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Academic AffairsAnnual Report

2017

UMaine students take learning outside the classroom.

In 2016, the University of Maine System Board of Trusteesidentified four priority outcomes that will be the Board’s focusfor the next five years: increase enrollment; improve studentsuccess and completion; enhance the fiscal positioning of

UMS; and support Maine through research and economicdevelopment. As I prepared this year’s Academic Affairs AnnualReport, I was struck by how clearly the strategic vision that hasguided our work over the past four years aligns with the Board’svision for the coming years. We have made great strides in each ofthe four priority areas and are well positioned to make furtheradvances.

The 2017 report summarizes and samples highlights of the variousways in which the Division of Academic Affairs serves Maine, fostersa culture of excellence, and engages students so that they becomethe instruments of their own success. The report concludes withsome thoughts about the challenges and opportunities we’ll face inthe coming year.

The accomplishments summarized herein, while only a sampling,provide a flavor of the quality of the faculty, staff and students at theUniversity of Maine. Their work ethic, dedication to excellence, andresilience are evident in the successes listed in the following pages.As you read the report, I hope you will experience the sense of prideat being a part of the UMaine community that I did as I put thereport together.

Jeffrey E. HeckerExecutive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

Academic Affairs Annual Report

2017Academic Affairs Annual Report

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On census day in Fall 2016, UMaine’s totalenrollment was 11,219 undergraduate andgraduate students, nearly 300 more studentsthan at the same point in time the previousyear. In September 2016, we welcomed thelargest first-year class in UMaine’s 151 yearhistory with 2,230 first-year, full-timestudents enrolled on Oct. 15, 2016. Fully44% of the new class was “from away,”raising the overall percentage of out-of-statestudents to 32%. UMaine students earned266,579 credit hours in 2016–2017 —nearly 6,000 more than in the prioracademic year. UMaine awarded 2,304degrees, including 371 master’s and 59doctoral degrees. The 1,794 bachelor’sdegrees awarded were the most in the pastfive years.

UMaine faculty, staff and students wereremarkably productive in research andscholarship, with well over 1,000 publi-cations and hundreds of presentations,performances and exhibits. Between July 1,2016 and June 30, 2017, a total of$56,926,782 was received from extramural

sponsors, a 13% increase over the priorfiscal year. The number of proposalssubmitted in 2016–2017 was also greaterthan the previous year (573 versus 500, a15% increase) and the university received$8,768,079 in indirect cost recovery (versus$8,041,760 in fiscal year 2016).

We continue to make progress toward ourgoal of moving more students frommatriculation to graduation in a timelyfashion. The Think 30 initiative has resultedin significant increases in the number ofstudents enrolling in 15 or more credithours each semester and a higher percentageof the cohort of students who started atUMaine in 2012 earned their bachelor’sdegrees in 2016 than in any of the previousnine cohorts.

In 2016–2017, 62 new scholar-teachersjoined the faculty, resulting in a net increasein the overall faculty by more than 20 full-time equivalents. The infusion ofintellectual energy occasioned by these newcolleagues’ arrival cannot be overestimated.

I. Overview

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Community Engagement

UMaine faculty, staff and students partner withhundreds of companies, agencies andorganizations.

• Mark McLaughlin, History (HTY) andCanadian Studies (CAC), was the leadorganizer of National History Day, at whichover 250 middle and high school studentsfrom 28 schools shared their projects.

• Kreg Ettenger, Anthropology (ANT) andMaine Folklife Center (MFC), gave a report tothe Eeyou Marine Region PlanningCommission and collaborated with theNational Park Service on an internship for thenew Katahdin Woods and Waters NationalMonument.

• Darren Ranco, ANT and Native AmericanPrograms (NAP), served on the CultureCommittee for the Penobscot Nation and asan adviser to the Penobscot Nation on alanguage revitalization grant.

• Aria Amirbahman, Civil and EnvironmentalEngineering (CIE), is serving as the Directorof the Advisory Board of the Maine VolunteerLake Monitoring Program, the longest-standing and largest citizen lake scienceprogram in the United States.

• Richard Eason, Electrical and ComputerEngineering (ECE), organized 11 high-altitudeballoon flights involving K–12 students in thedevelopment of payloads, as well as in thelaunch and recovery process.

• College of Education and HumanDevelopment (COEHD) faculty and staff areinvolved in the Bangor Educational LeadershipAcademy; Eastern Area Agency on Aging;Exercise Is Medicine Leadership Team;

Penobscot River Educational Partnership(PREP) and other community organizations.

• Jason Harkins, Maine Business School (MBS),founded CoVort, a co-working space forentrepreneurs and professionals who workremotely, and Fractional Executives of Maine,a consulting and fractional executive firm forstartups that need executive talent or customerdiscovery expertise.

• Renee Kelly, Office of Innovation andEconomic Development (OIED), continuesher engagement with Maine AcceleratesGrowth (MxG). MxG partners with programsacross Maine to support entrepreneurs andinnovators.

• Matthew Skaves (MBS) is President andTreasurer of the Board of Directors of theRobinson Ballet, and serves on theEndowment Investment Committee of theMaine Seacoast Mission.

• Darling Marine Center (DMC) hosted 968K–12 students from Cobscook CommunityLearning Center, Eastern Maine SkippersProgram, Bangor, Chewonki, Waynflete SOSprogram and Lincoln Academy.

