Riverside Park in Downtown Presque Isle will once again be filled with music on Sunday afternoons this summer as the City of Presque Isle, the Presque Isle Downtown Revitalization Committee and the University of Maine at Presque Isle host the Third Annual “Music in the Park” Series.

This year’s concerts will be held on Sunday, July 11, 18, 25 and August 8, 2010.

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

The American Red Cross and the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Residence Life Office are teaming up to pull off the University’s third “Super Blood Drive” this summer, the time of year when the need for blood increases. Right now, type O negative blood is especially needed in the New England region.

The Super Blood Drive will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 29 in Wieden Gymnasium. The event is being sponsored by the University, UMPI’s Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society, Mojo’s, and Trinity Blue Mason’s Lodge #130. The event will feature prizes, food and snacks for all donors.

The University of Maine at Presque Isle is pleased to announce that it will serve as the host of the 35th National Institute on Rural Social Work. The institute is expected to bring together social work and human services professionals from all over the United States and parts of Canada for a three-day conference focused on issues surrounding rural social work.

The event, to be held from July 14-17 and sponsored by UMPI’s Social Work Program and the National Rural Social Work Caucus, was held last year in Duluth, Minn. and will be held next year in Natchitoches, La. The theme of this year’s conference is “The 3 R’s of Rural Social Work: Relationships, Resources & Resiliency.”

Two hundred and seventeen students graduated from the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Saturday, May 15, during the 2010 Commencement Exercises – the University’s 101st Commencement ceremony. President Donald Zillman conferred degrees for the 2009-2010 academic year upon 133 students who participated in the ceremony held in Wieden Gymnasium.

U.S. Senator Susan M. Collins addressed the graduates as this year’s commencement speaker. During the graduation event, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degrees were presented to Senator Collins, and David and Roberta Griffiths, long-time pillars of the Presque Isle and university communities.