The First Friday Downtown Art Walk on November 5th will provide viewers with multiple opportunities to see art work created by artists who are graduates of the University of Maine at Presque Isle art program. That evening, four of the seven First Friday display venues will feature UMPI graduates Keary Nichols, William Duncan, Joseph Donald Cyr, and Jme Smith. All four of these featured artists have strong ties to Aroostook County.
Upward Bound Alumni and former instructors are invited to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Upward Bound program at the University of Maine at Presque Isle campus. The celebration on Saturday, Nov. 27, is scheduled for 1-4 pm in the UMPI Campus Center and will include a social time and appetizers.
The Upward Bound program was established on the UMPI campus in 1980. It has served hundreds of students over the last 30 years. Since 2007, the UMPI program has collaborated with the University of Maine at Fort Kent and UMPI’s Houlton High Education Center in order to better serve students in the St. John Valley, as well as Southern Aroostook.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle is pleased to host the Presque Isle Community Players’ Dinner Theatre entitled This Land is Your Land: A Celebration of American Folk Music. The event debuts on Friday, November 5, at 6 p.m. in the University’s Campus Center. Three additional performances will be held – Saturday, Nov. 6, Friday, Nov. 12, and Saturday, Nov. 13.
This Land is Your Land: A Celebration of American Folk Music is under the musical direction of veteran musician and performer Rod Thompson. The music and songs will pay tribute to the long and rich history of American folk music, including songs such as Tom Dooley, Good Night Irene, Blowin’ in the Wind, If I had a Hammer, and This Land is Your Land.
Farm Credit of Maine will be recognized by the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 1 p.m. for their generous donation of $5,000 to support the University’s Solarium in Folsom Hall. The event will take place in the solarium, which is located on the third floor of Folsom Hall.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle is pleased to announce that the third Distinguished Lecturer for the 2010-2011 series is The Honorable Judge Graydon Nicholas, Lieutenant-Governor for the Province of New Brunswick. Judge Nicholas’ presentation will conclude an afternoon-long Native Heritage Month celebration, which is being hosted by Project Compass.
Judge Nicholas will speak on Education & Preservation of Native Culture at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 2 in the University’s Wieden Auditorium. The afternoon celebration will be held in Wieden Gymnasium and include a blessing at 2 pm, a smudging ceremony between 2 and 2:30 pm, a social with traditional drumming from 2:30 to 4:30 pm, and a potluck meal of traditional food beginning at 4:30 pm. The lecture will begin at 6 pm and include greetings from University President Don Zillman, Houlton Band of Maliseet’s Chief Brenda Commander, and Tobique First Nation Chief Steward Paul.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle has received the inaugural 2010 Second Nature Leadership Award for Institutional Excellence in Climate Leadership in the public baccalaureate category. The award was presented at the 4th Annual Climate Leadership Summit of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) held in Denver, Colorado.
“We are highly honored to have Second Nature recognize our commitment to environmentally responsible activities from among the 674 ACUPCC signatories,” said University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI) President Donald N. Zillman. “It is especially exciting to be recognized for institutional excellence and share the 2010 awards platform with other category winners including Cornell, Penn, the University of California-San Diego, Dickinson College, Warren Wilson College, The Alamo Community College District, and Pasadena City College.”
The University of Maine at Presque Isle is pleased to announce that its 2010-2011 University Distinguished Lecturer Series will continue with a presentation by Dr. Mark Noble, Director of the University of Rochester Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Institute.
Noble will deliver his talk Stem Cell Biology: The Next Medical Revolution at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 21 in the University’s Campus Center. He will describe how the field of stem cell biology can enhance the understanding and treatment of a variety of diseases. Just as antibiotics and vaccinations revolutionized medical treatments, stem cell biology research has the potential to provide similar benefits in the treatment of cancer, neurological diseases, bone diseases, heart diseases and metabolic diseases.
University of Maine at Presque Isle Professor Anderson Giles recently had the opportunity to participate in two rare and exciting activities related to World War II in the Pacific.
Professor Giles was one of seven scholars, authors, and military officers invited to speak at an international symposium titled The Manhattan Project & Tinian: An Educational Symposium, which was held in August on the Pacific island of Tinian. Giles also was able to lead a small group of WWII enthusiasts on a rare expedition to the famed George Tweed site on the island of Guam.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle will host award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker Darrell Dorgan for the week of Oct. 3 to 7 as its 2010-2011 Journalist/Professional Communicator in Residence.
In addition to his extensive journalism and filmmaking work, Dorgan is the Executive Director of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame. During his visit to Northern Maine in early October, Dorgan will speak with local service organizations, University classes, and assist with student media programs.
He will also be showing his newest documentary film – Theodore Roosevelt: A Cowboy’s Ride to the White House – at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 6 in the Campus Center. The public is invited to attend this free film showing.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Reed Fine Art Gallery will present the exhibition Maine Woods: Observations by Bert Lincoln Call & Henry David Thoreau from September 17 through October 16, providing an up-close look at 35 photographs and quotations from the 1800’s describing the Northern Maine wilderness.
This exhibit comes to the Reed Gallery courtesy of the Dexter Historical Society. The exhibit has traveled throughout the state of Maine and consists of 35 photographs by Bert Lincoln Call and quotations from Henry David Thoreau’s The Maine Woods.