SPEAKER TO DISCUSS ISRAEL-PALESTINE HUMAN RIGHTS Ms. Hadas Ziv, 2009 Visiting Oak Fellow at Colby College’s Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights and executive director of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel), is the scheduled speaker two free, public lectures Monday, Nov. 23. The first, “A Two-State Solution: Can Health be a Bridge to Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?” is a Bangor Foreign Policy Forum event at 7:30 a.m. in the Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow St. Ziv also will speak at 11 a.m. in the Bangor Room of the Memorial Union, a lecture sponsored by the UMaine School of Policy and International Affairs (SPIA).  Peter Fandel at peter.fandel@umit.maine.edu has details.

DARWIN LECTURES CONTINUE NOV. 23 The University of Maine’s semester-long Celebration of Darwin continues Monday, Nov. 23 with a lecture, “Evolution of Warfare,” with Jim Roscoe of the Anthropology Department and Climate Change Institute, from 8:35-9:50 a.m. in 130 Little Hall. Each class meeting in the semester-long series is open to members of the UMaine community and the public. Fourteen UMaine professors are leading course lectures. A full schedule is online at http://www.umaine.edu/news/home/celebration-of-darwin-class-meeting-and-lecture-schedule/. Those who are interested can also join the UMaine Darwin Program fan page on Facebook.

NEW YORK TIMES FEATURES UMAINE WIND POWER CONSORTIUM Comments from Habib Dagher, director of the UMaine AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center, were included in a New York Times article Thursday about the consortium of partners, including the University of Maine, who met this week with Statoil Hydro of Norway to discuss further collaboration in the development of a demonstration test model for offshore wind turbines. Aided by an $8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the project could lead to the first offshore wind power project in the United States, creating up to 15,000 jobs over the next 20 years. Consortium members toured UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center during Statoil’s visit to Maine. The visit also was covered by the Portland Press Herald and Mainebiz.

FORMER FACULTY MEMBER SHARON JACKIW PASSES Former faculty member Sharon Jackiw, 70, of Milford, who taught German and linguistics at UMaine and served as associate director of Research and Sponsored Programs, died Nov. 13.  Active in the university community as an enthusiastic supporter of women’s issues and the Women in the Curriculum Program, Jackiw is remembered for her philanthropic and volunteer work, in addition to her interest in the arts and in nature. An obituary in the Bangor Daily News on Monday has additional details about Jackiw’s life here.

UMAINE BUSINESS SCHOOL NAMED AMONG THE BEST The Maine Business School in the College of Business, Public Policy and Health has been named among the top 700 business schools in the world by Eduniversal, a Paris-based international educational consulting organization that rated more than 20,000 institutions. A news release has additional details here.

FERNANDEZ NAMED TO EPA ADVISORY COUNCIL U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has appointed UMaine soil science professor Ivan Fernandez to a three-year term on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Advisory Council on Clean Air Compliance. The council provides advice, information and recommendations on technical and economic aspects of analysis and reports prepared by the EPA, and the impacts of the Clean Air Compliance Act on public health, economy and environment in the United States. The council meets in Washington, D.C. and by teleconference. Fernandez is a former member of the EPA Science Advisory Board’s Ecological Processes and Effects Committee.

FOSTER INNOVATION CENTER SMALL BUSINESS SERIES The Bion and Dorain Foster Student Innovation Center continues its small business presentation series Tuesday, Dec. 1 from 6-7:30 p.m., with “Business Planning” by Jason Harkins of the Maine Business School faculty. This free and public presentation will cover learning how to select and create new venture teams, and recognizing the right and wrong ways to increase or decrease a venture team.

AEWC INCLUDED IN BUOYS CONSTRUCTION STORY The Bangor Daily News carried an article in today’s edition about the U.S. Coast Guard considering new, lighter construction materials for saltwater navigational buoys, and consulting UMaine’s AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center on the feasibility.

ARTICLE DISCUSSES UMAINE’S GOMOOS BUOY FUNDING An article in today’s Bangor Daily News about funding challenges facing the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System (GoMOOS), whose buoys relay important oceanic conditions for boaters and fishing fleets from the Gulf of Maine, included an interview with UMaine oceanography professor Neil Pettigrew, chief scientist for the buoy project.

