Established in 2013 by former UMPI President Don Zillman and his wife Linda Zillman, the Donald and Linda G. Zillman Family Professorship is awarded every two years to an UMPI faculty member to assist in research and faculty development. Established with proceeds from a designated fund at the Maine Community Foundation, this is the University’s first rotating professorship.

“With ready access to first-generation-to-college students, low costs of education, high quality educational programs, superb faculty and close community involvement, UMPI is a marvelous asset for the State of Maine and for Aroostook County,” the Zillmans said when the professorship was originally announced. “It was our pleasure to be a part of the campus for six wonderful years. We hope we were able to enhance those public education virtues and are pleased to be able to do so in the coming years through this professorship.”

Recipients include:

2021-2023 Zillman Professor Dr. Kimberly Sebold, Professor of History
History in Stones: Mapping Cemeteries to Teach the History of Central Aroostook County

2019-2021 Zillman Professor Dr. Judith Roe, Associate Professor of Biology
Biomedical research project – new animal model system for organ regeneration

2017-2019 Zillman Professor Shirley Rush, Associate Professor of Social Work and BSW Program Director
Workforce skills development in youth 16 to 24; Connections with Tanzanian scholars/educators to discuss inclusion among students with low vision

2015-2017 Zillman Professor Dave Putnam, archaeologist/climate scientist
Climate change-focused research expedition to Mongolia; Wood turtle populations, glacial geology, and archaeology survey in the North Maine Woods

2013-2015 Zillman Professor Dr. Chunzeng Wang, Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Science
Field geologic mapping around the Norumbega Fault Zone in the Horseback and Chemo Pond area of central Maine