several noteworthy accomplishments by our students. We will have even more to report next month.

• UMaine junior Erin McKenzie, an accounting major and Air Force veteran from Hampden, is one of just 65 students from around the U.S. to be named a 2008 Truman Scholar. Those awards support graduate education, and Erin plans to attend law school after graduating next year, with aspirations to practice family law.

• Rodrigo Silva-Muñoz, a University of Maine Ph.D candidate in civil and environmental engineering, won a first-place outstanding paper award for a paper co-authored by Prof. Roberto Lopez-Anido in a competition run by the Society for the Advancement of Materials and Process Engineering. The paper is about AEWC work in monitoring the structural condition of U.S. Navy vessels.

• David Merrill of Newburgh, a UMaine sustainable agriculture major, has received a $5,000 Garden Club Federation of Maine scholarship, putting him in the running for a National Garden Club scholarship. Kevin Douglas, a sophomore landscape horticulture major, recently became the first UMaine student to receive a nationally competitive Vic and Margaret Ball Intern Scholarship, a $6,000 award and paid internship from the American Floral Endowment.

• UMaine ecology and environmental science Ph.D. candidate Robb Freeman has been named first-place winner of the Inez Boyd Environmental Research Prize from the Penobscot Valley Chapter of Maine Audubon. The Inez Boyd second prize went to Michael Bailey, a UMaine grad student who hopes to receive his zoology Ph.D. in May of 2009.

• The Northeast Algal Society has named UMaine marine biology major Sarah Hall co-winner of the President's Award for the best undergraduate research presentation at its annual meeting. Hall, a Waterville native who will graduate in May, presented her senior capstone research project titled "The Flora of the Rocky Intertidal Zone in Acadia National Park, Maine."

• Laura Wood, a sophomore from Scarborough studying ecology and environmental sciences, has been awarded a 2008 Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The scholarship comes with a summer NOAA internship and financial support for her junior and senior years at UMaine.

• Two UMaine students have received the 2008 Maine Studies Research and Creativity Awards. The undergraduate award went to Valerie Mitchell for her work, "Wabanaki Worldview - Resources for Educators. Grad student Holly Blanchard-Reed won the graduate student award for her research paper, "Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 - Acknowledging the Past."

These awards, established to recognize student research excellence in Maine-related topics, are funded through the generosity of the University of Maine Foundation.

• We've been fortunate to experience several student performances in music, theater and dance during the past few weeks, and they have all been most impressive. I was pleased to be in attendance on April 10 when the UMaine Symphonic Band showcased a great example of that talent before a sizeable audience at Portland's Merrill Hall.

• Kudos to the members of the UMaine football team who staged this week's bone marrow registry drive this week. These student-athletes undertook this initiative in memory of Jeff Cole, the former UMaine assistant coach who died of cancer in 2004. The 165 people who participated in the drive are now part of the National Bone Marrow Registry and could be called upon to donate bone marrow and perhaps save a life.

• UMaine's Student Athlete Advisory Committee and other student-athletes ran a fundraiser recently at an Orono restaurant. The Black Bears worked as servers for three hours, with all tips donated to the March of Dimes.

• Congratulations for students and faculty in UMaine's New Media Department for a well-received capstone night at mid-month. As always, this impressive event featured hands-on demonstrations and presentations by graduating seniors who bring incredible creativity and skill to their work.

• I was pleased to note that members of UMaine's Delta Zeta sorority are working to encourage environmentally friendly practices in all of their chapter activities. This is a very forward-thinking approach, which reflects UMaine's commitment on many levels to "green" behaviors and initiatives.

• Members of the UMaine Chapter of the American Marketing Association, working Cathy Marquez from the Career Center and Paula Paradis from the alumni association, put on their annual business etiquette dinner for interested UMaine students last week. This event has become a real annual highlight, and it provides our students with some valuable information and skills that will serve them well in the workplace and social settings.

• Another annual event that reflects very well on UMaine students in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, through which accounting students provide free tax preparation assistance to low-to moderate-income taxpayers, people with disabilities, the elderly or students who need help. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service sponsors this program, managed each year at UMaine by Prof. Steve Colburn.

• Congratulations to the team of UMaine chemical engineering students who took first place at the northeast regional Chem-E-Car competition at MIT. The competition involves student-built hydrogen-fueled vehicles, about the size of a shoe box. UMaine's win, the university's second in three years, qualifies our team for the national championships, scheduled for Philadelphia in November.

• The great work of UMaine's graduate students was on display recently at UMaine's 2008 Graduate Research Exposition. The two-day event showcased creative achievement and academic excellence, with highlights including demonstrations and posters reflecting the current work of these terrific students. Some of the winning exhibits will be on display next week at a reception that will follow the graduate hooding ceremony on May 9.