• College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, andAgriculture (NSFA) faculty served on variousadvisory boards, including Malcolm Hunter,Wildlife, Fisheries and Conservation Biology(WFCB), on Maine’s Ecological ReservesScientific Advisory Committee; Walter Golet,School of Marine Sciences (SMS), onNational Marine Fisheries Service HighlyMigratory Species Advisory Panel; GeorgeDenton, Earth and Climate Sciences (ECS),and the Climate Change Institute (CCI),Advisory Board of the Comer Family

II. Serving Maine

The University of Maine serves the state and region through its commitment to communityengagement, economic development and workforce development. As the flagship campus of theUniversity of Maine System (UMS), UMaine collaborates with the other System universities to provideaccessible, affordable, quality educational opportunities for Maine citizens, and to advance the stateeconomically and culturally.

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The Honors College sponsoredthe 2017 Hungry 100K: MaineDay Meal Pack-out. Over $25,000was raised to allow the morethan 250 volunteers to pack over107,000 meals.

2017 Academic Affairs Annual Report

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Community Engagement continuedFoundation; Heather Leslie (DMC and SMS)on Alliance for Maine’s Marine Economy.

• The Honors College (HON) participated inIslamic Awareness Week — a partnershipbetween Honors, the Islamic Center of Maineand the Muslim Student Association.

• HON sponsored the 2017 Hungry 100K:Maine Day Meal Pack-out. Over $25,000 wasraised to allow the more than 250 volunteersto pack over 107,000 meals.

• The Cohen Institute for Leadership and PublicService facilitated a half-day class visit toOrono High School by former U.S. Reps.Connie Morella and Mike Ross.

• The Division of Lifelong Learning (DLL)established the UMaine-MidCoastEducational Resource Collaborative(UMERC) with RSU 71 Adult Ed., CollegeConnections, Waldo County TechnicalCenter, Goodwill Workforce Solutions,Maine Educational Opportunity Centerand Literacy Volunteers, to offer a widerrange of coordinated student supportservices.

• Cooperative Extension (CE) adapted itsDining with Diabetes Down East program tobe culturally specific to the Passamaquoddycommunity in Washington County.

• Dan Dixon, Director of Sustainability, is afounding member of the Bangor Area FoodCouncil.

• CE partnered with Maine Sea Grant andUniversity of New Hampshire CooperativeExtension to develop a two-state CommunityAcademy to train citizens in communityleadership and facilitation skills.

• UMaine hosted 25 emerging publicmanagement leaders from Sub-Saharan Africafor a six-week academic and leadershipinstitute as part of the Mandela WashingtonFellowship for Young African Leaders,sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.Extensive engagement with the localcommunity is a hallmark of this program.

UMaine was selected in 2017 to host a secondcohort of Fellows.

• At Eastern Maine Medical Center’s 125thanniversary celebration, Public Relations andSpecial Collections staff from Fogler Librarypresented an information table and a displayfeaturing photos, documents and memorabilia.

• Michael Alpert, University Press (UP), servesas Chair of the City of Bangor Board of Ethicsand as President of the Greater Bangor AreaNAACP.

• Betsy Rose, UP and National PoetryFoundation (NPF), is the volunteer presidentof local affiliate of the National Alliance onMental Illness (NAMI).

• School of Engineering Technology (SET)faculty members John Allen, Phil Dunn, ScottDunning, Howard “Mac” Gray, Will Manion,Jude Pearse and Paul Villeneuve all serve onEastern Maine Community College industrialadvisory boards.

• Nine faculty members from STEM disciplinesserved as scholarship judges for the MaineState Science Fair in March 2017.

Economic Development:

• Jake Ward (OIED), Heather Leslie (DMC andSMS) and Paul Anderson (Sea Grant) receiveda $7 million award to establish the statewideAlliance for Maine Marine Economy.

• The Foster Center for Student Innovationprovided counseling to 78 studententrepreneurs and provided business work-space for five startup companies.

• Cynthia Isenhour (ANT) played a leading rolein the Mitchell Center’s interdisciplinaryMaterials Management research group.Stakeholders include waste haulers, landfilloperators, municipal and tribal representatives,regulators, environmental groups, citizenactivist groups, and legislators serving on theMaine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committeeon Environment and Natural Resources.

Economic Development continued• Hemant Pendse, Forest Bioproducts Research

Institute (FBRI), and Clay Wheeler, Chemicaland Biological Engineering (CBE), work onfacilitating production of forest bioproducts(fuels, chemicals and advanced materials) onbrownfield sites in Old Town, Millinocket andEast Millinocket.

• Habib Dagher and the Advanced Structuresand Composites Center (ASCC) continue toimpact Maine’s energy landscape with offshoredeepwater wind energy research anddevelopment efforts. UMaine has beenelevated to the highest level of Department ofEnergy funding.

• Alex Friess, Mechanical Engineering (MEE), iscollaborating with Bath Iron Works onadvancing marine technology using the AlfondW2 Ocean Engineering Laboratory.

• The Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC)has assisted 36 Maine companies, includingGeneral Electric, Hussey Seating, LancoIntegrated, Fiber Materials Inc., Labree’sBakery, Grover Gundrilling, MobilityTechnologies, Mölnlycke Health Care, SIBWood Pellets, Rockport Imaging, PossumHollow Farm Soap, Holy Donut, ProgressEngineering and CompoTech.

• Jake Ward and Renee Kelly (OIED) serve onthe Board of Directors of UpStart Maine, anonprofit that supports the entrepreneurialecosystem in the greater Bangor area.

• Mohamad Musavi (ECE) is working withCentral Maine Power and RLC Engineering indeveloping Smart Grid technologies for electricnetwork and training industry workforce.

• Robert Rice, School of Forest Resources (SFR),supports the bioenergy industry by workingwith manufacturers to improve products, helpwith environmental compliance issues andmaintain competitiveness.

• Neal Pettigrew (SMS) provided backgrounddata critical for the development of offshorewind power.

• Joe Zydlewski (WFCB) helped to optimizetradeoffs between hydropower and fish passageduring Federal Energy Regulatory Commissionrelicensing.

