In March 2017, Jacqui Lowman, University of Maine at Presque Isle Associate Professor of Professional Communication and Journalism, embarked on the adventure of a lifetime: a hike of the Appalachian Trail. Since then she has had many profound experiences that have furthered her beliefs about teamwork and how we can all redefine “impossible.”
Due to the hard work of several students and their faculty, the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s first mini food pantry has been established to help combat hunger and food insecurity. Earlier this fall, the Student Organization of Social Workers-Food Security Council held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly-established Emergency Mini Food Pantry on the ground floor of Folsom Hall.
Following the success of its Competency Based Education Bachelor of Business Administration degree program—which was unveiled this fall with a Management and Leadership concentration and allows adult learners to earn their college degree in a few years for under $10,000—the University of Maine at Presque Isle is adding two new CBE offerings this spring and has plans to bring another one on board in Fall 2018.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle will hold a suicide awareness walk on campus from the Campus Center to Gentile Hall on Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 6 p.m. in recognition of the pain suicide brings to Maine and the community. Anyone from UMPI or the community is encouraged to attend this free event.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle Director of Student Support Services, Mary Kate Barbosa, has been selected to serve as the President-Elect for Maine Educational Opportunity Association (MEEAO), a professional organization for the state of Maine’s TRIO program.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle presents comedian Dulcé Sloan with a night full of laughs on Saturday, Nov. 18 in the Auditorium at Wieden Hall at 7 p.m. Join UMPI for this one of a kind event by Sloan, who is one of TimeOut LA’s Top Comics to Watch for 2017 and the Winner of the 2016 Big Sky Comedy Festival. The show is free, open to the public, and is rated PG-13.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle will give students the opportunity to spread kindness on and off campus during the week of Nov. 13 through Nov. 18 by showing acts of selflessness as part of the University’s first ever Kindness Week celebration. Hosted by the UMPI Inclusion and Civility Task Force, the week was specifically chosen to coincide with World Kindness Day, which takes place on Nov. 13, and the International Day of Tolerance, which is on Nov. 16.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s very own Chelsey Briggs will serve as the next speaker in the 2017-2018 Distinguished Student Lecturer Series on Thursday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m., in the Campus Center. Briggs, who is the fifth UMPI student to serve as a student Distinguished Lecturer, will deliver her talk An Unconventional Journey. Her talk is free and the public is encouraged to attend the event.
Through its efforts to provide an affordable and accessible college education to students in Maine and beyond, the University of Maine at Presque Isle has experienced a 6.2% increase in enrollment by headcount—the largest such increase within the University of Maine System from Fall 2016 to Fall 2017. Officials are attributing this increase to the work UMPI does to provide affordable options to its out-of-state students and ease of access to its Early College and adult learners.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle and the Alumni Association recently honored two alumni with awards of achievement—the Educator of the Year Award and Distinguished Educator Award—at the University’s Second Annual Alumni Hour on Saturday, Oct. 7 during Homecoming 2017: Friends & Family Weekend.