May 2019

Above is a photo Shirley Rush captured near the end of the spring semester–a short meeting between Larry Park, long-time UMPI supporter and past honorary degree recipient, and UMPI student Shyquinn Dix, who was featured on 60 Minutes in late March because of his unusual journey from success to second chance. The two met on a Thursday at the Campus Center. Thursday is Open Mic Night in the Owl’s Nest and Park was on his way to participate in that event. The Black Student Union, a student club on campus, was celebrating its last meeting of the year outside with an international cuisine potluck, and Dix was in attendance.

“It was a serendipitous meeting that I facilitated,” Rush described. “Mr. Park had mentioned a book, My Shadow Ran Fast by Bill Sands, that he had read many years ago and thought would be of interest to Shy. The author was incarcerated on Alcatraz Island and turned his life around and gave back to his community. Of course, Mr. Park shared lots of local UMPI history with Shy. I just thought it was a poignant moment of two bright, strong, and influential men–different generations, different experiences–meeting at the edge of two cultures, with folk music inside and rap outside on the grass, on our humble and striving UMPI campus.”

Join us on Thursday, May 30 from 2 – 4 p.m. in the Campus Center for a retirement celebration for Darylen Cote, Director of TRIO College Access Services. She has been with the University for 15 years. Refreshments will be served and there will be special remarks at 3 p.m.

The UMPI Owls Relay team has been working hard toward its goal of raising $100,000 in 10 years and has been getting very close this spring. The team held its last big fundraiser, which was the Chocolate Festival in Caribou, in April. Chocolate items were donated for individual sale and larger items like pies and cakes were also for sale. The team also had games that kids could play for $1 each with a prize guaranteed every time.

In addition to the last big fundraiser, Bethany Lord also hosted a Norwex online party, with 20% of sales going toward the team. The last activity the team did was to drop off “Happy May Day Eggs” to the various office areas around campus. The eggs contained a sweet surprise and team members asked for folks to put their spare change in the eggs and return them. The team made $435 from this event alone and then had an anonymous donation to get them to the $100,000 goal in 10 years!

According to the team captains, no other school in New England has done this and UMPI’s team is only the 2^nd team in Aroostook County to reach this goal. The team would like to thank everyone that has donated and helped out to reach this extraordinary goal. Also, if you are interested in attending this year’s Relay for Life event on Saturday, June 22, at 11 a.m., they would like to recognize everyone then.

Want another great reason to read through the image newsletter? Well, somewhere in this issue of the image is our very own owl emoji. Here’s the challenge: just find it (don’t tell anyone else its’ hiding place!), let our office know, and you could be eligible for a $5 gift certificate to UMPI Starbucks! A winner will be randomly drawn from all of the people who find the emoji on Friday, May 31. Congratulations to our April winner, Max Bushman!

To let us know you’ve found it, either click on the emoji and fill out the very short form, or email Gayla Shaw with the location at gshaw@maine.edu. Happy searching!

UMPI’s Employer U program will be offering Becoming a Manger, as part of its American Management Association’s University certificate program. This 20-hour course, will meet on Tuesdays, 5 – 8:15 p.m., beginning June 11 and run through July 15, in the MMG Center for Professional Development, located on the first floor of Kelley Commons, adjacent to the Campus Center. This course will guide participants through the process of transitioning from employee to manager. The instructor for this course is Jeff Davis, Master Trainer with UMPI Employer U. Participants will earn 2 CEUs for this course, which is required for the General Management certificate and an elective for other certificates. This 20-hour course is $300 per person, or $275 per person for groups of 5 or more from the same organization. To register for a course, go to www.umpi.edu/employer-u and click on the “AMA” button or the “Register for Employer U Training” button, or contact Kim Jones at 207-768-9459 or email kimberly.a.jones@maine.edu.  Also taking place right now is Performance Management, which started April 30 and concludes on June 4.