• Huijie Xue (SMS) worked with technologydevelopers, engineers, fish biologists, socialscientists and policymakers to develop oceanrenewable energy, particularly tidal and windpower.

• Andrei Alyokhin, School of Biology andEcology (SBE), works with Acadia HarvestInc. to develop sustainable aqua feed fromorganic waste.

• Lynn Atkins and Leonard Kass (SBE) workwith Sensory Cyber Systems to develop vision-related education software.

• Stephen Shaler (SFR) represented theUniversity of Maine on the ExecutiveCommittee of the Maine Forest EconomyGrowth Initiative.

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Stephen Shaler, Professor of WoodSciences and Technology, represented

the University of Maine on theExecutive Committee of the MaineForest Economy Growth Initiative.

Advanced Structures andComposites Center research

technician Chris Urquhartworks on ballistic panel

construction.

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Economic Development continued• Aaron Weiskittel (SFR) worked with the

Maine Forest Products Council on a RoadMap and Vision of Maine’s Forest Sector.

• Seanna Annis (SBE) provided mummy berryand other disease forecasting by blog, emailand the Blueberry Hotline.

• Seven Maine businesses benefited from thebusiness incubator and aquaculture systems atUMaine’s Center for Cooperative AquacultureResearch (CCAR).

• The Frederick Hutchinson Center (FHC)partnered with the Maine Department ofLabor, Our Town Belfast, the City of Belfast,the Belfast Creative Coalition, the BelfastChamber of Commerce and the BelfastEconomic Development Office to host aBelfast Area Job Fair.

• CE works with Maine’s wild blueberryindustry to improve crop productively andefficiency by addressing pollinator populationenhancement, weeds, pest insects and diseases.

• The economic impact from CE’s pestmonitoring and educational programs forMaine’s potato industry is estimated to bemore than $12.8 million.

• CE helped facilitate the expansion ofCommonwealth Poultry Co.

• UMaine’s Maine Animal Health Lab(UMAHL) tested almost 10,000 samples tosupport veterinarians, livestock producers andanimal owners of the state.

Workforce Development

Every year, the University of Maine graduatesmore students than any other institution in thestate. And those students are prepared tosucceed. Over 75% of students who earned abaccalaureate degree in 2014–2015 are employedfull time and another 7% are enrolled ingraduate school full time. Almost 70% of thestudents employed full time are working inMaine, earning a median income of $36,000 intheir first jobs.

• MBS has 95 students concentrating inmanagement information systems, 93 inentrepreneurship, and 64 in internationalbusiness. These concentrations preparegraduates to find employment and contributeto economic development.

• Nine English (ENG) students had professionalwriting internships at host organizations, suchas Casco Bay Lines, CBS, Maine Logging andForestry Museum, United Way and UpwardBound.

• International Affairs students held internshipsat Sen. Susan Collins’ office, the EuropeanParliament in Brussels, the Organization ofIslamic Cooperation, the Save the ChildrenFund in Ethiopia, the Ripple Effect Project inKenya, Birthright Armenia, the Parliament ofCanada and the Maine International TradeCenter.

• Roberto Lopez-Anido (CIE) is the lead facultyin the new Alfond Advanced ManufacturingLaboratory for Structural Thermoplastics,where students are trained in thermoplasticcomposites manufacturing processes.

• Ali Abedi (ECE) continued his collaborationwith NASA centers to provide workforcedevelopment opportunities for students.

• AMC collaborated with Lanco Integrated totrain students on automation technology. Atthe end of the project, Lanco hired three AMC/engineering students to full-time positions.

• The preservice education programs offered inCOEHD graduate more elementary andsecondary teachers than all other suchprograms in Maine combined.

• Renee Kelly (OIED) worked with the CareerCenter and Community Engagement Coordi-nator Claire Sullivan to launch the FlagshipInternship program. Nineteen students participated in a four-day boot camp, learningimportant career skills while touring Mainebusinesses and meeting young business leadersin the region, before starting their internships.

• The Foster Center for Student Innovationcontinued the Innovate for Mainefellowship/internship program, placing 24students in projects with 39 companies.


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• CCAR welcomed three new industry partnersin FY17, while continuing to partner with fiveother companies from previous years. Eightstudent and industry interns worked at CCARalongside 12 industry employees.

• Deborah Saber and Kelley Strout, School ofNursing (SON), are activating a new nurseresidency program at Eastern Maine MedicalCenter, creating opportunities to help addressMaine’s nursing shortage.

• All (100%) Communication Sciences andDisorders (CSD) graduates and 95% of SocialWork graduates report employment in theirdisciplines within six months of graduation.

• HC’s Idea Network of Biomedical Research(INBRE) program, the Sustainable FoodSystems Research Collaborative (SFSRC) andthe Servant Heart (Sierra Leone) ResearchCollaborative provide students innovativeinternships.

• FHC launched a portfolio of professionaldevelopment programs and workshops tocommunity members. For example: GrantWriting Certificate Program, IntegrativeHealthcare Workshops, Midcoast Leadership

Academy Certificate Program, BusinessWriting Workshop, Mindful LeadershipProgram and Data Literacy Training.

• CE presents effective Farm Tractor Safetycourses to about 80 people annually.

One University

UMaine has taken a leadership role in the UMSOne University initiative. As the System’sFlagship campus, UMaine has a specialresponsibility to partner with its sisteruniversities to improve the accessibility,affordability and quality of educationalopportunities available to Maine citizens, and tosupport Maine through research anddevelopment, as well as community engagement.

• English, Mathematics and Statistics,Psychology, Anthropology, Art, Music andTheater faculty members, along with the deanand associate dean, participated in program-specific planning teams for UMaine’s “primarypartnership” with the University of Maine atMachias (UMM).

