Press Releases

The Student Organization of Social Work at the University of Maine at Presque Isle will host a special panel presentation about immigration experiences on Thursday, March 10 at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center.

Leaving Home: An International Journey will feature two panelists speaking about issues around immigration and their personal immigration stories. The event, which is supported by UMPI’s Diversity Committee, is being offered thanks to a University of Maine System Diversity Mini-Grant that the student organization received. The diversity mini-grants are meant to fund events, projects and activities that promote the retention of diverse student, faculty and staff populations.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle will host its Annual Career & Job Fair in the Campus Center from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 17. Twenty businesses and governmental agencies from the region and across the state are expected to participate in the event.

“The Career & Job Fair provides a unique opportunity for our students and the public to explore career options, network with employers, discover opportunities and gain professional employment,” Barbara DeVaney, Director of Career Services, said.

– Art and science will come together at the University of Maine at Presque Isle when two professors host an event in honor of internationally celebrated Brain Awareness Week. “North of Ordinary Neuro-Art Night” will take place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16 in the Pullen Art Room.

Biology professor Dr. Rachael Hannah and Art professor Renee Felini are teaming up to offer a fun art project that also will teach participants about brain function and neuroscience. Felini will be creating brain molds out of silicon rubber. Plaster brains will be produced from the molds that participants will be able to paint under Felini’s guidance. Hannah will offer a 15-minute presentation about the human brain, showing how brains are mapped, and then participants will use that information and their imagination to create their brain art.

– The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Faculty Noon Seminar Series has returned for the Spring 2011 semester with presentations on brain research, juvenile court systems, and genealogy.

Seminars will be held on Thursdays from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Normal Hall Faculty Lounge. Presentations will be 20-30 minutes in length, followed by a discussion. Those attending are welcome to bring their lunches and join in the discussion.

In celebration of winter fun, families and community members are invited to come to the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Wednesday, March 2, from Noon to 5 p.m. to experience the thrill of a short dog sled ride.

A University of Maine at Presque Isle program that serves local residents over 50 and believes in “learning for life” will host its spring kick-off with a luncheon event at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 8 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 17 senior colleges in the Maine Senior College Network.

When Rex Fowler visits Aroostook County in early March to take the stage at the Caribou Performing Arts Center, he’ll be returning to the region where he first became serious about singing and songwriting. The former student at Aroostook State College (one of the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s former names) is now a nationally touring, critically acclaimed musician. Fowler is part of the award-winning band Aztec Two-Step, and he recently embarked on another project with Tom Dean of the band Devonsquare – a 7-piece ensemble called the Nu-Utopians. The group performs the songs of John Lennon as a tribute concert and their CD Imagined was just nominated for the 2010 Independent Music Awards Tribute Album of the Year. Fowler will return to northern Maine for the Nu-Utopians’ John Lennon tribute concert at CPAC on Friday, March 4 at 7 p.m. Leading up to the concert, though, Fowler shared lots of memories about his college days and how they helped to shape the artist he would become. “It was an amazing place for me to be,” Fowler remembered of his time at Aroostook State College, “a small campus environment where I was encouraged to develop my identity as an artist, a musician.”

Whether it’s high heels or Mary Jane’s, men and women alike are invited to slip on some female footwear and take part in a Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event to be held at the University of Maine at Presque Isle at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9. The event, part of the international men’s march to stop rape, sexual assault, and gender violence, will begin at the Campus Center.

Established in 2001, Walk a Mile in Her Shoes has become a world-wide movement with tens of thousands of men raising millions of dollars for local rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and other sexualized violence education, prevention and remediation programs. During the event at UMPI, walkers will begin at the Campus Center and walk a designated path equivalent to one mile, in women’s shoes. Upon return, survivors and volunteers will share their story of rape, domestic violence, and hope.

Quick: what do the NASA New Horizons spacecraft mission and Aroostook County people who are in treatment for cancer have in common? Answer: passionate advocates for both science education and exploration and compassionate philanthropists who serve the needs of those in treatment for cancer. These two seemingly separate interest groups merge each February to celebrate the discovery of Pluto by hosting PLANET HEAD DAY.

Held at the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Gentile Hall, the fifth annual Planet Head Day raised over $15,000 for C-A-N-C-E-R, Caring Areas Neighbors for Cancer Education and Recovery. The event, designed to improve awareness of space exploration and cancer, paints people’s heads as planets, dwarf planets and moons. The painting occurs after the heads are either shaved or covered with an elastic swim cap.