First Annual Implementation Progress
Report
Progress on:
Progress on Objective 2
Strengthen Partnerships with the
Community and State
Strategic Plan Goal #3
Providing education, technical assistance, and support to new and
existing businesses through the Student Innovation Center, the Target
Technology Center, and the various programs of the Cooperative
Extension.
-CenTRO (Center for Tourism Research and Outreach) is an ongoing
collaborative effort of the UM system and State to study and promote
tourism in Maine.
-The Target Technology Incubator currently has seven tenant companies
(three new companies are pending admission in the coming months) and ten
affiliate companies. Combined, tenant companies raised more than 2.3
million in investment capital and research grants this year. Innovation
Center Plus space opened to provide an inexpensive option for space and
assistance for students graduating from the Student Innovation Center.
Two recent graduates took advantage of this program over the summer. The
Target Technology Incubator successfully graduated one firm from the
incubator that located in the Portland, Me. area. More than 200
individuals attended seminars and events this year, representing private
sector entrepreneurs and UMaine students, faculty, and researchers. The
center provided assistance to other state technology incubators and
coordinated services with several other organizations such as the Maine
Small Business Development Centers, the Maine Patent Program and Maine
Technology Institute.
-The Student Innovation Center (SIC) opened in October 2006 to provide
support for students who wish to be innovators and entrepreneurs. The
SIC offers a combination of academic, informal and experiential learning
opportunities. The SIC served as the regional host for the first-ever
"Entrepreneurship Week USA," with several events including a resource
fair for student entrepreneurs and small businesses. The SIC launched a
business plan competition for bioproducts based businesses. The winning
student team went on to win a Maine Technology Institute seed grant.
Staff of the SIC worked closely with six student companies/projects that
have been assigned space in the Center. The SIC also supported three
other innovation teams. Staff members have consulted throughout the year
with numerous other students who were in the exploratory stages of
starting a business and innovation development. The SIC offered two
courses in the Innovation Engineering program, continued development of
additional courses, and offered several workshops and lunch and learn
seminars on entrepreneurial topics.
Providing expert assistance to those involved in state government
-The College of Business, Public Policy, and Health provided assistance
to the following state agencies in Academic Year 2006-2007:
- Department of Conservation, State of
Maine
- Bureau of Parks and Lands, State of
Maine
- Maine Office of Tourism
- Maine Tourism Commission
- Maine Land Use Commission
- Transportation and Environmental
Policy Committee, Maine DOT
- Maine State Board of Nursing
- Advisory Board for Sexual Assault
Forensic Examiners
- Maine Women's Lobby Legislative
Committee
- Maine Department of Health and Human
services
- DHHS
-The College of Natural Sciences,
Forestry and Agriculture provided assistance to the following state
agencies in Academic Year 2006-2007:
- Maine Agricultural Bargaining Board
- Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission
- Maine Board of Pesticide Control
- Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands
- Maine Department of Agriculture,
Food and Rural Resources
- Maine Department of Conservation
- Maine Department of Inland Fisheries
and Wildlife.
- Maine Department of Marine Resources
- Maine Dept of Environmental
Protection
- Maine Forest Service
- Maine Geological Survey
- Maine IPM committee
- Maine Milk Commission
- Maine Natural Areas Program
- Maine Office of Innovation
- Maine Office of Policy and Legal
Analysis
- Maine State Planning Office
- Maine Water Utilities Association
- State Veterinarian's Office
- Task Force on the Management of
Public Lands
-The College of Engineering provided
the following expert assistance over the past year:
Prof. Bruce Segee is working with Maine
Department of Education on laptop initiative and brought 560 Middle
School students and teachers to UMaine for the Laptop Conference in
June.
Prof. David Dvorak is representative on Governor's Task Force on
Hydrogen Energy Fuel Cell Partnership
FY08 activity – Prof. Bill Davids is serving on an MDOT committee formed
by an executive order from Gov. John Baldacci that is tasked with
reviewing MDOT's bridge inspection procedures and programming in the
wake of the Minnesota bridge collapse.
