Press Releases

University of Maine at Presque Isle Art professor Renee Felini recently took part in a slideshow event that has taken the world by storm. Felini served as one of 10 presenters at the city of Waterville’s first PechaKucha Night held last fall at the Hathaway Creative Center. More than 200 people turned out for the event. PechaKucha, Japanese for chit-chat, was created in 2003 by Tokyo architects Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein. Presenters are allotted 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide, meaning that once 6 minutes and 40 seconds are up, so is their talk. People have embraced this “short slideshow” concept and PechaKucha nights have been held in cities around the world, from Beijing and Paris to San Francisco and Boston.

Officials at the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI) have announced that the hometown premiere of John Cariani’s Almost, Maine, is scheduled for March 18 and 19, at the university’s Wieden Auditorium. The performances reunite the production’s director, Barbara Frick Ladner and Cariani, in director and actor roles, respectively.

Cariani is no stranger to Presque Isle stages with numerous roles in Presque Isle High School (PIHS)productions; Calamity Jane under the direction of Dan Ladner was Cariani’s first high school musical. Other PIHS performances included roles in Grease, Cabaret, The Wizard of Oz, and Juvie. He also performed with university students and community members in Pioneer Playhouse productions of Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, and South Pacific at the university’s Wieden Auditorium.

The Student Activities Office (SAO) at the University of Maine at Presque Isle is encouraging people to “Think Pink” for breast cancer awareness during a special event on Wednesday, Feb. 9.

During the home basketball games between the UMPI Owls and the University of Maine at Machias Clippers at 5:30 p.m. in Wieden Gymnasium, the SAO will host “Think Pink: Breast Cancer Awareness Night” in honor of Cancer Awareness Month in February.

The Northern Maine Museum of Science is looking for your head.

Winter in northern Maine is cold – very cold – but northern Mainers laugh at the weather: in the middle of the coldest month of the year, they shave their heads and have them painted as planets.

This February 19th is the fifth annual Planet Head Day. People from throughout Aroostook County and nearby New Brunswick, Canada, come to the University of Maine at Presque Isle to have heads shaved, or they don elastic caps, so their heads can be painted as planets, dwarf planets, moons and asteroids. And it’s all to support science education and raise money for C-A-N-C-E-R.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle is pleased to announce a diverse and full schedule of spring semester events. From the Distinguished Lecturer Series to concerts and other special events, campus and community members can participate in activities designed to entertain, engage, and educate.

The university’s newly-established 7-OH-9 Coffee House will begin its semester activity with their Sweet Sounds Open Mic and Karaoke Night on Feb. 17 at 7:09 pm in the Campus Center. During the semester, the Coffee House will also host New York-based musician, Rachel P. on Mar. 1, and another Open Mic Night, appropriately named No Mo’ Sno’, on Apr. 19.

More than 500 volunteers are mobilizing for the E.ON IBU World Cup Biathlon #7 event, which will take place at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle from Feb. 4-6, and the University of Maine at Presque Isle is doing its part to pitch in.

The international event requires organizers and volunteers with expertise in a wide variety of areas, including medical coverage, transportation, and information processing, and scores of faculty, staff and students from UMPI will be stepping up in early February to help out with these efforts.

“We are so pleased to be participating in a multitude of ways with the World Cup Biathlon event that is coming to Presque Isle and to be helping to ensure that the local community and northern Maine region are providing a friendly and welcoming experience to the hundreds of athletes, coaches and spectators who will be visiting,” UMPI President Don Zillman said. “This is a wonderful opportunity to share our region with Biathlon enthusiasts from around the world and we are confident that they will be impressed with what they find.”