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.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Reed Fine Art Gallery will present Vera, a series of events in celebration of Women’s History Month in March that includes an exhibition at the Reed, a literary journal, two receptions, a performance, a historical tour, and a panel discussion. The large slate of events has been co-organized with the Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library and the Presque Isle Historical Society.

Through many mediums, Vera examines a history about the County that hasn’t been told. Named in honor of the eclectic and independent local historical figure Vera Estey, the series features the work of several women artists and writers who took the County woman as their muse and either honored her directly or expanded beyond her story to explore their own and other historic women’s legacies.

Getting exercise while having fun? That’s the goal of the 17th semi-annual Fit and Fun Day, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 9 in the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Gentile Hall. Fit and Fun Day is designed to promote physical activity and healthy lifestyles for local children. Registration will begin at 9:15 a.m.; admission is free.

The day, sponsored by UMPI’s Physical Education Majors Club twice each year, provides parents and their kids with a fun and active way to spend a Saturday morning. Physical Education students will facilitate the activities and provide instruction throughout the day. The University’s Athletic Training staff and students will be on site as first aid responders.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle welcomes area high school students to campus today, Wednesday, Feb. 13, for the Junior Achievement of Maine–Titan Challenge event, which allows participants to compete against their peers across the state on business finance and marketing exercises. This is UMPI’s second year hosting the event, which is being held in the Campus Center.

“We’re so excited to be hosting the Junior Achievement of Maine–Titan Challenge again this year,” Carolyn Dorsey, UMPI Assistant Professor of Business Management, said. “This is a wonderful opportunity to help students prepare for future careers in business-related fields and to get exposure not only to a college setting but also to some major business leaders in the state.”

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, the University of Maine at Presque Isle will host a special presentation about love and the way it has been portrayed in art from medieval to modern times as part of its Seniors Achieving Greater Education [SAGE] programming.

UMPI President Linda Schott will present the talk, What’s Love Got to Do with It?: The Art (and Science) of Love on Monday, Feb. 11, at 2 p.m. in the Campus Center’s Allagash Room. This talk is free and open to the public.

What do space science education and cancer awareness have in common? A lot when you’re talking about one of the region’s most unique fundraisers, Planet Head Day, where participants raise money for a local cancer organization by agreeing to have their heads shaved and painted as planets, dwarf planets, moons, comets and asteroids. Aroostook County’s 7th annual Planet Head Day takes place on Saturday, Feb. 16, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Wieden Gymnasium. This not-to-be-missed event is free and the public is invited to attend.

The next speaker in the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Distinguished Lecturer Series understands how hard it can be to finish a college degree, especially when you’re a juvenile behind bars. Starcia Ague found herself in that very situation as a teenager and was able to use her life experiences as inspiration not only to complete her degree, but to devote her career to advocating for at-risk and incarcerated youth.

Ague will talk about her life and work when she serves as the University’s first Distinguished Lecturer for the Spring 2013 semester. She will deliver her talk, From Strife to Triumph: A Champion for At-Risk and Delinquent Youth, at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 4, 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 Ague’s talk; refreshments will be served.

A University of Maine at Presque Isle Biology professor is assisting faculty from the University of Maine at Machias in offering the state’s first-ever regional Brain Bee competition. This event is associated with the International Brain Bee, a not-for-profit neuroscience competition designed especially for high school students that tests their understanding of brains and the nervous system and how they work together.

UMM’s Psychology & Community Studies Program, with support from UMPI’s Dr. Rachael Hannah, will be hosting the Maine Regional Brain Bee for high school students across Maine on Saturday, Feb. 2 beginning at Noon in UMM’s Science Room 102. The snow date is Saturday, Feb. 9.