University of Maine News

The Library Journal spoke with Deborah Rollins, the head of the collection services department at the University of Maine’s Fogler Library, about a print archiving project between eight of Maine’s largest libraries. The Maine Shared Collections Strategy includes the University of Maine, Colby College, Bates College, Bowdoin College, the University of Southern Maine, the Maine State Library, Bangor Public Library, Portland Public Library, and Maine InfoNet, the state’s consortium. Rollins spoke about the OCLC reclamation project that synchronizes the libraries’ holdings to those marked in the WorldCat which is needed to complete the major archiving project.

The Daily Caller published a report on President Barack Obama not being able to eat a lunch which included “University of Maine lobster salad” after a meeting because his taster was not present. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said the lunch included Gifford’s ice cream, blueberry pie and potato chips made in Aroostook County. Collins was also quoted saying the lunch included a “University of Maine recipe for healthy lobster salad — I pointed that out to the president in keeping with the first lady’s initiatives.” Collins said it was unfortunate that the president could not eat.

The Bangor Daily News spoke with University of Maine men’s hockey coach Tim Whitehead and UMaine Athletic Director Steve Abbott about a review of the men’s ice hockey program. The Black Bears, who went 11–19–8 this past season, were ousted by UMass Lowell last week in the Hockey East quarterfinal series. Abbott said he will look at what needs to be done to improve the program and make the team more competitive. Whitehead said he hopes to return as coach next season and build a stronger team.

The Morning Sentinel, San Francisco Chronicle, NECN, Channel 2 (WLBZ) and WABI (Channel 5) were among many news organizations that carried an Associated Press report advancing Monday’s meeting of the Board of Trustees of the University of Maine System. Faculty tenure will be a major item on the agenda, with 25 faculty members from across the state being considered for tenure. Also on the agenda are two assistant professorships at the University of Maine and $1 million in additional spending for a project at UMaine’s Memorial Gym and Field House Complex. The Bangor Daily News also published a report.

Click here to view the “UMaine Forestry” video on YouTube.

Click here to view the “How Do I Prune Raspberries” video on YouTube.

The University of Maine System Board of Trustees has approved promotion and/or tenure for 22 University of Maine faculty members. The professors were nominated by UMaine President Paul Ferguson based on a peer and administrative review of their successful work in teaching, research and public service.

“These faculty are among our academic leaders, providing some of the best teaching, research and community outreach in their fields,” says Ferguson. “We appreciate their caliber of excellence, innovation, inquiry and commitment to our students and state, and we celebrate their achievement. They are key to helping UMaine reach its goal of being among the most student-centered and community-engaged research universities in the country.”

Promoted to professor

College of Business, Public Policy and Health

• Nory Jones, Management Information Systems

College of Engineering

• William DeSisto, Chemical Engineering
• Karen Horton, Mechanical Engineering Technology
• David Neivandt, Chemical Engineering
• Bruce Segee, Electrical and Computer Engineering

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

• Margaret Lukens, English
• Michael Wittmann, Physics

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

• Andrei Alyokhin, Applied Entomology
• Benildo de los Reyes, Biological Sciences
• Jasmine Saros, Paleoecology

Promoted to research professor

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

• Richard Wahle, School of Marine Sciences

Promoted to Extension professor

• Marjorie Peronto, Cooperative Extension

Promoted to associate research professor

Climate Change Institute

• Andrei Kurbatov

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

• Rhian Waller, School of Marine Sciences

Promoted to associate professor with tenure

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

• Charlsye Diaz, English
• Shawn Ell, Psychology
• Nicholas Giudice, Computing and Information Science/National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis
• Natasha Speer, Mathematics Education

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

• Aaron Weiskittel, Forest Biometrics and Modeling

Promoted to associate Extension professor with continuing contract

• Caragh Fitzgerald, Cooperative Extension
• Leslie Forstadt, Cooperative Extension

Granted tenure at the rank of associate professor

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

• Reinhard Moratz, Computing and Information Science/National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

Contact: Margaret Nagle, 207.581.3745; 207.949.4149

Channel 5 (WABI) reported on the Expanding Your Horizons program, which invites female middle schoolers to take part in engineering, technology, mathematics and science workshops on the University of Maine campus for a day. Barbara Stewart, a UMaine chemistry department lecturer, said the program offers students a look into what the university can offer in those fields. Channel 2 (WLBZ) also covered the story.

The Portland Press Herald cited a 2012 University of Maine study on the state’s obesity rates in an article about U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stressing the importance of childhood nutrition. Vilsack said preventing obesity is a critical issue to helping young people thrive in their health, education and economic achievements. The UMaine study cited in the article found that in Maine, 7.8 percent of children and adolescents are obese, and including adults, 23.1 percent of the state’s population is obese. The study also found the annual medical costs of obesity in Maine are about $453 million.

The Bangor Daily News spoke to Tony Llerena, coordinator of UMaine’s Office of Veterans Education and Transition Services, about the possibility of student-soldiers losing tuition aid because of federal cuts. Llerena said about 30 of the 200 student-soldiers at UMaine receive federal tuition assistance and knows a lot of those students depend on that money. He said he’s interested to see how the university will help them if their aid gets cut.

The Bangor Daily News reported on the new Penquis Regional Linking Program, a partnership of nearly three dozen agencies and providers in eastern Maine that seek to help children of drug addicts by using trauma-informed treatment designed to break down barriers. The group is led by the University of Maine School of Social Work and the Bangor-based agency Families And Children Together. The article also cited a report by Jennifer Middleton, UMaine assistant professor of social work and lead researcher on the project. Middleton’s data says there has been a huge increase in the number of babies born in Maine exposed to drugs, from 165 in 2005 to 667 in 2011.

