The University of Maine at Presque Isle is pleased to present Dr. Klaus Lackner – the Ewing-Worzel Professor of Geophysics at Columbia University, the Chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, and the Director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at the Earth Institute at Columbia University – as its first Distinguished Lecturer of the Spring 2010 semester.

Dr. Lackner will deliver his talk Innovations in Sustainable Energy: Capturing Carbon Dioxide Directly from the Air on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. in the UMPI Campus Center. A snow date has been set for Friday, Feb. 12. During his talk, Dr. Lackner will give an overview of the environmental challenges facing our world, the importance of carbon dioxide capture and sequestration, and the budding technology behind the capture of carbon dioxide from ambient air using ionic exchange resins in the form of artificial trees.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle will host its annual spring semester American Red Cross Blood Drive on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010. This blood drive is sponsored by the UMPI Residence Life Office, the Brothers of Kappa Delta Phi and the Sisters of Kappa Delta Phi NAS.

The blood drive is scheduled from Noon until 6 p.m. in the Campus Center’s Multi-Purpose Room. Door prizes will be given away during the event. If donors wish to reserve a time to make their donation, they should call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome, or you can sign up at the new online appointment scheduler at www.givelife.org.

University of Maine at Presque Isle officials, several distinguished alumni and members of the campus and community were on hand Monday afternoon for the ceremonial unveiling of the newly installed Alumni Accomplishments Wall in the Preble Hall front entryway.

The Alumni Accomplishments Wall, meant to showcase recent alumni who have made important contributions and realized impressive achievements since graduating from UMPI, serves as a way for the University to applaud the work that UMPI graduates are doing all around the country and the world, and demonstrates to incoming students that they can achieve great things with a degree from the University.

This spring at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, the founder of the Maine Origami Society will present an in-depth and interactive modular origami display and offer a series of workshops to teach members of the campus and community about the art form that combines paper folding and geometry.

Eva Szillery – who also serves as the Director of the Maine Junior Engineering Technical Society and the State Director of the American Mathematics Competitions – has presented similar exhibits and workshops at sites across Maine, including in Lewiston, Bangor, Orono and Portland. Her visits to Presque Isle are being presented in collaboration with the University’s Math Program and the College of Arts and Sciences.

The sounds of Bluegrass will fill Wieden Auditorium on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. when Blistered Fingers performs at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

Blistered Fingers is a fast-moving traditional Bluegrass Band from the Central Maine area that travels extensively around the northeast and eastern Canada. They will present “Blistered Fingers: A Night of Bluegrass” during their performance at UMPI. This concert is sponsored by County Bluegrass, WCXU-Channel X Radio, and the UMPI Cultural Affairs Office.

One week before the Super Bowl and all the festivities surrounding it, the University of Maine at Presque Isle will host an annual party of its own for high school and college students – College Goal Sunday.

Staff members will be on hand Sunday, Jan. 31 beginning at 2 p.m. in Folsom 105 to assist students in completing and filing their FAFSA [Free Application for Federal Student Aid] forms. This free event is open to the entire community. High school seniors and parents are especially encouraged to attend, along with currently enrolled college students needing assistance.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle presents classically trained baritone Phillip Mentor on Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center for a concert titled “A Spiritual Odyssey.”

Mentor’s performance will take an introspective look at African-American culture by offering up several spirituals, including Deep River; Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen; The Gospel Train; and Go Down, Moses.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Reed Fine Art Gallery will present as its first exhibition of 2010 a show titled “Recent Acquisitions,” presenting several newer pieces from the University’s art collections. Many of these pieces – including works by Fred Lynch, Chenoweth Hall, Risa Ehrlich and Gretchen Luchessi – have not yet been seen by the general public or campus community.

Motorists and passersby on Main Street may have noticed something unique happening this week in one of the downtown Presque Isle storefronts: a wall of calendars – 365 to be exact – and a young man crossing out particular days on those calendars.

This art installation performance piece – called Is This the Way Life Should Be? – was conceived by University of Maine at Presque Isle Art Professor Renee Felini and is being performed by her husband Tim Bair.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle hosted a dedication ceremony for its new GIS laboratory, the Geospatial Information Technology Center, during World GIS Day on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009.