Press Releases

Officials with the University of Maine at Presque Isle and its Foundation Board announced on Friday that through gifts and the estate of the late Caroline D. Gentile, the University’s longest serving faculty member, UMPI has received a legacy gift of more than $1 million – making it the largest gift that has been given to an educational institution in the County’s history.

Gentile, known to many as Miss Gentile, dedicated herself in many ways to the institution over the course of her 56-year teaching career and gave more than $500,000 several years ago to help build the wellness center that now bears her name. Including the legacy gift that she bequeathed to the campus, her gift to the University totals approximately $1.1 million.

UMPI President Don Zillman and Larry Shaw, President of the University’s Foundation Board, announced the details of the legacy gift during a morning press conference held in the Caroline D. Gentile Health and Physical Education Building.

“We take immense pleasure in announcing this legacy gift and what it means to the institution,” President Don Zillman said. “The remarkable aspect of this gift is that – in addition to the human legacy that Caroline Gentile left over 58 years of teaching, mentoring and program building of Physical Education and Recreation throughout the state – she has also left this remarkable financial legacy.”

A University of Maine at Presque Isle professor has received a top honor for those in the Social Work field in the State of Maine.

Jean Cashman, Associate Professor of Social Work at UMPI, was named the 2008 Social Worker of the Year by the Maine chapter of the National Association of Social Workers during the organization’s spring conference held at the Samoset Resort in Rockland in April. This is the second time Cashman has received the award. She previously was given the award in 2001.

During a President’s Reception held on April 30, eleven students at the University of Maine at Presque Isle received grant awards through the Student Support Services Program. Each full-time-student award was approximately $1,250 and will assist the students by reducing their loans.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle and Momentum Aroostook wrapped up their second Young Professionals Institute on April 22 with a Mock Board Meeting, Business Reception and Etiquette Dinner in the Campus Center. The program marked its second year of success in providing the area’s young professionals with a one-of-a-kind leadership development opportunity.

This year’s Young Professionals Institute brought together a dozen professionals from across Aroostook County to further develop their skills in public speaking, professional writing, social networking, and interaction with the media. Over the course of eight weeks starting in early March, the group learned through role-playing scenarios and hands-on activities how to write eye-catching proposals, deliver successful oral presentations, use best practices in written communication, and get involved in their communities. The Institute was facilitated by President Don Zillman, Professor Clare Exner, Matt McHatten of MMG Insurance, members of Momentum Aroostook, several local business and community leaders, and graduates of the first Young Professionals Institute.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle announced today that it has hired a nationally recognized ski coach – whose athletes have garnered World Championship and Junior Olympics National titles and spots on prestigious national and international ski teams – to lead the development of its Nordic Ski Team as it prepares for Division I NCAA status for the 2009-2010 athletic season.

Alexei Sotskov, who helped to develop the Gunstock Nordic Association in Gilford, New Hampshire, and Vermont Academy in Saxtons River, Vermont, into national powerhouses for the U.S. Nordic Ski Team, will take over the University’s program, which has won seven National Championships in its first four years in the U.S. Collegiate Ski Association (USCSA). Sotskov will begin work this summer to recruit athletes to UMPI’s Nordic program.