• Physics and Astronomy (PHY) facultymembers have worked with UMS colleagues toalign learning outcomes and content in aphysics course for life sciences majors taught atseveral campuses.

• UMaine and University of Southern Maine(USM) submitted a joint proposal to the U.S.Department of Commerce, EconomicDevelopment Administration (EDA)University Centers Program, which wasawarded in 2016. The EDA Center partnerswith the SFR, the Margaret Chase SmithPolicy Center and OIED to provide marketanalysis and technology development supportfor the forest products industry.

• Susan Pinette, Modern Languages and Classics(MLC)/Franco American Studies (FAS), isworking on two areas of collaboration forFranco American programs across the System:archives and curriculum.

The School of ForestResources introducesstudents to the latesttechnology.

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One University continued• Don Hummels (ECE) chaired the Electrical

and Mechanical Engineering Community(EMEC), which is made up of UMaine andUSM Engineering faculty members. EMECdeveloped “smart classrooms” at USM andUMaine for joint delivery of engineeringcourses.

• OIED worked to expand technology transferand commercialization capacity throughoutUMS, and industry engagement andpartnerships.

• AMC assisted the University of Maine atAugusta (UMA) drone program by utilizing 3-D scanning capabilities to make CADmodels of new drones.

• COEHD and UMM collaborate on teachereducation programs related to rural povertyand meeting teaching shortages.

• The Maine Leadership and PolicyDevelopment Council, which is a consortiumof faculty members from USM, University ofMaine at Farmington (UMF) and theCOEHD, promotes the implementation ofPositive Behavior Intervention and Support inMaine schools.

• Scott Spolan (MBS) worked with the smallerUMS universities to create pipelines intoUMaine’s MBA program.

• NSFA faculty and administrators worked withUMM to develop partnerships, including 2+2and 1+3 programs in biology, zoology and

UMaine faculty worked with the smallerUMS universities to create pipelines intoUMaine’s MBA program.


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botany (SBE); 2+2 programs in wildlifeecology (WFCB), marine sciences (SMS) andsocial work (SSW); and new pathways forUMM students to complete an Ecology andEnvironmental Studies (EES) degree atUMaine, and parks, recreation, and tourism(SFR).

• SON faculty are involved in work to theintegrate graduate-level nursing programs andto address the need for a fast-track pre-licensure BSN program for people who hold abachelor’s degree in another field.

• UMaine and USM entered into amemorandum of understanding for sharedbusiness development services andcommercialization initiatives between thecampuses.

• DLL managed the M.Ed. in InstructionalTechnology collaborative degree program withUMF and USM. New admits increased by61% from 18 in FY16 to 29 in FY17.

• CE trained and mentored 121 students from

six UMS campuses who provided hands-onSTEM learning for more than 1,200 youthsthrough the 4-H STEM Ambassadorsprogram.

• The National Science Foundation (NSF)EPSCoR grant, SEANET, includes UMM,USM, University of New England (UNE) andMaine Maritime Academy (MMA) to supportMaine’s aquaculture economic sector.

• The Graduate School has appointed facultyfrom every other System campus to GraduateFaculty status at UMaine so that they canparticipate in graduate programs.

• Fogler Library staff serve as a collectiondevelopment and management resource toother System libraries, and provide advice onmonograph collection management.

• Library staff developed and implemented aninitiative to process interlibrary loantransactions for University of Maine at PresqueIsle (UMPI), UMM and UMA, andGovernment Publications for UMPI.

III. Culture of Excellence

Research Excellence

• UMaine is consistently ranked among the top125 public universities for research throughthe NSF Higher Education Research andDevelopment Survey.

• UMaine’s Carnegie Classification remainsHigh Research Activity.

• Eleven College of Liberal Arts and Sciences(CLAS) faculty were authors or co-authors ofbooks published last year. The CLAS facultypublished 122 journal articles and 32 bookchapters.

• The 10 faculty and staff members with full orpartial appointments in the Honors Collegepublished three books, nine refereed journalarticles and 11 nonrefereed pieces.

• Faculty in NSFA averaged 2.52 refereedpublications per FTE last year. Theirpublications included work in Nature andScience.

• Engineering faculty published 63 refereedjournal articles and 27 books/chapters, andhad seven patents awarded.

• Maine Business School faculty had 21 paperspublished/accepted in peer-reviewed journalsand 16 other publications.

• COEHD faculty published 54 refereed journalarticles, which represents a 45% increase overthe prior year.

• CE faculty published articles, proceedings andtechnical reports, and 75 presentations atlocal, regional and national venues.


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Research Excellence continued• Fogler Library faculty and staff gave 13

conference presentations, wrote four bookreviews, and published five journal articles andbooks.

• Undergraduate and graduate studentslaunched Spire: The Maine Journal ofConservation and Sustainability. The inauguraledition was released on May 4, 2017.

• The second annual Student Symposium washeld April 3, 2017 at the Cross InsuranceCenter in Bangor. Over 1,200 students andfaculty participated as presenters, showcasingthe depth and breadth of student-engagedresearch and scholarship.

External Funding

UMaine faculty, staff, and students have anexcellent track record in winning grant supportfor research, teaching and service. In 2016–2017a total of $56,926,782 was received fromextramural sponsors, a 13% increase over that of2015–2016 ($50,369,625). The number ofproposals submitted also grew significantlygreater (573 versus 500 — a 15% increase).Some noteworthy grants received in 2016–2017include:

• Deborah Rooks-Ellis (COEHD) received$504,096 for the Early Start Denver Model,which continues their collaboration with theMaine Department of Education to buildcapacity to serve Maine’s young children withautism and their families.

