Hollywood cinematographer works with UMPI students on film project

The University of Maine at Presque Isle became a working movie set between Dec. 8 and 14 as students in Cathie Pelletier’s screenwriting class brought their script to life with the help of a Hollywood cinematographer and a cast and crew hailing from Fort Kent to Portland.

Students in the course Screenwriting and the Filmmaker’s Life, taught by award-winning writer Cathie Pelletier, had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with Zoran Popovic – the cinematographer for the 2008 film War, Inc., which stars John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Hilary Duff and Ben Kingsley. Popovic and Pelletier – who has written nine novels and had two of them turned into movies – had collaborated on a film project in the past, so when Pelletier asked Popovic this fall if he would be interested in coming to Maine and working as a director on a short film with her students, he agreed to make the trip.

Popovic’s visit and the movie project he and Pelletier oversaw helped students to get a first-hand understanding of what it takes to turn a screenplay into a movie. The students, as well as several volunteer crew members, local thespians and actors from both ends of the state, worked long days and many late nights to film all the scenes in their 20-minute-long short film, titled The Proposal.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Foundation has received a generous $10,000 gift for a scholarship in Peter G. McConnell’s name. The gift was given by McConnell’s family.

McConnell and his wife, Helen O’Seep McConnell, were friends of the University of Maine at Presque Isle for many years and Helen McConnell graduated from UMPI in 1950.

“We are so pleased to be able to continue the legacy Peter McConnell established during his many years of service to Aroostook County,” President Don Zillman said. “The Peter G. McConnell Memorial Scholarship will provide deserving County students with the kind of education that Peter firmly believed in – learning in order to better serve your community.”

A Business student at the University of Maine at Presque Isle recently was presented a scholarship by an affiliate of the world’s largest professional association devoted to human resource management.

Bria Ryder, a sophomore Business Major with a General Management concentration, recently received the Deborah Kierstead and Milton Bailey Memorial Scholarship from the Northeast Society for Human Resource Management, which is affiliated with the Society of Human Resource Management. NESHRM established the scholarship in honor of two of their members who exemplified leadership and community service. Officials annually present the scholarship to two students.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle announced Friday that the campus will soon open a Prometric Testing Center, meaning University students and community members will no longer have to drive for hours to take important computer-based exams such as the GRE, Praxis, and MCAT.

The University has signed a contract with the leading global provider in testing services to open a 5-seat testing site, which will be located in South Hall. Work is underway now to renovate the space and outfit it with computer stations and other necessary testing equipment. Officials hope to host the official opening for the testing site in January.

“We are so pleased to be joining with Prometric to bring this important service to northern Maine,” President Don Zillman said. “It will benefit not only our students who are required to take certain tests in order to become certified as teachers or to be admitted to graduate programs, but also the many community members who currently have to drive long distances to take important computer-based academic and licensure exams.”

Three UMPI Writing Center tutors accompanied faculty member and UMPI Writing Center Director Deborah Hodgkins to the Maine Writing Centers Gathering 2008 at Colby College on Saturday, Nov. 15.

Laura Mooney, Laura Hunter, and Andrea Zappone joined Hodgkins and tutors and directors from Colby, Bates College, the University of Maine, and Thomas College in a day devoted to “Engaged Evaluation: What We Do and Why We Do It.”

A Biology professor at the University of Maine at Presque Isle recently presented a paper on parasites and how they can be useful to middle school teachers during a National Association of Biology teachers [NABT] meeting in Memphis, Tenn.

Dr. Andrea Gorman Gelder noted in her paper “Parasites for the Classroom” that 5th to 8th grade teachers have a unique opportunity to incorporate common arthropod parasites into their curricula. According to Gorman, more than 50 percent of earth’s organisms have adopted a parasitic life style. She explained that well known arthropods like mosquitoes, lice, fleas and ticks serve as “vectors of diseases” and have had a profound effect on both public health and history. They have been responsible for disseminating such pestilence as malaria, plague, West Nile Virus and Lyme disease.

Officials from the University of Maine at Presque Isle and Lumus Construction Inc. held a press conference on Monday, Nov. 24 at 11 a.m. to announce the details of their $2 million project to install a 600 kW wind turbine on the northern Maine campus.

The project establishes UMPI as the first university in the State of Maine and one of only a handful in New England to install a mid-size wind turbine. The turbine will produce about 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year and is expected to save the institution more than $100,000 annually in electricity charges. It also will save an estimated 572 tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere each year, or the equivalent of removing 123 cars from the road.

“We are so very pleased to be announcing the details of this historic project, which will help to meet the campus’s energy needs, significantly reduce our energy costs, and help us to leave a much small carbon footprint,” President Don Zillman said. “This is the most significant renewable energy project we, as a campus, have ever undertaken, and we are both proud and humbled to be stepping forward as a statewide leader in the utilization of wind as a renewable energy resource.”

The University of Maine at Presque Isle expects to begin generating clean energy in late spring 2009 after reaching an agreement with general contractor Lumus Construction Inc. on a $2 million project to install a 600 kW wind turbine on the northern Maine campus.

“This is an historic moment for the University of Maine at Presque Isle, one that encompasses both our efforts to make wind energy generation on campus a reality and our willingness to serve as a leader on the community wind project front,” President Don Zillman said. “With this agreement, we not only will be decreasing our carbon footprint, but also serving our role as an educational, community and statewide leader in green power use. We couldn’t be more excited.”

This agreement establishes UMPI as the first university in the state and one of only a handful in New England to install a mid-size wind turbine.

University and Lumus Construction Inc. officials will host a press conference at 11 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 24 in the Campus Center to announce project details and host a formal contract signing ceremony. All are invited to attend this important occasion.