LAURENCE JONES MEMORIAL FRIDAY The UMaine Alumni Association and the University of Maine Foundation will host a memorial service honoring the life of Laurence A. Jones, Jr. on Friday Nov. 20, 2009.  It is scheduled for 12 noon on the Mall near North Stevens Hall, in front of the Laurence A. Jones, Jr. Memorial Tree.  Laurence graduated from UMaine in 1992 with a B.A. degree in psychology.  His mother, Yong Cha Jones, generously established a scholarship in memory of her son.  This year’s recipient will be announced at the memorial service.

ANNUAL HOLIDAY BOOK DRIVE UNDER WAY UMaine’s College of Education and Human Development, in collaboration with the University Bookstore and the Old Town-Orono Kiwanis Club, is accepting books suitable for toddlers through teens for the holiday season now through Dec. 4. The public is invited to bring new books, unwrapped, to the office of college dean Anne Pooler at 151 Shibles Hall or to the University Bookstore in the Memorial Union. The books are distributed to area children at the Kiwanis’ annual holiday party, a public event. Through Nov. 25, the bookstore is offering 20 percent discounts on books purchased there for the drive. In addition, for University Bookstore books donated to the campaign, the bookstore will match the donation.

RESEARCH GRANT WORKSHOP PLANNED The UMaine Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, in conjunction with the Center for Teaching Excellence, will offer a workshop, “ORSP 103: The Post-Award Process,” Thursday, Dec. 10 from 10-11:30 a.m. in Wells Conference Center Room 2.  To participate, RSVP amanda.ashe@umit.maine.edu on or before Dec. 3.  More information is online here.

NORWEGIAN ENERGY FIRM’S VISIT COVERED The visit this week by representatives from Statoil Hydro energy company of Norway to the  University of Maine’s AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center and several Maine businesses, including Cianbro’s Eastern Fine Manufacturing Facility in Brewer, was covered by the Bangor Daily News in today’s edition and Channel 2 (WLBZ) on Tuesday. Statoil has expressed interest in joining an offshore wind-energy demonstration project planned by the state of Maine, the University of Maine and others.

$2 MILLION GIFT TO UNIVERSITY REPORTED The $2 million being donated to the University of Maine by a Georgia family for special programs was reported Tuesday and today in several newspapers, including the Bangor Daily News, and radio stations, including WBZ in Boston, which carried an Associated Press article.

UMAINE TOURISM RESEARCH CITED IN CRUISE LINE STORY Research by several UMaine economists on the economic impact of cruise line passengers visiting Portland was cited in a Mainebiz newspaper article Tuesday about the end of the cruise line season and how passenger spending affected local businesses.

UNIVERSITY TO RECEIVE $2 MILLION GIFT Alston D. “Pete” Correll and Ada Lee Correll of Atlanta, Georgia, have provided a $2 million gift to the University of Maine. The gift will be directed to four key areas at UMaine, where Pete Correll received two master’s degrees in engineering, one in 1966 and one in 1967. The Corrells are highly respected community leaders and philanthropists in their home state of Georgia, where they were recognized last week as “Philanthropists of the Year” by the Atlanta chapter of the Association for Fundraising Professionals. A UMaine news release has additional details.

UMAINE ACCEPTED INTO RESEARCH ORGANIZATION Recognizing the University of Maine Climate Change Institute’s international prominence in climate science, the prestigious University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) has selected UMaine for membership. UCAR and its associated National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) work to foster greater understanding of the Earth’s atmosphere and the systems that affect it. UCAR is a nonprofit association of research universities. A news release has additional details here.

NORWEGIAN FIRM’S UMAINE VISIT COVERED The Bangor Daily news carried an article in today’s edition about the Norwegian oil and energy firm Statoil’s visit to the University of Maine and the AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center this week. Center Director Habib Dagher says he hopes the company, the university and state government can collaborate on an offshore wind power project currently in the planning stages. Channel 2 (WLBZ) is expected to report on the visit in its evening news broadcast today.

ENERGY SPEAKER CITES UMAINE WIND POWER COLLABORATIVE In a talk over the weekend in Rockland, Ocean Energy Institute co-founder Matthew Simmons described ocean energy research as part of the solution to a looming global energy crisis. Ocean Energy is working with the state and the University of Maine to develop a pilot wind power research and development project off the Maine coast. The Midcoast’s Herald Gazette carried an article about the discussion on Monday.

EXTENSION SUPPORTERS OBJECT TO COUNTY BUDGET CUT Supporters of the Piscataquis County Cooperative Extension office in Dover-Foxcroft endorsed the services the office provides the region and asked county commissioners Monday to avoid a proposed budget cut that could cripple the office. The Bangor Daily News reported details from a public hearing in an article today.