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Women in the Curriculum / Women's Studies

Maryann Hartman Awards

1998 Award Winners
Honoring three Maine women

Eleanor Humes Haney

Haney, who lived in Maine from the 1970s until she passed away in 1999, was a feminist theologian and community activist. She was affiliated with the Maine College of Art and the Bangor Theological Seminary, and also authored several books and articles, including Vision and Struggle: Meditations on Feminist Spirituality and Politics. She was also a founder of Astarte Shell Press. Her commitment to the economic and spiritual justice for women is still evident in the many organizations she founded. These include the Feminist Spirituality Community in Portland; the Center for Vision and Policy, which established alliances between indigenous and nonindigenous people in Maine and New Brunswick; MaineShare, which facilitates paycheck contributions to organizations not supported by the United Way; and the Maine Community Loan Fund, which provides low interest loans to those in need.

Sr. Lucy Poulin

Poulin is the president and co-founder of H.O.M.E., Inc., a cooperative community dedicated to economic and social reconstruction for individuals and families in transition from homelessness to independence. Poulin, who grew up in poverty on a rural Maine farm, also worked in a fiber mill and a chicken processing plant before joining a Carmelite convent. In 1970, she felt the need to actively assist the poor, especially women, and, with several other Carmelites, founded Homeworkers Organized for More Employment in Orland, Maine. Begun as an outlet for women's home crafts, today H.O.M.E. offers housing, food, clothing, safety, education, health care, and employment. Poulin also established the Covenant Community Land Trust which, working with H.O.M.E., provides an opportunity for home ownership for low income families.

Eleanor Sargent

Sargent, who grew up on a farm in Mount Chase, has practiced nursing for over 45 years primarily in rural northern areas. She entered Eastern Maine General Hospital as a cadet nurse during World War II and, after 17 years in Milliken Memorial Hospital in Island Falls, returned to Bangor to receive her anesthetist's certificate. From 1986 to 1996 Eleanor has traveled in teams with Feed the Children, providing medical care in developing countries. She has raised more than $2,000,000 in hospital equipment and supplies for hospitals in Guatemala and El Salvador and has arranged for Feed the Children to deliver food to Aroostook County's temporary shelter for the homeless and the Diocesan Human Relations of Caribou. She is currently the president of Down East Education Fairground Association which aims to enhance economic opportunity in Washington County.

Barbara Cooney Porter

Cooney Porter was the author illustrator of over 100 children's books for which she received two Caldecott Medals and one American Book Award. Her favorites were the ones with Maine settings--Miss Rumphius, Island Boy, and Hattie and the Wild Waves--and in 1996 she was officially recognized by Governor King as a Maine State Treasure. She holds honorary degrees from four colleges and has had her books translated into 10 languages. In 1989 the Maine Library Association awarded her with the first Lupine Award for outstanding children's books by state residents. It is largely through Cooney Porter's work that Damariscotta will have a greatly expanded and renovated public library. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Cooney Porter lived in Damariscotta for much of her life. She passed away in March 2000.

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Women in the Curriculum
Women's Studies Program
101 Fernald Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469
Phone: 581-1228
E-mail: Angela.Hart@umit.maine.edu