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 with a luncheon event at 11:15 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 17 in the Campus Center.

Seniors Achieving Greater Education [SAGE] has worked for more than a decade to bring short courses in arts, sciences, and specialty areas to the region’s senior community. SAGE is one of 16 senior colleges in the Maine Senior College Network, and the only one north of Orono.

At the Sept. 17th luncheon, participants will have the opportunity to socialize with SAGE members. Following lunch, they will learn all about upcoming SAGE classes. This fall, SAGE officials are offering 13 courses and learning excursions – on topics ranging from classic novels to Genealogy to UFO’s and Astronomy. Learning excursions include trips to an Amish farm in Fort Fairfield and the Homestead Lodge and Big Wheel Game Preserve in Oxbow.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Reed Fine Art Gallery will host a closing reception for the 2010 Senior Thesis Exhibition on Friday, Sept. 10 from 4-6 p.m.

The show, which has been on display throughout the summer, features the selected works of nine UMPI Fine Art students from their solo exhibitions. The Reed Fine Art Gallery has presented a Senior Thesis Exhibition each year for the last three years as an opportunity for young and upcoming artists in northern Maine to showcase their work to the public and to provide a forum for these students to discuss their works.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle is hosting a jam-packed Homecoming 2010 celebration from Friday, Sept. 17 to Sunday, Sept. 19, offering everything from a concert by famed interactive retro band Motor Booty Affair to a silent auction to athletic events, socials, alumni games and the annual Hall of Fame dinner.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle will celebrate the 223rd birthday of the signing of the U.S. Constitution with a unique “Living History” lecture delivered by UMPI political science lecturer Dr. Brent Andersen.

On Friday, September 17, from 10-11 a.m., students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to observe Constitution Day by gathering in the University’s Campus Center for the special lecture, which is titled Alexander Hamilton Looks Back on the Drafting and Adoption of the Constitution.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle is pleased to present famed interactive retro band Motor Booty Affair during its Homecoming 2010 festivities on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 8:30 p.m. in Wieden Gymnasium. Campus and community members are invited to attend this concert.

Motor Booty Affair, dubbed “The Ultimate Disco Party Band,” delivers 1970’s dance floor classics with flair – complete with afros, bell bottoms, platform shoes and lots of polyester. The band consists of four “funkateers straight from the Planet Funktar” – Superfly, Spanish Fly, Sir Rumpus Funkberry and Cyclone Link Skywalker Jr. – who will perform hits by Earth Wind & Fire, The Bee Gees, KC & the Sunshine Band, Chic, The Commodores, Barry White, Abba and more.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle will welcome parks and recreation officials from across Maine and from Canada when the Northern Maine Community Recreation Association hosts the Maine Recreation and Parks Association’s Regional Workshop from Oct. 21 to 22.

The MRPA’s fall workshop is held at a different site in Maine each year. This year, more than 90 participants are expected to visit Aroostook County for the two-day workshop, which will take place at UMPI and the Nordic Heritage Center and include sessions on developing capital improvement plans, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, low ropes initiatives for strengthening team building, and cooperative partnerships through conservation easements. Dr. Darrell J. Burnett, a nationally recognized clinical sports psychologist and the author of several books including Positive Coaching and It’s Just a Game!, will serve as this year’s keynote speaker.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle is pleased to announce that it will begin its 2010-2011 University Distinguished Lecturer Series with a presentation by award-winning journalist Karin Fischer, who serves as a senior reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Fischer will deliver her talk The New China: A Rising Superpower Opts for Brainpower Rather than Manpower, and Looks to U.S. Colleges to Help It Succeed at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 9 in the University’s Campus Center. The event serves as a homecoming of sorts for Fischer, who grew up in Presque Isle and is a 1992 graduate of Presque Isle High School.

Riverside Park in Downtown Presque Isle will once again be filled with music on Sunday afternoons this summer as the City of Presque Isle, the Presque Isle Downtown Revitalization Committee and the University of Maine at Presque Isle host the Third Annual “Music in the Park” Series.

This year’s concerts will be held on Sunday, July 11, 18, 25 and August 8, 2010.

The free concert series, which attracted average crowd sizes of about 200 people per show last year, will include four shows this summer, ranging from Acadian music to African drumming. Each Sunday afternoon performance will feature an opening act and a main act.

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 third “Super Blood Drive” this summer, the time of year when the need for blood increases. Right now, type O negative blood is especially needed in the New England region.

The Super Blood Drive will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 29 in Wieden Gymnasium. The event is being sponsored by the University, UMPI’s Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society, Mojo’s, and Trinity Blue Mason’s Lodge #130. The event will feature prizes, food and snacks for all donors.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle is pleased to announce that it will serve as the host of the 35th National Institute on Rural Social Work. The institute is expected to bring together social work and human services professionals from all over the United States and parts of Canada for a three-day conference focused on issues surrounding rural social work.

The event, to be held from July 14-17 and sponsored by UMPI’s Social Work Program and the National Rural Social Work Caucus, was held last year in Duluth, Minn. and will be held next year in Natchitoches, La. The theme of this year’s conference is “The 3 R’s of Rural Social Work: Relationships, Resources & Resiliency.”