News

In a news release posted on her office website, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe has congratulated the University of Maine for recent U.S. Department of Energy grant funding to continue work developing what will eventually become the nation’s first offshore, floating wind-energy farm. The senator said the funding is potentially worth up to $47 million.

The Bangor Daily News reported that two University of Maine faculty members, gkisedtanamoogk, a Wampanoag from Cape Cod who now teaches in the UMaine Native American Studies and the Peace and Reconciliation programs, and Gail Werrbach, director of the School of Social Work, have been named to a five-member panel, the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission, that will investigate former government practices that moved Native American children from their tribes to foster homes with non-native families. Channel 2 (WLBZ) and Channel 5 (WABI) also reported on the naming of commission members. A Bangor Daily News editorial endorsed the investigation.

The mid-coast newspaper Penobscot Bay Pilot published a news release about plans by the University of Maine and wind energy development partners in the DeepCwind Consortium to float a prototype wind turbine down the Penobscot River to the coast, where it will be moored offshore to test the technology behind plans for a full-scale wind farm off the Maine coast.

An article on the Alternative Energy eMagazine website reported that energy and environmental attorney Jeff Thaler, a visiting professor of energy law and policy at the University of Maine School of Law and UMaine School of Economics, has written two guides for potential developers and others to navigate federal, state and local laws and regulations applicable to ocean energy projects. “Permitting and Leasing for Maine Marine Hydrokinetic (MHK) Power Projects” and “Permitting and Leasing for Maine Offshore Wind Energy Projects” will help the University of Maine and a consortium of industry, energy and other partners pave the way for private investment in a full-scale floating wind farm off the Maine coast.

The Bangor Daily News reported that admission to the University of Maine Museum of Art on Harlow Street in Bangor will be free to the public throughout 2013 as a result of a gift from Penobscot Financial Advisors, formerly known as Bradley & Johndrow, LLC in Bangor.

The science website PhysOrg.com has posted an article about University of Maine geologist and research professor Ed Grew, who recently had two newly discovered minerals, “hydroxledgrewite” and “edgrewite,” named in his honor by two geologists at the University of Silesia in Poland.

The University of Maine Museum of Art will extend its free admission policy for the public in 2013 as a result of a gift from Penobscot Financial Advisors.

Penobscot Financial Advisors has been a longtime sponsor of UMMA’s Community Partners Program, which provides support for education and exhibition programs, according to George Kinghorn, museum director and curator.

“We are grateful for Penobscot Financial Advisor’s generous sponsorship and ongoing support over the years,” he says. “The Museum of Art is a vital community outreach resource of the University of Maine and we are delighted to once again offer free admission so that all citizens may enjoy the museum’s collections and changing exhibitions.”

James E. Bradley, CEO of the financial advisory firm formerly known as Bradley & Johndrow, LLC, notes that the arts play an important role in the community and region.

“We are pleased to provide access so that all may enjoy the exceptional art on display at the museum. We are delighted to support UMMA’s efforts,” Bradley says.

Kinghorn says the sponsorship allows individuals to visit often and have meaningful experiences viewing original works of art by nationally recognized artists.

Contact: Kathryn Jovanelli, 207.561.3350

University of Maine professor emeritus Charles Buck, who taught molecular and biological sciences classes at UMaine for 30 years, died at his home in Stillwater Sunday, Dec. 16, according to his obituary in the Bangor Daily News. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth, two brothers, three sons and a grandson. Calling hours are from 4:30–6:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 20 at the Orono chapel of Brookings-Smith, 72 Main St., Orono. A funeral service is planned at 1 p.m., Friday, Dec. 21 at the Church of Universal Fellowship, 82 Main St., Orono.

An article about high tunnel gardening techniques in Maine by University of Maine Cooperative Extension faculty members Caragh Fitzgerald in the Kennebec County office and Mark Hutton of the Highmoor Farm office in Monmouth appears in the latest issue of the Journal of the NACAA (National Association of County Agricultural Agents).

The agribusiness news website Domesticfuel.com posted a U.S. Department of Energy news release about a $4 million award it recently made to the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center to further advance the university’s research and development, with partners in the DeepCwind Consortium Research Program, of prototype test wind turbines in advance of a larger, floating offshore wind farm planned off the Maine coast.

A Bangor Daily News article on what’s being called alarmingly warmer waters off the Maine coast and possible effects on marine life included comments from University of Maine professor of marine sciences Robert Steneck and Jeffrey Runge, research professor in the UMaine School of Marine Sciences.

The Bangor Daily News has posted on its website a video with University of Maine Cooperative Extension child and family development specialist Leslie Forstadt discussing how parents might address violence such as the mass shooting of schoolchildren and adults in Newtown, Conn.

Barbara Baker, University of Maine Cooperative Extension associate professor and a principal investigator of a 4-H Engaging Youth, Serving Community Program in Maine, coauthored a paper about 4-H being a successful case study on engaging youth in community service activities. The paper is part of a research-based series of papers, The Kinder & Braver World Project: Research Series, on the Harvard University website. The project is part of the Born This Way Foundation initiative created by performer Lady Gaga and her mother Cynthia Germanotta to promote youth empowerment and the development of kindness and bravery. The paper is titled “Engaging Youth, Serving Community: Social Change Lessons from a 4-H Rural Youth Development Program.”

A feature story in the Maine Sunday Telegram about the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s promotion of agritourism in Maine, which engages consumers in more active farm product acquisition, included interviews with UMaine Extension Director John Rebar and Marc Edwards, a UMaine Extension tourism and economic development professional in the Franklin County office in Farmington.

MSNBC carried an Associated Press report about a $4 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy to advance research and development by the University of Maine and industry partners of a first-in-the-nation offshore wind farm near Monhegan Island. The funding will enable the UMaine Advanced Structures and Composites Center to complete engineering, design and permitting for the first phase of the project.

Channel 7 (WVII) reported on a fund drive held at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant by members of University of Maine School of Nursing, who will spend nine days volunteering medical and health care services in underprivileged communities in Belize. Additional information is on the project’s website.

Channel 7 (WVII) covered the “Skate with the Bears” event at the Alfond Arena Dec. 16, an annual invitation for members of communities surrounding the University of Maine to take to the ice to meet and skate with members of UMaine’s ice hockey teams.

Channel 5 (WABI) and Channel 7 (WVII) reported on toy drives held by UMaine students to help area families in need. Channel 5 reported on Phi Gamma Delta fraternity’s efforts to assist Crossroads Ministries with donations of some 300 gifts. Channel 7 reported that members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity handed out flyers to Wal-Mart shoppers in Bangor to promote a “Fill the Truck” holiday toy drive organized by the retail giant and the local Salvation Army.

Liam Riordan, associate professor of history at UMaine, who spent more than six months in Glasgow, Scotland as a Fulbright Scholar, writes about his and his family’s experiences in the fall 2012 issue of the Maine Humanities Council Newsletter.

Click here to view the “How to Talk to Children When Bad Things Happen” video on YouTube.