The cost of college was a focus of MBPN’s Maine Watch with Jennifer Rooks March 14. Rooks interviewed UMaine President Paul Ferguson and University of Maine System Chancellor James Page on the impact of the systemwide in-state tuition freeze. UMaine alumnus and University of Maine System Board of Trustee Adm. Gregory “Grog” Johnson and UMaine undergrad Taylor Phillips also were featured. The segment will be rebroadcast at 9 p.m., March 15.

Poverty and deforestation in Central America will be the focus of two lectures by Florence Reed, president and founder of Sustainable Harvest International. Reed will speak at 7:30 a.m. March 25 at Bangor Public Library, and at 2 p.m. at the University of Maine in 117 D.P Corbett Business Building. Her talks, “An Extraordinary, Garden-Variety Solution to Poverty and Deforestation in Central America,” are sponsored by Bangor Foreign Policy Forum. For more information or to request disability accommodations, call 207.581.1835.

A faculty chamber concert at at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 21 in in Minsky Recital Hall will include the premiere of a composition by Peter Westergaard, professor emeritus of Princeton University. “All Odds” for clarinet, cello and piano was written by Westergaard for his former student, Beth Wiemann, chair of Music Division in UMaine’s School of Performing Arts. Wiemann will play the piece with the Silver Duo, faculty members Phillip and Noreen Silver, as part of the faculty chamber concert. Westergaard is expected to attend the performance. Admission is $9; free with student MaineCard. Tickets can be purchased at the door or through the Collins Center for the Arts box office. Composer and music theorist Westergaard is the William Shubael Conant professor of music emeritus at Princeton University. He has composed many operas from “Charivari” in 1953 to “Alice and Wonderland” in 2006 and wrote “An Introduction to Tonal Theory” in 1975.

Channel 5 (WABI) spoke with Maine Bound Coordinator Lisa Carter during the 2013 Maine Summer Camp Fair for Kids at the New Balance Student Recreation Center on campus Wednesday evening. Representatives from about 65 camps from all over the state spoke with prospective campers and their parents. Some camps brought hands-on examples of activities that are offered during the summer. Fair attendees also received a free day pass to the recreation center. Two interviews from the fair are online.

The Bangor Daily News published an op-ed titled “Biofuels development in Maine: Using trees to oil the wheels of sustainability.” The article, which is part of a longer piece that appeared in “Maine Policy Review,” published by the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, was written by Caroline L. Noblet, a lecturer in UMaine’s School of Economics; Mario F. Teisl, a professor in the School of Economics; Katherine H. Farrow, a recent graduate of the master of science program in natural resource economics; and Jonathan Rubin, a professor with a joint appointment in the School of Economics and the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center.

Islam Awareness Weekend at the University of Maine March 22–23 features free public lectures by Yassir Fazaga, the religious leader of the Orange County Islamic Foundation in Mission Viejo, Calif.

Fazaga’s first presentation, “Misconceptions about Islam,” will be at 9 a.m., March 22 in Room 1, Wells Conference Center. A continental breakfast will be served.

He also will speak on “Psychology of a Terrorist” as part of the annual Open House at the Islamic Center of Maine, 151 Park St., Orono, from 4:30–6 p.m., March 23.

Islam Awareness Weekend is coordinated by UMaine’s Muslim Students Association and the Islamic Center of Maine. For more information or to request disability accommodations, visit the Muslim Students Association website.

Author Nina Shengold will present a public reading with University of Maine Intermedia MFA students from 5–7 p.m., March 15 at Coespace, 48 Columbia St., during the Downtown Bangor Artwalk. The event, “Eat Your Words: A Literary Potluck,” is part of the Spring 2013 Visiting Artist series, co-sponsored by the UMaine Cultural Affairs/Distinguished Lecture Series. Shengold writes in many genres. Her novel “Clearcut,” was a Book Sense Notable selection. She has won a Writers Guild Award for her teleplay “Labor of Love,” starring Marcia Gay Harden, and the ABC Playwright Award for “Homesteaders.” Writing as Maya Gold, she has published eight books for young readers, including the “Cinderella Cleaners” series. For more information on the Bangor event or to request disability accommodations, contact Bethany Engstrom at bethany.engstrom@umit.maine.edu.

A Portland Press Herald blog post titled “Basics of Pruning” linked to the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s website, calling it an “excellent resource for information on pruning techniques.” The blog post also cited Cooperative Extension Educator Richard Brzozowski on pruning tools and his favorite place to buy them.

To sample cuisine from India, Morocco and Italy, University of Maine students need only eat in the three resident dining facilities on campus March 27.

In the popular Taste of the World event, offered annually for resident students by UMaine Dining, both menus and decor in each of the dining facilities are transformed, often in consultation with students from the university’s international community.

This year, there will be a Taste of Morocco at Wells and a Taste of Italy at Hilltop. Taste of India at York will be UMaine’s entry in the special event category of the National Association of College & University Food Services dining awards. The cuisine will include: lamb stew with tomato and southern Indian spices, mixed rainbow vegetables with homemade kadai paneer, sweet and sour asparagus with cashews, potato and peas with masala, and mango ice cream.

The international fare in the three dining facilities will be served during dinner.

Local foods will similarly be celebrated March 21 in the Marketplace in the Memorial Union. Maine-based producers and suppliers will provide information and food samples to raise awareness of the value and sustainability of supporting locally sourced produce and products from Maine.