The University of Maine at Presque Isle will celebrate the 222nd birthday of the signing of the U.S. Constitution with a special presentation on the First Amendment.

On Thursday, Sept. 17, from 11 a.m. to Noon, students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to observe Constitution Day by gathering in the University’s Campus Center for a panel discussion on the First Amendment followed by a question and answer session.

Leading the panel presentation will be President Don Zillman, a nationally known expert on constitutional law; Dr. William Davidshofer, Professor of Political Science at UMPI; and Dr. Brent Andersen, a political scientist and a lecturer at the University whose area of specialty is American government.

They will discuss the history of the amendment and how those rights have been exercised over the years, and talk about recent news events that illustrate how First Amendment rights are asserted and challenged today.

Several Aroostook County writers who have gathered their work into the book Breathe, Volume 1 will be on hand for a book signing at the University of Maine at Presque Isle Bookstore from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16.

The writers featured in the book are regular members and friends of the Breathe Writers Group, which was established four years ago at the University. While the group has moved around to a few other locations, it is currently back on the Presque Isle campus as a University club and has about a dozen active members.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle will host its annual Campus Club and Community Fair on Wednesday, Sept. 16, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Campus Center.

For the past 14 years, the University of Maine at Presque Isle has kicked off the academic year with this event, which allows campus clubs and organizations to showcase and promote their groups to the student body and the community.

A University of Maine at Presque Isle program that serves local residents over 50 and believes in “learning for life” will host its fall kick-off with a luncheon event at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10 in the Campus Center.

Seniors Achieving Greater Education [SAGE] has worked for more than a decade to bring short courses in arts, sciences, and specialty areas to the region’s senior community. SAGE is one of 16 senior colleges in the Maine Senior College Network, and the only one north of Orono.

With the stroke of a pen, the University of Maine at Presque Isle officially became the recipient of a $96,800 Maine Technology Asset Fund grant from the Maine Technology Institute. The grant will help to fund construction of a state-of-the-art GIS and GPS laboratory on campus that will be used for both classroom instruction and for community training and services.

Maine Technology Institute President Betsy Biemann and UMPI President Don Zillman signed the grant contract during a short Thursday afternoon ceremony on the University campus.

“The University of Maine at Presque Isle is excited to receive these funds from the Maine Technology Institute, which will help us to establish this educational and training-oriented facility and meet the growing need for GIS and GPS services in our region,” President Zillman said. “The goal of a facility like this is to further community development and economic growth, and the University is proud to be taking this step forward for northern Maine.”

The University of Maine at Presque Isle and the Carleton Project teamed up recently to take alternative high school students on an outdoor climbing adventure.

On Tuesday, July 14, the Carleton Project and officials from the University’s Outdoor Adventure Program International [OAPI] traveled to Clifton, Maine, for an outdoor climb at Eagle Cliff. The trip was both a way for Carleton Project students to get outside and enjoy some physical activity and also learn some important lessons about teamwork and decision making.

Riverside Park in Downtown Presque Isle will once again be filled with music on Sunday afternoons this summer as the Second Annual “Music in the Park” Series returns from July 19 to August 9.

The free concert series, which attracted average crowd sizes of about 200 people per show last year, will include four consecutive shows this summer. Each Sunday afternoon performance will feature an opening act and a main act.

This year’s big-name acts are slated to include David Mallett, premier Maine singer-songwriter; Shamou, a Persian drummer and percussionist; Pat Pepin, a saxophonist, blues singer and band leader; and The Travis Cyr Project, a trio of folk musicians from Aroostook County and the Portland area. The concerts this year will run from 1-4 p.m. Food vendors will be on site offering snacks and drinks and people are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs and blankets with them to enjoy a relaxing Sunday afternoon at the park.

Acclaimed writer Cathie Pelletier will offer her first reading in southern Aroostook County with an appearance on Monday, June 1 at The Vault restaurant in Houlton. The event will include a reception and meet-the-author time starting at 6 p.m. Hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar will be available. The reading will start at 7 p.m. Pelletier will offer a short reading and then participate in a question and answer session. She will also sign books after the session.

“I want this to be a very informal couple of hours, more like a visit than an actual reading,” Pelletier said. “It’s my chance to meet new people and learn a bit of the history of Houlton.”

Pelletier, a native of Allagash, is an award-winning writer who has written nine novels and had two of them turned into movies. She wrote her first novel, The Funeral Makers, in 1986. That novel was followed by Once Upon a Time on the Banks, The Weight of Winter, The Bubble Reputation, A Marriage Made at Woodstock, and Beaming Sonny Home.

Three hundred and forty-five students graduated from the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Saturday, May 16, during the 2009 Commencement Exercises – the University’s 100th Commencement ceremony. President Donald Zillman conferred degrees for the 2008-2009 academic year upon 149 students who participated in the ceremony held in Wieden Gymnasium.

Congressman Michael H. Michaud addressed the graduates as the commencement speaker. During the historic event, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degrees were presented to Congressman Michaud and Bruce Brown, a leading proponent of art education and contemporary art in the State of Maine.

State and local dignitaries joined the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Thursday, May 14 in celebrating the official commissioning of the campus’s 600 kW wind turbine – the very first midsize wind turbine to be installed on a University campus in the State of Maine.

The midday event included a short presentation on how the University’s wind turbine will transform wind into electricity and how that electricity will be delivered to the campus buildings it will power, as well as a Native American drumming song at the turbine site, and a ribbon cutting featuring the release of environmentally-friendly balloons.