Editor’s note: Dennis Bailey, a former reporter and senior advisor to then-Gov. Angus King, Jr., is a public relations consultant who lives in Washington, D.C. In late September he was infected with the coronavirus, leading to a life-threatening bout with the illness and nearly a month in the hospital. This journal is adapted from the…
THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE in Orono will be the largest beneficiary of the Harold Alfond Foundation’s historic investment in Maine’s public universities. In October, the foundation, established by its namesake in 1950, announced it would be providing more than $500 million in grants to Maine people and institutions. The grants are intended to grow Maine’s…
I CAN ONLY SPEAK from my own experience. Growing up in Maine, I have a very unique experience compared to most of my family who grew up in the inner cities, but we will get there. Growing up in Maine. The first time I can recall being called “the N word” I was four. At…
GENEVIEVE MCDONALD ’18 represents a legislative district that could have inspired the old Maine saying, “You can’t get there from here!” It consists of 10 communities scattered across 14 coastal islands in Downeast Maine. Only two of the islands are accessible by car from McDonald’s home in Ston ington, so she often utilizes her own…
THE UMAINE Alumni Association Board of Directors has voted to rename one of its most prestigious awards after a longtime Association volunteer and leader who passed away on October 9, 2020. In December, the board voted unanimously to rename the “Pine Tree Emblem Alumni Service Award” as the “Suzanne Kay Hart ’68 Alumni Service Award.”…
GINA FERAZZI frantically loads her Ford Fusion for a 300-mile drive north from her home in Riverside, California, to Mammoth in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. She says good-bye to Charlie, her Goldendoodle, who sulks when she departs. It’s November 19, 2020, the end of a typical week in Ferazzi’s life as a staff photographer for…
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…
The current Maine State Legislature has a strong representation of Black Bear alumni among its members: eight senators and 17 representatives, including House Majority Leader Michelle Dunphy `88, `96. All legislators may be reached via the following email format: firstname.lastname@legislature.maine.gov < Back to Winter 2021 MAINE Alumni Magazine
UMaine is among the best 386 colleges in the nation, according to the 2021 edition of The Princeton Review. The Princeton Review annual guide gathers data on the nation’s 2,800 four-year colleges from administrators as well as surveys from students. UMaine also is highlighted in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2021.The annual publication features more…
Claire Labrie Strickland ’75, a longtime budget officer at UMaine, retired in December after a 45-year career at her alma mater. Strickland, whose final post was as the university’s chief budget officer, arrived in Orono in 1971 to start her college career. After graduation she took a temporary clerk-typist position in the College of Arts…
The pandemic posed countless challenges, including the logistics and safety of teaching and performing chemistry in lab classes. When classes shifted last March from in-person to remote instruction, faculty and staff had to figure out how to provide students with a supervised, safe, hands-on learning experience. The department of chemistry responded by assembling more than…
MAINE Alumni Magazine has won a 2021 Gold Excellence Award from District 1 of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) in recognition of the magazine’s summer 2020 edition. The honor pertains to the Alumni Association’s special expanded edition, which it produced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The magazine featured its usual…