Officials with the University of Maine at Presque Isle announced several changes for the campus following an in-depth, months-long process that examined where dollars could be saved and where cuts would need to be made in order to balance the budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
Two hundred and seventeen students graduated from the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Saturday, May 15, during the 2010 Commencement Exercises – the University’s 101st Commencement ceremony. President Donald Zillman conferred degrees for the 2009-2010 academic year upon 133 students who participated in the ceremony held in Wieden Gymnasium.
U.S. Senator Susan M. Collins addressed the graduates as this year’s commencement speaker. During the graduation event, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degrees were presented to Senator Collins, and David and Roberta Griffiths, long-time pillars of the Presque Isle and university communities.
Campus and community members will have the opportunity to watch an evening’s worth of new and locally-produced short films when the Fine Art Department of the University of Maine at Presque hosts the first annual Fiddleheads Film Festival, starting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 13, in UMPI’s Wieden Auditorium.
Several short films, each 15 minutes or less and created by local students and community members, will be showcased.
Sarah Smiley – author of the nationally syndicated newspaper column “Shore Duty,” which reaches more than 2 million readers weekly – will serve as guest speaker during the Houlton Higher Education Center’s “Graduation Celebration” at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 20.
The nationally known writer is coming to northern Maine through the coordination of Bernadette Farrar, Assistant Director of the Houlton/Hodgdon SAD #29/70 Adult Education program, which is housed at the Houlton Center, and HHEC Director Chuck Ames. The center, which opened its doors for classes in August 2001, is administered by the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
Jared Monahan, a junior double majoring in Biology and Environmental Science at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, has been named a 2010-2011 George J. Mitchell Peace Scholar. One student in the University of Maine System and one student in the Maine Community College System are selected for this honor each year.
The George J. Mitchell Peace Scholarship was created in 1998 and honors the Northern Ireland peace accord brokered by Senator Mitchell between the governments and peoples of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The accord was reached on Good Friday, April 10, 1998, and accepted by vote of the citizens of Ireland and Northern Ireland on May 22, 1998.
Jessica Littlefield, a sophomore Recreation and Leisure student at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, has been named Ms. Wheelchair Maine and is working to raise $3,000 in donations so she can attend the Ms. Wheelchair America event to be held this August in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Ms. Wheelchair America competition provides an opportunity of achievement for women who happen to be wheelchair users to educate and advocate for the more than 52 million Americans living with disabilities, according to the organization’s website.
Students in a Social Work class at the University of Maine at Presque Isle spent the day on May 3 helping to create awareness for the people affected by the recent earthquake in Haiti during their project “A Tribute to Hope.”
Students in Professor Shirley Rush’s Social Work 287 course “Human Behavior in the Social Environment II” undertook a campus wide, non-verbal demonstration for the project, which included a multimedia presentation in the Campus Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., as well as the 24-hour installation outside of Folsom Hall of a tent constructed with salvageable materials to symbolize resilience. The tent was similar to the make-shift shelters Haitians have had to make for their families after the earthquake.
A film about the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s efforts to install a wind turbine on its campus will take center stage on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network this weekend when the public television station hosts the statewide TV premiere of “Wind 101: The University of Maine at Presque Isle Builds a Wind Turbine.” The 30-minute film airs on MPBN this Saturday, May 8 at 11 a.m.
“Wind 101,” directed by local videographer and filmmaker Frank Grant and narrated by long-time theater professor Joseph Zubrick, follows the step-by-step process it took for the University to complete its major renewable energy project – from the very first energy survey to the very last installation detail – and the bumps encountered along the way. This film also shows the work the University has done to turn its project into an educational opportunity for its students and the greater community.
Live classical music returns to the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Wieden stage with a special recital concert by the students of Dr. Anatole Wieck, Professor of Upper Strings at the University of Maine in Orono, at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 14.
Dr. Wieck’s students will perform their year-end recital, and Dr. Wieck will play a collaborative piece with local musician Carol Ayoob during this very special performance done in partnership with the two UMaine campuses.
During a President’s Reception held on May 5, 18 students at the University of Maine at Presque Isle received grant aid awards through the Student Support Services (SSS) program. SSS awarded each full-time student approximately $2,200, and the funds will assist the students by reducing their loans.