Prof. Per Garder is a member of the following three state-sponsored
councils: Maine Department of Transportation Research Advisory Board,
Maine Bicycle Council, and Maine Local Roads Advisory Board. On all
these councils, Prof. Garder contributes his expertise in transportation
safety.
Prof. Roberto Lopez-Anido provided expert assistance to MaineDOT on
in-service monitoring of highway bridge structures.
Prof. Shaleen Jain worked with Maine DEP and the U.S. Geological Survey
to investigate the role of climate variability on Maine's Sustainable
Water Allocation Rulemaking, as well as developing metrics that
incorporate Environmental Flow considerations into the process.
Prof. Aria Amirbahman worked with Maine DEP on projects to study the
cycling of phosphorus in Maine lakes, which can lead to the degradation
of water quality.
Prof. Aria Amirbahman worked with Maine DEP to study the effect of
biosolid stockpiles on water quality. This included the release of
metals and nutrients from the biosolid stockpiles and their effect on
surface and ground water quality.
Prof. Scott Dunning, Prof. Tom Christensen and Prof. Dave Dvorak serve
as energy auditors under the Maine Energy Program. Under this program
they have audited energy use of several businesses in Maine.
Prof. Scott Dunning provided input to Governor Baldacci's cabinet on the
state's energy plan.
Prof. Scott Dunning and Prof. Bruce Segee serve on the Maine Technology
Institute's Precision Manufacturing Board.
Prof. Donald Grant served as a member of the Board of Registration for
Professional Engineers.
From the Division of Lifelong Learning:
Sharon Barker, Women's Resource Center, Chair of Women's Employment
Issues Committee of the Maine Jobs Council
Carey Nason, Safe Campus Project, Maine's Joint Commission on Domestic
Violence and Sexual Assault
Gail Dana-Sacco, co-chair, sub-committee on Community Development and
Support Services for the State Advisory Council on Minority Affairs
Strengthening the partnership
between the University of Maine and K – 12 education in the state
-The College of Education and Human Development maintains 23 active
partnerships with schools, state agencies and professional organizations
that ensure constant contact with the K-12 enterprise in Maine.
-The Maine Business School continues its collaboration with the
Penobscot River Educational Partnership, helping school districts
collaborate for real savings in areas such as purchasing.
-The Honors College is pursuing articulations with high school Honors
programs, and currently has such articulations with Brewer and Old Town.
-The Art Department runs an after-school Artworks program each semester
for school-age children.
-The Communication Sciences and Disorders Department provides clinical
services to P-12 both on campus and on-site.
-The History Department sponsors an annual conference on 'Teaching
History in Maine.'
-The Director of the Native American Studies (NAS) Program leads the
statewide work on LD291: An Act to Require the Teaching of Maine Indian
History and Culture, and NAS teaches courses on-line so schools can
comply with the Act.
-The Physics and Astronomy Department's "Mainely Physics" road show
toured 27 public schools; the department also leads a local high school
teachers working group and hosts an annual statewide high school
teachers' conference.
-A New Media faculty member coordinates a program to introduce
technology to preteen girls and has a $500,000 grant to promote
indigenous public education in Northern Maine through videoconferencing.
Another faculty member mentored an undergraduate to develop a new media
'how to' animation for Gulf of Maine public school students.
