Productive year at UM-Presque Isle

To the editor:
    We mark the end of a busy and highly productive year at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. The pages of the Star-Herald, The Republican, and the Pioneer Times have been filled with achievements on campus and in the central and southern Aroostook communities. Several of our achievements have also deservedly gained wider attention. For example:
• The UMPI wind turbine project is under construction. The base is complete. The turbine, blades, and tower may arrive as early as February. We may be generating as early as March. The project makes us the only New England university to rely on renewable wind power for a significant portion of our electric power. We have received attention from news media all over New England.
• We have received a four year, $750,000 extension of a Project Compass grant from the New England Research Center for Higher Education in Boston. The grant will enable us to improve the retention and graduation rates of our Native American students. Its spin-offs will be helpful for our work with all of our non-traditional students. We are honored to be one of four New England public universities (a total of 46 institutions) to receive such support.
• Last September-October’s display of photos from the Andy Warhol collection was a huge hit both on campus and in the media around New England. UMPI, the University of Maine, and Colby College were the only Maine institutions receiving these wonderful gifts from the Andy Warhol Foundation Our variety of photos—from Wayne Gretzky, to New York society figures, to an owl—gives us wonderful scope for further Warhol exhibitions in years to come. The exhibition caught the attention of reporter Peter Mehegan of Boston television’s Chronicle in his wonderful feature on the County and UMPI a few weeks ago.
• The week-long retrospective on 1968 studied the impacts of that eventful year in a series of lectures, performances, and exhibits. The remarkable Richard Dudman, long-time journalist, highlighted the week with his recollections on everything from the Kennedy assassination to captivity during the Viet Nam War. The lead editorial in the Bangor Daily News the Monday after the event summarized: “It was truly a revolutionary era, and the University of Maine at Presque Isle has done an outstanding service in conducting a six-day ‘1968 Retrospective’ for the benefit of the many who are too young to recall it.”
    And these only highlight events with high visibility beyond the campus. Add to these marvelous collaborative programs with the K-12 community, the highly popular Music in the Park summer program, community outreach programs from our social work and criminal justice students, distinguished science and medicine lecturers, and a vibrant athletic program and you have a portrait of UMPI—Fall 2008.
    And, the big events continue next semester. Join us for the installation and operation of the wind turbine, the debut of Writer in Residence Cathie Pelletier’s highly professional short film, The Proposal, a visit from an astronaut, and campus-wide events like University Day and Planet Head day.
    This vitality continues even as we adjust to the difficult budget circumstances of Fall 2008. Financial challenges face everyone in higher education—Harvard, Bowdoin, the University of Maine System, and the Maine Community College System. We are trying our best to keep and build educational quality (see above) in trying times. We recognize that these times are some of the most essential times for Maine citizens to achieve their educational aspirations. Few figures are more relevant to a state’s economic health than the percentage of population with a four year degree or more. Personal wealth, community leadership, and individual satisfaction are closely keyed to educational achievement. If the costs (tuition, living accommodations, travel) of higher education elsewhere discourages you or a friend or family member from continuing their education, please contact us.
Don Zillman, president
UM-Presque Isle