• Keri Kaczor (CE) received a $175,499 grantfrom the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency for the Maine Healthy Beaches 2017project.

• Rosemary Smith (ECE) will receive a total of$2 million over the course of the next twoyears from the Defense Threat ReductionAgency Department of Defense (DOD) for afeasibility study of interstitial fluid analysis andthreat exposure monitoring.

• Hemant Pendse (FBRI) received $4.5 millionfrom the Defense Logistics Agency (DOD).The project, “Woody Biomass Conversion toLiquid Hydrocarbon Fuels,” proposes toadvance wood to jet fuel technology.

• Habib Dagher (ASCC) received $3.7 millionfrom the U.S. Department of Energy tocontinue design efforts under the NewEngland Aqua Ventus I program.

• Mindy Crandall (SFR) was awarded $458,275from the USDA Agricultural and FoodResearch Initiative for a 3-year study to look ateconomic restructuring, communitycharacteristics, and young people’s perceptionsof local labor markets in traditionally forest-dependent rural communities in Maine andOregon.

• Michelle Smith (SBE and the RiSE Center)received a $274,708 NSF grant for “CourseSource Developing Disseminating andUnderstanding the Usefulness of Resources forEvidenced-Based Undergraduate BiologyTeaching.”

• Clarissa Henry (SBE) received a NationalInstitutes of Health (NIH) AREA R15 awardin the amount of $355,307 for the“Regulation of the extracellular matrix duringdevelopment” grant.

• Katherine Allen (ECS) received $283,274from NSF for a project, “Pacific Oceanstratification: New constraints from benthicforaminifera.”

• Sue Righthand, Psychology (PSY), received a$116,607 award from the U.S. Department ofJustice for the “Juvenile Treatment ProgressScale Development and Implementation”project.

• Micah Pawling (HTY/NAP) received a grantfor $50,000 from the Whiting Foundation for“The Sabbatis Tomah Project: Making Historyin the Community.”

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Faculty Achievements

• Paul Grosswiler, Communication andJournalism (CMJ), received a ChristineNystrom Career Award for service to mediaecology.

• Kate Beard-Tisdale was elected a fellow inthe University Consortium of GeographicInformation Science.

• Dylan Dryer (ENG) was recognized with aKenneth A. Bruffee Award for best researcharticle in WPA: Journal of the Council ofWriting Program Administrators.

• Mazie Hough (HTY/Women’s, Gender, andSexuality Studies) received the JamesPhinney Baxter Award — from the MaineHistorical Society — for the best article inMaine History.

• Christopher White was featured by theSchool Band and Orchestra Magazine as theMaine “director who makes a difference.”

• Daniel Bilodeau, Theater (THE), designedsets for two premier productions at theCustom Made Theatre Company in SanFrancisco.

• Bridie McGreavy’s (CMJ) article “Resilienceas Discourse” won the Christine L. OravecAward for top article in the field ofenvironmental communication from theNational Communication Association, aswell as the article of the year award from theAssociation for the Rhetoric of Science,Technology, and Medicine.

• Micah Pawling (HTY/NAP) was awarded aPublic Engagement Fellowship in thehumanities from the Whiting Foundation.

• Adriaan van Heiningen (CBE) received the2017 TAPPI International Research andDevelopment Award and the TAPPI AikenPrize.

• Xudong Zheng (MEE) was awarded aFaculty Early Career Development(CAREER) grant from the National ScienceFoundation.

• Adrienne White, Food Science andNutrition (FSN), received the 2016 FacultyExcellence Award from the AlumniAssociation.

Presidential Public Service

Achievement AwardMarcella H. Sorg

Research Professor inAnthropology, the

Climate ChangeInstitute and the

Margaret Chase SmithPolicy Center

PresidentialOutstanding

Teaching AwardHarvey A. Kail

Professor of English

Presidential Researchand Creative

Achievement AwardDaniel H. Sandweiss

Professor of Anthropology and

Climate Studies

Distinguished MaineProfessor Award

John F. MahonJohn M. Murphy Chair

of InternationalBusiness Policy

and Strategy

Faculty Awards

Faculty Achievements continued• Aaron Putnam (ECS) was awarded a Faculty

Early Career Development (CAREER) grantfrom the National Science Foundation.

• Alicia Cruz-Uribe (ECS) received the 2018Young Scientists Award from the InternationalAssociation of Geoanalysts for excellence inanalytical geochemistry.

• Melissa Ladenheim (HON) was the 2017Recipient of the Steve Gould Award, given fordemonstrating “superior qualities ofunselfishness and compassion in the course ofservice to the university and its ideals.”

• Kristy Ouellette (CES) was awarded the 2016Distinguished Service Award from the NationalAssociation of 4-H Extension Agents.

• Dean Astumian (PHY) was named a Fellow ofthe American Association for the Advancementof Science (AAAS).

• The American Library Association monographShared Collections: Collaborative Stewardship,which featured a chapter on Maine SharedCollections by Matthew Revitt, won the 2017Association for Library Collections andTechnical Services Outstanding PublicationAward.

Student Achievements

• In the upcoming year, the graduate studentbody will include seven NSF research fellows,three NIH F31 awardees, one Switzer Fellowand nine Fulbright and USAID Pretasi Fellows.

• A team of students led by faculty adviserSebastian Lobe (MBS) placed fourth nationallyin a field of 726 teams in the 2016 TDAmeritrade’s thinkorswim completion.

• Ph.D. student Stacy Doore (School ofComputing and Information Science) led theinitiative to develop a student chapter of theAssociate of Computing Machinery — Womenin Computing, and UMaine was one of seveninstitutions to receive a 2016 National Centerfor Women in Technology seed grant tosupport this effort.