UMPI student Riana Texiera received the 2019 Maine Campus Compact Heart and Soul Student Award during MCC’sAnnual Awards Ceremony. The event recognizes the outstanding work in public service and civic engagement by Maine faculty members, students, campus organizations, community and corporate partners. The 2019 Annual Awards Ceremony was held on April 24 at the University of Southern Maine Lewiston-Auburn College.

Texiera, a junior majoring in Social Work, was honored for her service to campus and community. She has been involved in the Student Government Association, WUPI Radio station, Cinemaniacs club, Campus to Career Steering Committee, and Inclusion and Civility Task Force. She is the founder and president of the Black Student Union, a student club on campus, and in that role has helped to organize UMPI’s Take Back the Night event, and facilitate Q&A discussions during two Salmagundi Film Series screenings.

She will travel to Tanzania this summer for her junior fieldwork experience. She plans to join the Peace Corps after graduation in 2020, and go on to grad school for social work. Her goal in life is “to be the voice to the voiceless and the hope to the hopeless.” Congratulations to Riana on receiving this recognition!

UMPI hosted a film series titled Remember the Past to Build the Future on Wednesdays between April 17 and May 1, featuring three films connected to the Holocaust during and after World War II. The series kicked off with a showing of Karski & the Lords of Humanity on April 17, and continued with Bogdan’s Journey on April 24, and Blinky & Me on May 1.

Dr. Tomasz Herzog, UMPI Professor of Social Foundations of Education and Social Studies Education, put together the film series after connecting with Slawomir Grunberg, an Emmy Award-winning, New York City-based Jewish Polish film director. Grunberg directed and produced Karski & the Lords of Humanity and founded LOGTV, LTD, a nonprofit that researches, distributes, and produces educational documentary films and educational programming with a special emphasis on themes connected to Jewish life, history, and identity, as well as the history of World War II and the Holocaust. Through LOGTV’s connections with the Polish Film Institute, the three film screenings were able to take place in Presque Isle.

UMPI Biology student Alexander Kimball presented a poster on his Senior Thesis Research at the Northeast Natural History Conference in Springfield, Mass. on April 12-13. His poster was entitled “Genetics of Maine’s Freshwater Snails.” His advisor, Dr. Judith Roe, along with collaborators Kenneth Hotopp of Appalachian Conservation Biology, Bethel, and Derek Yorks, Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, have been supported by a University of Maine RRF Undergraduate Assistantship, Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, and Maine IF&W.

The UMPI Biomedical Club visited the University of New England’s Health Expo on April 20 at the UNE Portland campus to learn about post-graduate health profession degree opportunities, including Osteopathic Medicine, Physician Assistant, and Physical Therapy. In attendance with their club advisor, Dr. Larry Feinstein, was Maddi Cummings, Ryan Tebo, Madison Postell, and Amber Ivey.

Four UMPI Biology students, Ryan Tebo, Maddi Cummings, Michaela Schwartz, and Amber Ivey, attended the 46^th Maine Biological and medical Sciences Symposium along with their Biology professors at the MDI Biological Laboratory in Salisbury Cove, ME, April 26-27. Ryan Tebo and Maddi Cummings presented their research at the poster session. The conference was supported by Maine INBRE.

Richard Lee Zuras has had two poems accepted by Pacific Review. The poems, entitled “Three Rolls-Royces” and “The Great Tomato Wreck” were written this semester during Zuras’s sabbatical. The poems are from the full-length poetry book he hopes to complete by the end of this summer. Pacific Review is a student-led literary magazine housed at California State University, San Bernardino.

UMPI will be offering an Adapted Physical Education workshop on Friday, Sept. 27 from 8:30 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. for Physical Education teachers and college students. Dr. Tim Davis of SUNY Cortland will be the presenter. The workshop is designed to review current programs and provide practical evidence-based examples in Adapted Physical Education. The workshop format is designed to engage the participants on practical strategies for implementation, leading to systematic changes in the provision of physical education services provided to children with disabilities. Cost for the workshop is $45.50 with campus cafeteria lunch, and $40 without lunch. FMI, contact Leo Saucier, Jr. at 207-768-9421 or email leo.saucierjr@maine.edu.