The University of Maine at Presque Isle will present Sarah Brown Wessling, author, international speaker, and 2010 National Teacher of the Year, as the next speaker in its 2017-2018 Distinguished Lecturer Series on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center. The event is free and the public is encouraged to attend.

An international juried film competition comes to town for a celebration of the art of movie-making when the University of Maine at Presque Isle presents the Black Maria Film Festival on Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center. Festival Executive Director Jane Steuerwald will present the evening’s offerings, from documentary to animation to narrative short films. This family-friendly event, made possible through a collaboration between UMPI and the University of Maine at Fort Kent, is free and open to the public. UMFK will host a festival tour stop on Oct. 25.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle is taking a bold step toward college affordability and accessibility for Maine students and families, and strengthening its commitment to on-time degree completion and the needs of the Maine workforce, with the announcement today of The Way It Should Be, the state’s first comprehensive program that provides free and significantly reduced tuition for eligible Maine families. First-time, full-time college students who are Maine residents and Pell Grant-eligible will be able to take advantage of free tuition and no fees, saving them nearly $8,000 per year, while other Maine students may be eligible for $3,084 or more in financial aid packaging, which would reduce their tuition and fee costs by nearly 40 percent or more.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle will present Joel Berg, international hunger expert, author, and CEO of Hunger Free America, as the first guest speaker in its 2017-2018  Distinguished Lecturer Series on Friday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center. As part of the 4th annual Maine Hunger Dialogue taking place at UMPI, Berg, the author of All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America?, will deliver the keynote address, discussing hunger in America and how the public can build the political movement necessary to end the problem once and for all. This event is free and the public is encouraged to attend.

After a summer “out of orbit” for re-painting, the Planet Jupiter will return to its spot in the Maine Solar System Model on Friday morning, Oct. 6. Located 5.2 miles from the Sun, which is housed at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, the planet is one of the most easily-spotted features of the Maine Solar System Model, which stretches from UMPI to Topsfield, Maine.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle and the Alumni Association recently honored an alumna with the GOLD (Graduate of the Last Decade) award during the University’s Convocation activities on Sept. 7.