• Ian Jesse (HTY) won a Fulbright Fellowship tostudy in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and

Daniel Soucier (HTY) received a YoungScholars Research Award from the Mid-Atlantic and New England Council forCanadian Studies.

• Dair Rivas-Cruz (International Affairs/MLC),served on the Security and Defense Committeeat the European Youth Parliament meeting inTallinn, Estonia.

• Lucas Yoder (MLC) won an internationalKillam Fellowship to study French atl’Université de Montréal next spring.

• Michael Kennedy and Roy Meredith III(Philosophy) were selected to present theiroriginal research at the Greater PhiladelphiaPhilosophy Consortium 28th AnnualUndergraduate Conference at DrexelUniversity.

• Graham Van Goffrier (PHY) received aGoldwater Scholarship.

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An Ocean Optics class at the Darling Marine Centerin Walpole, Maine.

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• Samuel Borer, Physics (PHY) andMathematics and Statistics, was selected toserve on the National Council of the Society ofPhysics Students.

• Julia Hidu (Political Science) representedMaine at the Student Congress of the HenryClay Center for Statesmanship.

• Melissa Jankowski (PSY) was awarded aNational Science Foundation (NSF) graduateresearch fellowship to support her plannedresearch on peer influence in adolescence.

• Hannah Lawrence (PSY) received one of fourSociety for Psychophysiological Researchgraduate fellowships awarded nationally.

• Sage Duguay, Chemical Engineering (CHE),received the 2017 National TAPPI-PIMAOutstanding Award at the PaperCon meetingin April 2017.

• Meredith Allen (CHE) received the StudentPoster Award from New England CatalysisSociety.

• Jesse Orach (CBE) of the men’s cross countryand track and field teams was the male

recipient of the 2016 “M” Club Dean SmithAward.

• Abigail Wessels received a German ResearchInternship in Science and Engineering (RISE).

• Emilia Golebiowska (CHE) was the winner ofthe Best Student Paper Award at the PaperCon2016 in the Coating and Graphics ArtsDivision.

• Chitra Pandian (ECE) received an IEEEspecial award for her poster at the UMaineStudent Symposium.

• Anin Maskay (ECE) received a Michael J.Eckardt Dissertation Fellowship.

• The Clean Snowmobile Team (MEE) receiveda second-place award for their exhibition at theSAE World Congress.

• Michael Choiniere and William West (MEE)received AVANGRID Foundation graduatescholarships.

• Kyle Shute (WFCB) received the NewEngland Outdoor Writers Award for BestStudent Writer.

Marine technology studentsat the Alfond W2 Ocean

Engineering Laboratory.

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2017 Valedictorian and Salutatorian

Allyson Eslin of Bangor,Maine was the 2017valedictorian. The honorsstudent majored ineconomics, political scienceand psychology during herfour years at UMaine. Shewas a MadiganCongressional intern in theWashington, D.C. office ofSen. Angus King, and servedas editor-in-chief of TheMaine Campus and as acommittee chair in StudentGovernment. She conductedresearch in each of her majors. Her honors thesis was “TheEconomic and Psychological Metrics of Political Decision-Making.” In her senior year, Eslin began coursework for adual master’s degree in global policy and economics atUMaine. She also plans to attend law school.

Joshua Patnaude of Sanford,Maine was the 2017salutatorian and theOutstanding GraduatingStudent in the College ofEngineering. He majored incomputer engineering andelectrical engineering.Patnaude was a first-generation college studentand a 2013 Mitchell Scholar.He has held internshipsevery summer, working atGreat Works FoundationInc. in Sanford; Pratt and Whitney in North Berwick;Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery; and Modern GridPartners in Portland. He plans to pursue a career inelectrical and computer engineering, and earn an MBA.

2017 OutstandingGraduating Students

Donald BistriInternational StudentCollege of Engineering

Chad CaronDivision of LifelongLearning

Afton HupperCollege of NaturalSciences, Forestry, andAgricultureHonors College

Sigrid KoizarInternational StudentCollege of NaturalSciences, Forestry, andAgriculture

Hoang Anh Thi LeInternational StudentMaine Business SchoolHonors College

Maude MeekerCollege of Education andHuman DevelopmentHonors College

Nhat Han Nguyen DangInternational StudentCollege of Liberal Artsand Sciences

Jake OsborneInternational StudentCollege of Education andHuman Development

Adeline Mae HoganSchneiderCollege of Liberal Artsand SciencesHonors College

Allyson Eslin

Josh Patnaude

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Student Achievements continued• Elizabeth Trenckmann (SBE) received the

Presidential Research Impact Award with heradviser Michelle Smith.

• Erin Carter (MBS) received second place inthe Governor John E. Baldacci Award for BestOral Presentation at the Graduate School ofBiomedical Science and Engineering’s 10thAnniversary Annual Meeting.

• Grace McDermott (SMS) was selected as aNOAA Hollings Fellow.

• Walter Grenier, Bachelor of University Studies(BUS), and his educational journey were thefocus of an Ellsworth American story. Greniergraduated at age 73.

Student Performance on State andNational Exams

• All (100%) COEHD students in elementaryand secondary education programs passed thePRAXIS II exam, the primary exam used

across teacher certification programs. Allgraduate students in special education earnedpassing scores on related Praxis tests, andgraduate certification students in English,math and science also achieved 100% passrates, as did students in counselor educationand athletic training.

• In the Master of Social Work (MSW)program, 81% of students passed the LicensedMaster’s Social Work Exam on the firstattempt, while 78% of MSW graduates passedthe Licensed Clinical Social Work Exam (takentwo years after graduation).

• All (100%) FSN students passed the NationalRegistration Exam for Dietitians.

• In CSD, 94% of students passed the PraxisExam in speech-language pathology. Thenational pass rate is 86%.

