University of Maine at Presque Isle History Professor John Zaborney has shed new light on slave labor in the antebellum South in his newly published book and the University will celebrate with a reading and book signing event with the author on Thursday, March 21, at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center. The public is invited to attend this special event, which will include a reception featuring light refreshments, and wine available through a cash bar.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle will be holding a bone marrow drive on Tuesday, March 12, at 11 a.m. in the Campus Center’s Allagash Room. This event is open to members of the public who are at least 18 years of age or older. Organizers hope to have at least 50 new donors register during the course of this event.

The bone marrow drive, coordinated by the organization Delete Blood Cancer DKMS, is being held to help inform people about how bone marrow donation works and how it can help give people with blood cancer a chance at a long life, as well as to register people to become bone marrow donors.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle will present a public forum on Mineral Deposits, Mining, Mine Water Treatment, and Environmental Concerns from 8:30 a.m. to Noon on Saturday, March 23, in the Campus Center. This event is free and open to the public.

The forum will provide a first-of-its-kind opportunity for residents of Northern Maine and students of the University to hear from a panel of high-profile speakers who are experts in the fields concerning issues of mining metallic minerals.

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 event at 9:30 a.m. Friday, March 15 in the Campus Center. This year’s event will include special presentations by Maine Senior College Poet Laureate Dr. Alice Bolstridge as well as Daisy the therapy dog and her “person” Dr. Bonnie Wood.

Officials with the Wintergreen Arts Center and the University of Maine at Presque Isle are collaborating to host their second annual blank canvas event—a fundraiser that will help them to establish a Cultural Center in the downtown area—and they’re pleased to announce that the event is growing. Established last year as the 10×10 Art Auction, the event returns this year as the 12×12 Art Auction with a greater number of canvases expected to go up for bid. The auction will be held Friday, May 3, from 6-9 p.m. at the Wintergreen Arts Center during the May 2013 First Friday Art Walk. Community members are encouraged to save the date for this special event.

Officials with the University of Maine at Presque Isle and C-A-N-C-E-R are pleased to announce that the 7th Annual Planet Head Day raised more than $22,000 for the local cancer organization. Dozens of community members shaved their heads (or donned bald caps) and had them painted as planets, moons and comets for the region’s most unique fundraiser, which brings together space science education and cancer awareness into a single package.

The next speaker in the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Distinguished Lecturer Series will provide a rare glimpse into spy technology and some of the tools real spies use to conduct their operations when he gives his presentation in early March.

Robert Wallace, the retired Director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of Technical Service, will deliver his talk How 20th Century Technology Transformed 21st Century Espionage on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center. The public is invited to attend this free event as well as a reception taking place at 6 p.m. prior to Wallace’s talk; refreshments will be served.