• On Wednesday of this week, UMaine's School of Policy and International Affairs and the Bangor Foreign Policy Forum presented an interesting program. A group of 13 UMaine students engaged students at American University in Cairo, through videoconferencing technology, in a discussion on "The Future of American Foreign Policy in the Middle East." Our students, and those at AUC, were very impressive as they engaged in a high-level conversation about issues that affect people in all parts of the world.

• Prof. Herb Crosby and UMaine's Mechanical Engineering Technology seniors have once again come up with an interesting capstone project that will help people in our community. On Maine Day, as always, the students demonstrated the results of their work, which involved the design and construction of wheelchairs that do not roll back on hills or tip over. The students worked with some area people who have disabilities to learn about these particular challenges and to find ways to help.

• UMaine celebrated Student Employee Appreciation week in mid-April, as part of a nationwide program supporting student employment. UMaine had 22 students nominated by campus employers for UMaine's student employee of the year award. UMaine selected both an undergraduate and a graduate student employee of the year for 2007-2008. The graduate winner was Laurie Pinkert, a teaching assistant in English and a Graduate School orientation coordinator. Suzanne Fisher, a marketing intern in athletics, was the undergraduate winner. Suzanne also won the state's student employee of the year award.

• UMaine's Center for Teaching Excellence has announced Teaching Instruction Awards for three graduate student teaching assistants The award winners are Erik Albert from the Computer Science Department, Laurie Pinkert and Bhupendra Nagpure from the Physics and Astronomy Department. The Teaching Instruction Award recognizes outstanding teaching assistants who demonstrate a high level of professional skills and knowledge and who achieve excellent learning outcomes in the classroom.

Other members of the UMaine community have been involved in recent activities that reflect their initiative and creativity, while demonstrating UMaine's value and statewide relevance.

Scott Dunning, for example, conducted a two-day Portland seminar teaching businesses ways to reduce their energy costs and improve their bottom line. Scott is a professor and director of UMaine's School of Engineering Technology and he serves as associate dean of the College of Engineering.

Faculty and others in UMaine's Dept. of Modern Languages and Classics, along with the Foreign Languages Association of Maine, conducted a French and Spanish immersion day in early April. This event brought to campus a total of about 100 students and language teachers from Hampden Academy, Foxcroft Academy and Hermon, Bucksport and Brewer high schools

The UMaine-City of Bangor Project, an interesting initiative funded by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development and administered by UMaine's Margaret Chase Smith Center, brought Bangor-area high school students to an April vacation workshop involving the traveling artist collective Slightly Askew. The artists worked with the high school students to teach them about documentary film, interactive design and performance art. The UMaine-City of Bangor project works to build university-city partnerships related to youth empowerment, community inclusion and and affordable housing.

Speaking of students and art, the 2008 Juried Student Art Exhibition in the Lord Hall Galleries runs through Friday May 2. In addition to displaying their impressive works for the past few weeks, the students conducted an art auction to benefit refugees in Darfur. That auction was part of a service-learning project in Prof. Laurie Hicks' Topics in Art Education class

UMaine's Employee Wellness Program, Healthy U, hosted "Komen for the Cure" on April 7 at UMaine. This is a mobile outreach and education program and display that travels around the country providing information about breast cancer. This was a very good resource for the many members of the UMaine community who visited the Komen for the Cure trailer that day.

As always, UMaine's Race for the Cure cancer fundraiser and awareness-raising event was a great success. The Field House was alive with activity that night, and I was very proud of all the members of the UMaine community who participated.

I was pleased to note that the Susan L. Curtis Foundation has recognized the University of Maine Foundation for the foundation's support of the Camp Susan Curtis Arts Education Center at Hewnoaks Volk Family Center in Lovell. The foundation owns that facility, and leases it to Camp Susan Curtis for use as an art education center as part of a summer camp experience for disadvantaged youngsters.

It is noteworthy that we received word in April that the U.S. Green Building Council has awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Rating to UMaine's new Foster Student Innovation Center. We can all share in community pride with the progress UMaine is making with regard to environmentally responsible behavior, including work on a master plan that is rooted in principles related to environmental stewardship. This announcement came very close to Earth Day, which UMaine celebrated in style once again this year, with an interesting and informative series of events.

Once again, it was quite a month at UMaine and May promises to be just as exciting. I look forward to writing again next month, to share some thoughts about commencement and the annual faculty awards that will be announced next week, along with the other faculty and student achievements we will see in the coming weeks.

Sincerely,
 

Bob Kennedy

President