SAGE kicks off fall class offerings

SAGE kicks off fall class offerings

A University of Maine at Presque Isle program that serves local residents over 50 and believes in “learning for life” will host its fall kick-off event at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 14 in the Campus Center.

Seniors Achieving Greater Education [SAGE] celebrates 15 years of bringing short courses in arts, sciences, and specialty areas to the region’s senior community. SAGE is one of 19 senior colleges in the Maine Senior College Network, and one of two senior colleges north of Bangor.

UMPI Professor Kevin McCartney to undertake sabbatical in Poland

Dr. Kevin McCartney, Professor of Geology at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, is undertaking a semester-long research sabbatical in Poland. Dr. McCartney will be working with colleagues at the University of Szczscinski in northeastern Poland. He was one of several teachers participating in a weeklong short course on microfossils two years ago and will be repeating that course in Poland this coming semester. There are hopes that the course will develop into a college textbook.

Reed Fine Art Gallery presents “Bardo”

The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Reed Fine Art Gallery will present Bardo: An Exhibition of Recent Paintings by Adriano Farinella from Aug. 27 through Oct. 6, 2012. The exhibition debuts Farinella’s recent body of work to the Maine art community. The public is invited to view the exhibition throughout the show’s run and join the artist for a closing reception on Oct. 5 from 5-7 p.m. The reception is being held in conjunction with the Presque Isle First Friday Art Walk.

UMPI announces innovative online learning project

Effort will allow learners to take specific online courses for free

The University of Maine at Presque Isle has taken a bold, new step into the world of online learning with its UMPI OpenU project, an innovative effort to allow learners of all ages to participate in online college courses for free, as long as they aren’t seeking college credit.

LSU Press to release new book by UMPI Professor

From LSU Press Book News

Slaves for Hire: Renting Enslaved Laborers in Antebellum Virginia

John J. Zaborney Overturns Long-Standing Beliefs about Slave Labor

Baton Rouge, LA—In “Slaves for Hire,” John J. Zaborney sheds new light on slave labor in the antebellum South. Previously, scholars viewed slave hiring as an aberration—a modified form of slavery, involving primarily urban male slaves, that worked to the laborer’s advantage and weakened slavery’s institutional integrity. In the first in-depth examination of slave hiring in Virginia, Zaborney suggests that this endemic practice bolstered the institution of slavery in the decades leading up to the Civil War, all but assuring Virginia’s secession from the Union to protect slavery.

University announces 2012 graduates

Two hundred and fifty students graduated from the University of Maine at Presque Isle during the 2011-2012 academic year. On Saturday, May 12, at 10:30 a.m. during the 2012 Commencement Exercises, the University’s 103rd Commencement, President Donald Zillman conferred degrees upon 161 students who participated in the ceremony held in Wieden Gymnasium.

UMPI, Red Cross to host Super Blood Drive

The American Red Cross and the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Residence Life Office are teaming up to pull off the University’s fifth “Super Blood Drive” this summer, the time of year when the need for blood increases.

The Super Blood Drive will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 25 in the Gentile Hall Gymnasium. The event is being sponsored by the University, UMPI’s Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society and Pizza Hut, and cosponsored by Pat’s Pizza, Big Cheese Pizza, Country Farm’s Market, and Wal-Mart.

WAGM’s Ted Shapiro to offer Thunderstorm Safety/Spotter Workshop at UMPI

The University of Maine at Presque Isle will host a Thunderstorm Safety/Spotter Workshop with WAGM Meteorologist Ted Shapiro on Friday, June 22 from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. in the Campus Center. Campus and community members of all ages are invited to attend this free event.

“The workshop will serve as an excellent primer for campus and community members as we continue through the thunderstorm season,” Shapiro said. “I’ll be sharing some important weather-watching skills everyone should know to help them identify impending thunderstorms so they can properly prepare for them. I’ll also teach folks about clues they can look for in the morning, hours before thunderstorms may even occur!”