-The Division of Lifelong Learning has the following on-going programs
that strengthen UM/K-12 partnerships:
For K-12 Students
-Youth Violence Prevention Program, a Maine Department of Education
supported education programs offered in middle schools throughout the
state
-University of Maine Academ-e, through which 14 UMaine courses offered
to seniors in Maine's high schools (243 students representing 98 high
schools; Av. GPA 3.3)
-Maine's Aspirations Program, which sponsors approximately 30 high
school students per year
-Sections of Bureau of Labor Education's curricula on employment law,
offered to several Maine high schools
-Expanding Your Horizons Conference for middle school girls, a
University of Maine event lead by the Women's Resource Center
-Women's Resource Center's "Totally Trades Conference" for High School
Girls in collaboration with a statewide consortium to encourage women in
the trades
For K-12 Professionals
-Maine Studies Certificate Program offered through distance education to
Maine's K-12 teachers as part of state requirement at (at both
undergraduate and graduate options)
-MLTI Training at Hutchinson Center
-Master of Arts in Teaching in French offered to language teachers in
Maine (two summers; one academic year; on-line and summer institute
components)
-Wabanaki Studies Certificate Program (in development) for K-12 teachers
as part of LD 291 requirements (to include distance and summer options)
-On-Line Master's in Education in Math and Science Education (in
development)
-Over 300 courses offered annually through distance technologies
throughout the academic year and summer
-WRC – National Girls Collaborative Project, an NSF funded project to
support organizations encouraging K – 12 girls' participation in the
STEM fields
Education related activities for the Center for Community Inclusion
and Disability Studies (CCIDS)
-LEARNS is a statewide research, technical assistance, and professional
development initiative supporting Maine schools and educators, early
care programs and providers, and the Maine Department of Education to
assure that all Maine students–including those with significant
disabilities–have access to participate and progress in the general
curriculum, extracurricular activities, and their home communities.
-The Portland Early Literacy Collaborative project works with four
existing southern Maine early childhood programs to implement best
practices based on the early literacy research. The goal is to improve
reading skills for pre-school children, including children with special
needs and those who are English language learners.
-Literacy By Design was a collaborative, three-year research project
with the Center for Applied Special Technology that explored the use of
technology based literacy practices as a means of teaching literacy to
students with significant cognitive disabilities.
-During the past five years, CCIDS ran four federally funded research
and demonstration projects with at least 15 school districts throughout
the state from Portland to St. Agatha. In addition, each year CCIDS
faculty and staff have provided technical assistance and professional
development to at least 10 additional school districts in Maine.
-In Fiscal Year 2007, CCIDS provided technical assistance to the Maine
Department of Education that included the research and analysis of
models of regionalization; development and field testing of a monitoring
approval system for CDS programs birth-5; technical assistance to pre-K
programs to support high quality pre-K in public schools; and the
development of a school approval and monitoring system for special
purpose private schools throughout the state.
-CCIDS research activities for Fiscal Year 2007 continued to include
development and implementation of data systems and informatics related
to children and families; research in the area of technology and
literacy for students with severe cognitive disabilities; models of
school reform that provide access to the general education curriculum
and statewide educational standards, and field-testing of a program
development and planning guide for inclusive early care and education
programs. In addition, CCIDS faculty and staff initiated work in the
areas of quality assurance and monitoring systems for special education
programs including the Child Development Services (CDS) system and
special purpose private schools. Other areas of research and evaluation
conducted by CCIDS faculty and staff included inclusive childcare; early
literacy; models of educational accountability for students with
disabilities; educational status and public policy implications of
children and youth in state custody; and models of early intervention.
-CCIDS faculty and staff are members of numerous state committees
related to education. These include: the Early Childhood Task Force,
Committee on Transition, Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine,
Governor's Task Force to Engage Maine's Youth, Maine State Advisory
Board for Deaf/Blind, Maine Advisory Council on the Education of
Children with Disabilities, Maine Department of Education Alternate
Assessment Advisory Committee, and the Maine Department of Education
Special Services Program Review Team.
Other achievements that strengthen community/state partnerships
- The School of Policy and International Affairs, in cooperation with
the Bangor Foreign Policy Forum, has sponsored a series of speakers over
the last year on topics of Foreign Policy. Speakers have come from the
Boston University, Brookings Institution and the University of Maine.
All talks occur at the Bangor Public Library and serve the Bangor
regional area.
-Social Work faculty members sit on 10 state agency committees or
advisory boards and on 11 boards of statewide professional, service, and
advocacy organizations.
-A nursing faculty member is chair of the Maine State Board of Nursing,
Nursing faculty serve four other boards in the state.
-Cooperative Extension exists within communities statewide and serves
Maine people through twenty different locations across the state.
