By Ashley Forbes THE FIRST TIME Brian Harris ’11 met his future business partner, Owen McCarthy ’10, Harris was not dressed to impress. It was the summer before Harris’ first year at the University of Maine and he was at home in West Enfield, Maine, waiting for a few brothers from Sigma Phi Epsilon…
DR. PAUL PLOURDE’S LIFE story is a powerful one: that of a small-town teen who left home to attend college and went on to use his talents and education to save thousands of lives and shift the therapeutic practices of medicine. Plourde, the recipient of the Alumni Association’s 2021 Dr. Bernard Lown Humanitarian Award, is…
INNOVATORS OF UMAINE SUPPORTED BY THE MAINE TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE MARIN SKINCARE CO-FOUNDERS Amber Boutiette and Patrick Breeding (both ’17, ’19G) met at the very start of their undergraduate careers at the University of Maine. Both biomedical engineering majors had schedule details to work out before classes started, and they struck up a conversation on a…
By Nina Mahaleris ’20 Author’s note: This article references Jordan Marie Daniel using they/them pronouns, as the subject prefers. JORDAN MARIE DANIEL ‘11 (full name: Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel) hadn’t exactly intended for a life in the limelight. Daniel, who belongs to the Kul Wicasa Oyate, also known as the Lower Brule…
Black Bear alumni, faculty, staff, and students are among Maine’s most productive innovators and entrepreneurs. This month, Innovators of UMaine showcases Raleigh Toussaint ’21, a recent graduate who majored in animal science with a pre-veterinary focus. In her senior year, Toussaint structured her capstone project around supporting a team of faculty members exploring the commercialization…
FOLLOWING HIS UMAINE graduation, Erik Gundersen ’05 moved to Arizona to pursue a career as a golf pro. When that didn’t pan out, he moved back to Maine, where he has become a major player of a different kind. Gundersen, 37, directs Maine’s Office of Marijuana Policy (OMP), the arm of state government responsible for…
Photo Thalassa Raasch/Maine Community Foundation IN THE HALF CENTURY since George Smith ’70 graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in business administration, his life and career have experienced more surprise turns than any of the state’s rivers and streams that have come to frame his legacy. Seemingly destined for a career at…
The University of Maine community is responding to the numerous challenges presented by the COVID-19 epidemic. Faculty, staff, students, the administration, and alumni are addressing the pandemic in various ways. UMaine Online helped countless faculty members transition to online learning and different departments have contributed in a variety of ways. On the now-quiet campus, several…
How COVID-19 is Affecting Our Work on Your Behalf Updated June 1, 2020 We hope you and your loved ones are healthy and managing as well as possible during these stressful times. Our Association’s staff continue to work remotely in keeping with recommended physical distancing practices. However, we’re maintaining regular work hours and are fully…
This creative diagram is circulating widely on social media. It offers Black Bears and friends a well-intentioned “how-to” for washing hands thoroughly and long enough to reduce the possibility of contracting COVID-19, a newly identified type of coronavirus. COVID-19 has had a greatly disruptive impact on campus life in Orono and throughout the U.S. Most…
The University of Maine has received a patent for technology that could help with the early detection of breast cancer. The technology uses a predictive rather than a reactive approach, helping doctors extract more diagnostic information and making it easier for them to predict the formation of breast cancer. Read more here.
UMaine professors Elizabeth DePoy, Stephen Gilson, and Vince Caccese are part of the team that developed Afari, a specially designed wheeled walker that assists people with their mobility. The Afari enables people with mobility impairments, who otherwise would be limited by standard walkers, to move in a variety of outdoor terrain. A recent Bangor Daily…