• The first-attempt pass rate on the RegisteredNurse (RN) national licensure exam for May2016 BSN graduates was 88%. Graduates ofthe MSN family nurse practitioner programhad a 100% first-attempt pass rate on thenational certification exam.

All COEHD students passed the PRAXIS II examination, the primary exam used across UMaine’s teachercertification programs.

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Degrees Granted (Excluding post-baccalaureate certificates)

Bachelor’s Master’s Doctoral TotalEducation and Human Development 219 142 * 7 368Engineering 364 24 10 398Honors College (87 bachelor’s degrees with Honors)Liberal Arts and Sciences 410 68 17 495Maine Business School 283 25 – 308Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture 504 135 22 661Division of Lifelong Learning 14 – – 14(Bachelor of University Studies)Other programs – 9 2 11

====== ====== ====== ======University of Maine totals: 1,794 403 58 2,255

*Includes 22 certificates of advanced studies


Now in its third year, the Think 30 initiative is an important component of UMaine student success.

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Enrollment

• Collaborations between EnrollmentManagement and Academic Affairs on studentrecruitment yielded the largest number ofapplications, and the largest number ofconfirmed first-year students (for Fall 2017) inUMaine’s history.

• DLL partnered with Enrollment Managementand the Graduate School to implement theCRM Target X to better serve prospectivegraduate students.

• CE worked with Admissions staff during thisyear’s 4-H@UMaine Weekend to enable morethan 20 high school students to apply.

• A new Visual and Performing Arts scholarshipprogram proved successful with Fall 2016enrollments in Studio Art and Theatrereaching a five-year high.

• The Fall 2017 first-year class for COEHD willbe 52% larger than the Fall 2016 enteringclass.

• Engineering offers weekly tours for prospectivestudents led by the dean or associate dean,introducing hundreds of high school studentsto the college. Nearly 2,000 K–12 studentsparticipated in the college’s outreach programs.

• The Graduate School and EnrollmentManagement launched a new online

application and decision-making software suitedesigned to make the graduate admissionsprocess simpler and more efficient.

• Fall 2016 saw enrollment in the MaineBusiness School increase for the fifth year in arow, representing a 26% enrollment increaseover that time period.

• NSFA continues to attract significant numbersof out-of-state students to UMaine, with fully75% of students applying for Fall 2017 being“from away.”

• FHC initiated a statewide marketing campaignaimed at adult degree completion studentswho may be positioned to complete a B.A. orB.S. through the Bachelor of UniversityStudies.

Curricular Innovations

• The Cohen Institute offered a Fall 2016course, Leadership and Public Service, taughtby Tom Daffron, who served as chief of stafffor three United States senators.

• The Center for Teaching and Innovation(CITL) was launched in September 2016.CITL’s mission is to support a culture ofinnovation in teaching by working workshopsand personalized consultation on instructionaldesign, education software, instructional

Student Credit Hour Production

Undergraduate Graduate TotalEducation and Human Development 17,454 4,989 22,443Engineering 27,081 1,360 28,441Honors College 4,752 – 4,752Liberal Arts and Sciences 118,844 3,970 122,814Maine Business School 18,564 818 19,382Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture 58,553 6,637 65,190Division of Lifelong Learning 1,408 91 1,499Other programs 1,407 653 2,060

========== ========= =========University of Maine totals: 248,061 18,518 266,579

IV. Student Engagement and Success

Curricular Innovation continuedtechnologies and related topics. CITL willexpand its footprint and offerings in the Fall2017.

• New academic programming in CLAS in2016–17 included an M.A. in Anthropology,minors in Human-Computer Interaction andMedia Studies, and a concentration in JazzStudies within the B.A. in Music.

• DLL supported the launch of newHackerspace in the Memorial Union, wherestudents and faculty can experiment with newtechnologies in robotics, 3-D printing, dronesand other fields of discovery.

• Innovations in the College of Engineering(COE) in 2016–17 included a new ProcessEconomics course in CBE, the refinement of aflipped classroom delivery model in CIE 331(Environmental Engineering), and a new 5-year B.S./M.S. pathway for ECE students.

• CE faculty participated in the development ofthe National 4-H for Health Curriculum, anew nutritional and physical activity guide for4-H youth.

• In tandem with other URSUS libraries, thePortland Public Library, UNE, Minerva andthe Maine InfoNet Library System, FoglerLibrary signed a new contract with InnovativeInterfaces to ensure optimal access toinformational resources and services forUMaine students and faculty.

• In Fall 2016, the highly successful PhageGenomics courses, developed as acollaboration between the Honors College andMolecular and Biomedical Sciences (MBMS),were expanded to include all MBMS enteringstudents.

• MBS faculty introduced several new courses,including new MBA offerings in ManagerialMarketing and Socially Responsible Investing.

• “Leadership in Chaotic Times,” a Washington,D.C. Travel Course, was offered as part of theLeadership Studies program, and includedmeetings with members of Congress,ambassadors, lobbyists, military leaders,congressional staffers and others.

• The School of Nursing led a communityhealth disaster simulation in partnership withUMaine students, UMaine police, local fireand rescue personnel, area nurses and theUMaine Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

• Jessica Leahy (SFR) developed a regionalcourse on family forests with UMass Amherstand the University of Vermont through a grantfrom the New England Society of AmericanForesters.

Retention and Graduation

• The Think 30 initiative is helping students toprogress toward graduation in a timely fashion.Sixty percent of all UMaine undergraduatestook 15 or more credit hours in the Fall 2016semester and 61% took 15 or more in theSpring 2017, representing a 9% (Fall) and10% (Spring) increase over the prior year.Increases for first-year students were even moredramatic, with 74% and 78% taking 15 ormore credit hours in the Fall and Springsemesters, respectively. This represents a 14%(Fall) and 16% (Spring) increase over theprevious year.

