Recent News

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August 5, 2020

Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center Under Construction

A virtual groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center in late April. Construction began in May, with workers following COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. The project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2022. The Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center will house the Biomedical Engineering Program and…

August 5, 2020

First-ever Bilingual Portal to Franco American Heritage Records

Wedding of Marie Philippon and Alfred Tancrel, Lewiston Maine, 1897. Photo courtesy of the Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine Libraries   UMaine has received a nearly $60,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create a first-ever bilingual portal to Franco American heritage records from archives in the United States and Canada.…

August 5, 2020

Enrollment at UMaine Remains Strong Despite the Pandemic

Visits to the Orono campus are a powerful recruitment tool, but when in March the pandemic closed the campus, UMaine Admissions shifted its focus to an online strategy. The increase in online content proved effective, and new student enrollment remains strong. Approximately 2,200 incoming students, both first-year and transfer students, have confirmed their plans to…

August 5, 2020

Goaltender Shifts from Black Bear to Bruin

Jeremy Swayman, a junior goaltender on the Black Bears’ men’s ice hockey team, opted to pass up his final year at UMaine and signed with the Boston Bruins in March. Swayman’s final season as a Black Bear was a memorable one. He was selected as Hockey East Player of the Year and received the Mike…

August 5, 2020

University Praised for Civic Engagement

Thanks in part to its “UMaine UVote” education and outreach initiative, the University of Maine has been named to an elite honor roll of American universities and colleges for its efforts to encourage students to vote. Citing voting as a measure of engaged citizenship, Washington Monthly included the metric as part of its annual rankings…

August 5, 2020

Class of 2020

Although the student-planned “Coronamencement” (above) was memorable, the Class of 2020 missed out on a traditional May Commencement. However, that doesn’t lessen their accomplishments. The UMaine Alumni Association is proud to recognize each 2020 graduate. < Back to Summer 2020 MAINE Alumni Magazine Photo by Linda Coan O’Kresik, Courtesy of the Bangor Daily News. CLASS…

August 5, 2020

Shifting Gears

Hear from University leadership on how they have shifted gears due to the pandemic. The photo above was taken from the Dean of Students Welcome Back to Campus Video. Click here to watch. Robert Dana Student Life VP Most important has been our responsibility to assure the safety of students. That has been job number…

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August 5, 2020

UMaine’s Matchmaker

Ward forges partnerships to address health, safety, and economic needs < Back to Summer 2020 MAINE Alumni Magazine JAKE WARD, UMAINE’S vice president for innovation and economic development, is no stranger to coalition building. As head of the Office of Innovation and Economic Development, he is involved in connecting individuals and groups statewide and beyond…

August 5, 2020

First Person

President Ferrini-Mundy faced unprecedented challenges < Back to Summer 2020 MAINE Alumni Magazine   As the threat of COVID-19 loomed, University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy and her cabinet had to quickly re-engineer UMaine’s ability to teach, conduct research, and serve the public. She assembled an ad hoc team of administrators, faculty, and staff advisors…

August 5, 2020

UMaine Responds to the Pandemic

Research assistant Nayereh Dadoo ’18 Ph.D. and PDC research manager Donna Johnson ’79, ’90 Ph.D. mix hand sanitizer at the Process Development Center. COVID-19 has brought into sharp focus the University of Maine’s unique statewide role as Maine’s land-grant university. < Back to Summer 2020 MAINE Alumni Magazine FACULTY, STAFF, AND STUDENTS have been mobilized…

August 5, 2020

Life Disrupted, Lives at Risk

Alumni share their experiences < Back to Summer 2020 MAINE Alumni Magazine (Photo Val Mitchell ’09)   Tara Kierstead ‘08 As a school counselor with 450 students on my caseload, the first two weeks of the pandemic, in which we were not in school, were incredibly stressful. I was worried about my students and had…

August 5, 2020

Class Dismissed

Students share their experiences < Back to Summer 2020 MAINE Alumni Magazine   Hailey Bryant ’20 This isn’t how our senior year was meant to end. But we took our time to cry, and then in true UMaine fashion, we organized. One classmate, Sophia Palangas, started a small Facebook event to gather her friends together…