Dear UMPI Community,
I wanted to provide you with an update about the Houlton Center. Through the support of University of Maine System leadership and the Board of Trustees, and the deft handling of the property sale by the Procurement and Legal teams involved, we have been able to make a rare thing happen. A building that has provided important educational and community services to the greater Houlton region for more than 20 years will continue to do so under a new owner–a solution that ensures our long-term fiscal sustainability and decreases our overall property footprint while continuing to ensure that we meet the student needs of the region.
Our new partner and property owner, Community Living Association, is beginning to settle into the space. We’re so pleased that UMPI is maintaining a presence in the Center, though how that presence looks is new. When you visit the building now, you’ll note that UMPI is providing coverage for the reception desk and using three rooms uniquely for UMPI and UMS purposes. One room is set up to support individual office needs (currently that includes Academic Advising, TRIO, and Maine Educational Opportunity Center), one room is for Maine Cooperative Extension, and the last room has been reconfigured into a classroom/computer lab.
As we are not providing in-person classes in Houlton at this time, we recognize that our greatest need for the space is in supporting students taking classes via Zoom or traditional classes remotely. With that in mind, there is more work to be done in aligning our space usage with the region’s existing and future demands for educational services. As a start, we will be ensuring that any new staffing for Houlton, including as a result of resignations and retirements, will be configured to provide support remotely–either from home or from the main campus in Presque Isle. This will allow us to best serve our current students while giving us the flexibility to dedicate resources wherever the need arises in southern Aroostook County and surrounding areas.
We’ll be closely evaluating those regional needs and adapting accordingly, and I’ll be sure to provide updates along the way. In the meantime, we will continue the important work of meeting–and finding new ways to meet–the region’s educational needs. Should you have any questions about future planning for our Houlton Center, please reach out to Betsy Sawhill Espe at betsy.sawhill@maine.edu or (207) 768-9515.