• The Explorations program migrated to CLAS,where students benefit from the college’sadvising center and enhanced curricularplanning.

• DLL enhanced support services for students inBUS programs, particularly for studentscompleting a BUS online.

• During year two of Winter Session, 933students completed three-credit hour courses,representing a 38% increase over year one.

• Engineering created a new position,Undergraduate Advising and InternshipCoordinator, to provide additional support forstudents.

• The Engaged Black Bear program waslaunched with seven learning pathways and 28 badges developed. Eighty-four e-badgeswere issued in this first year of this innovativestudent engagement initiative funded by theDavid Foundation.

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New academic programming in CLAS in 2016–17 included an M.A. in Anthropology, minors inHuman-Computer Interaction and Media Studies, and a concentration in Jazz Studies within theB.A. in Music.

21

Retention and Graduation continued• NSFA is piloting a communication initiative

with incoming students in which studentsreceived texts periodically throughout thesummer to provide information and support.

• The many initiatives helping students graduatein four-years are paying off. In 2016, 40% ofstudents who started at UMaine in Fall 2012graduated, the highest percentage in 10 years.

Athletics and Academics

• Seventy-eight student-athletes graduated in2016–2017.

• Eleven teams earned multiyear and/or single-year NCAA Academic Performance Ratescores, exceeding the average scores of allDivision I programs or public institutions.

• For the 13th consecutive year, over half of allstudent-athletes — 62.6% in 2016 — werehonored for academic success as defined byGPA (cumulatively or in a given academicyear).

• Women’s Cross Country’s latest AcademicPerformance Rate ranks in the top 10% of allteams nationally in that sport. Women’s CrossCountry has achieved a perfect score of 1,000for the 12th straight year — every year thisaward has been given.

• Over 92% of student-athletes — 400 out of435 — were in good academic standing afterthe Fall 2016 semester.

• Jake Osborne (COEHD, Track and Field) andSigrid Koizar (NSFA, Women’s Basketball)were named Outstanding Graduate andOutstanding International Student in theirrespective colleges in 2016.

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Four-Year Graduation Rate

20%

20%

09 cohort

30%

35%

40%

45%

30%

10 cohort

36%

11 cohort

38%

12 cohort

40%

The 2016–2017 accomplishments of the faculty,administrators, staff and students who comprisethe Division of Academic Affairs are cause forcelebration. This past year saw record first-yearenrollment, sharp increases in grant funding andgrant submissions, an improved four-yeargraduation rate, a larger faculty, outstandingscholarly productivity, and recognition of facultymembers and students in the form of prestigiousnational awards. As a community, we havecommitted ourselves to growing enrollment,enhancing student success, stimulating fundedresearch and building partnerships with businessand industry. The upcoming academic year willprovide opportunities to build on our successes.

On July 1, 2017, the University of Maine atMachias became a regional campus of the

University of Maine. President Susan J. Hunteris now president of both campuses and UMM isled on site by a Vice President for AcademicAffairs and Head of Campus. The academicprograms at UMM will remain distinct fromUMaine’s degree programs, but there will beenhanced collaboration among related programs.This Summer, seven faculty teams are developingproposals for collaborations that will bepresented to their respective faculties inSeptember. In the coming year, as we furtheroperationalize the regional campus to Flagshipcampus relationship, we will be guided by thegoals of enhancing opportunities for studentsand faculty at both institutions, and meetingstate needs.

The UMS One University initiative willcontinue to present challenges and opportunitiesfor UMaine. Significant progress has been madein several projects that make up the broader OneUniversity initiative. For example, COE isworking with other campuses to createopportunities for students to start Engineeringstudies at any UMS campus and complete themat UMaine or USM. UMaine is a partner in theproposed Maine Center for GraduateProfessional Studies in Portland, and UMaine iscollaborating with UMF and USM to deliver theM.Ed. in Instructional Technology degree. Thereare many issues that still remain to be workedout with respect to these and othercollaborations. Success will require data-informed, innovative thinking, as well as anunswerving commitment to quality.

UMaine’s strategic plan, The Blue Sky Project, wasreleased in 2012 and has been a guide forstrategic decision making over the past five years.The identification of UMaine’s Signature andEmerging Areas of Excellence, our commitmentto improve student retention and four-yeargraduation rates, the modernized Enrollment

V. Challenges and Opportunities

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Over 92% ofstudent-athletes —400 out of 435 —were in goodacademic standingafter the Fall 2016semester.

Management operation, our enhancedcommitment to community engagement, andthe sharper focus on the UMaine brand can allbe traced back to the Blue Sky plan. Last Spring,we began a process of evaluating what has beenaccomplished under the strategic plan. This Fall,President Hunter and I will convene a series oftown hall-style meetings to share what we have

learned with the UMaine community, to engagein a dialogue about the findings, and to start theconversation about our vision for the future.Informed by these conversations, we intend topublish a report summarizing our assessment ofThe Blue Sky Project, which will lay thegroundwork for the next strategic plan. Iencourage you to join the conversations this Fall.


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UMaine is welcoming the largest incoming class in Fall 2017.

The University of Maine does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, including transgender status and gender expression, national origin,citizenship status, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status in employment, education, and all other programs and activities. Contact the Director, Equal Opportunity,5754 North Stevens Hall, Room 101, Orono, ME 04469-5754 at 207.581.1226 (voice), TTY 711 (Maine Relay System), [email protected] with questions orconcerns.

University of Maine Office of the Executive

Vice President for Academic Affairs

and Provost5703 Alumni Hall

Orono, ME 04469-5703

umaine.edu

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