-Engineering faculty led the Integrated Forest Product Refinery (IFPR)
technology demonstration and deployment initiative for Maine. This
initiative and patent-pending technology developed by Prof. van
Heiningen played a significant role in the start-up of Old Town pulp
mill under Red Shield Pulp and Chemicals management.
-Maine's Department of Transportation and Department of Environmental
Protection receive valuable assistance from College of Engineering
faculty, in areas ranging from rumble strips and roundabouts to water
quality.
-The College of Engineering formed a partnership with Bowdoin College
whereby students will study for three years at Bowdoin and two years at
UMaine and receive both a B.A. from Bowdoin and B.S. in Engineering from
UMaine.
-A psychology professor co-chairs a group of advisory faculty experts to
the new Maine Children's Cabinet.
-An Art/New Media faculty member has been named commissioner of the
Maine State Arts Commission; New Media faculty members designed and
maintain the Maine Intellectual Commons website; and another art
professor helped to found, organize and staff the Camden Film Festival
and Bangor's River City Cinema series.
-A philosophy professor is a member of the Maine Supreme Judicial
Court's Ethics Committee, and another serves on the Ethics Committee of
the Eastern Maine Medical Corporation.
-The Computer Science Department is assisting the Town of Orono in
making town records accessible through the Web.
-The Maine Folklife Center and the Hudson Museum continue their
participation in the American Folklife Festival in Bangor and the Common
Ground Fair in Unity.
- The Women's Studies/Women in the Curriculum Program hosted this year's
statewide Maine Women's Studies Consortium.
-The Plant Soil and Environmental Sciences Analytical Lab and Soil
Testing Service provides chemical analysis of soil, ash, compost and
manure samples for private citizens, farms, other businesses, and
researchers alike.
-The Maine Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory responds to a wide variety
of complaints concerning animal illnesses, identifying exotic diseases
that if left untreated could devastate livestock populations and pose a
public health threat.
-Faculty in Food Science and Human Nutrition (FSN) offer a variety of
services to Maine's many food-based businesses including testing of more
than 300 food products annually for quality and safety in the only
certified acidified food facility in Maine and New Hampshire. Last year
FSN faculty collaborated with 315 Maine-based businesses to solve a
variety of issues. The list of clients includes Maine Wild Blueberry,
Maine Maple Syrup Producers, the Maine Cheese Guild and Portland
Shellfish.
-Faculty at the Lobster Institute played a crucial role in the
introduction of a novel value-added lobster product, a dog biscuit,
which is currently being marketed by Blue Seal Feeds.
-A faculty member in the School of Economics served as moderator for the
2007 Maine Water Conference Landscape Sessions and joined the Fair
Economy Commission, attending key public hearings on "big box"
development and subsequently assisting with preparation of a summary of
the discussion at these public forums.
-Division of Lifelong Learning staff serve on a number of community and
non-profit boards including:
- Maine Acadian Heritage Council
- Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor
- Damariscotta River Association
- Penobscot Nation Cultural and
Historic Preservation Committee
- Peace and Justice Center
- Mabel Wadsworth Women's Health
Center
- Komen Foundation Grants Review
Committee
-The following College of Natural
Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture units engaged in partnerships with
the Communities and People of Maine over the past year:
- PSE Analytical Lab & Soil Testing
Service
- Maine Veterinary Diagnostic
Laboratory
- FSN faculty test more than 300 food
products annually
- Food Pilot Plant
- The Lobster Institute
- Cooperative Forestry Research Unit
- Earth Science Teachers Workshop for
high school teachers
Faculty members serve as consultants
for non-profits and environmental groups such as the Green
Infrastructure Working Group (SFR) and the Stillwater Society (ES),
business and industry affiliates including Irving Tanning, Beacon
Analytical Systems and Maine State Pomological Society (FSN), and a
variety of state and federal agencies such as the Department of
Agriculture (PSE, FSN), the Bureau of Parks and Lands (SFR), the
Department of Environmental Protection (FSN, PSE) and the EPA (PSE).
