Two of Maine’s most prominent families, both with deep ties to the University of Maine, are among the recipients selected for the UMaine Alumni Association’s 2018 alumni achievements awards.
Former Maine Governor John E. Baldacci has been chosen to receive the Alumni Career Award, the Alumni Association’s highest honor. Baldacci, a 1986 UMaine graduate, is one of seven Baldacci siblings who are Black Bear alumni. A former city councilor, state senator, and U.S congressman, Baldacci was selected for the award based on his decades of public service. Baldacci currently lives in Portland.
The family of Donald and Patricia Collins, of Caribou, has been selected for the Fogler Legacy Award. The honor is awarded annually to a family with multiple generations of Black Bear graduates who have been actively engaged in volunteer service on behalf of UMaine, their community, and/or their respective professions.
Don and Pat, both members of the university’s Class of 1949, are part of the second generation of Collinses to attend UMaine. Don’s father, Sam, a 1916 graduate, started the Collins family tree at UMaine. In the 100 years that have followed, three more generations of Collinses have graduated from UMaine. In addition, Don and Pat’s daughter, U.S. Sen. Susan M. Collins, received an honorary doctorate from UMaine in 2011. Adam Collins will graduate from UMaine in May, 102 years after his great-grandfather Sam earned his degree.
Seven more alumni with diverse backgrounds and rewarding careers have been selected to receive Alumni Achievement Awards.
Allen and Patricia Morell have been selected to receive the Bernard Lown ’42 Alumni Humanitarian Award for their lifetime of service to others. The couple, UMaine Class of 1973 graduates, have devoted themselves to improving the lives of impoverished children at the Child Rescue Centre (CRC), a residential home for children left without families to care for them after the civil war in Sierra Leone. The Morells currently reside in Centerville, Mass.
Todd Saucier of Milford has been selected to receive the Alumni Association’s Pine Tree Emblem Service Award, which honors an individual whose leadership and service advanced the organization’s success and reputation. Saucier, who earned his bachelor’s degree in 1993 and master’s in 1997, served nine years as the Alumni Association’s president and executive director, stepping down in 2015. Prior to becoming president, Saucier spent six years as the organization’s finance director.
George Pullen has been chosen to receive the Spirit of Maine Achievement Award. The award recognizes an individual who both graduated within the past 15 years and has achieved outstanding professional success. Pullen, a 2003 UMaine graduate, is a senior economist with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He resides in Montgomery Village, Maryland.
Norman Minsky of Bangor has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the Champion of UMaine Award, a new honor established by the Alumni Association. The award recognizes an individual who, though not an alumnus, has been a strong and effective advocate for UMaine. Minsky, an honorary member of the Class of 1952, has been actively involved in many of the university’s academic and cultural initiatives.
Three recent UMaine graduates are recipients of the Alumni Association’s new Rising Star Award. The honor acknowledges individuals who as students were actively engaged in student leadership roles and have continued their participation and promotion of UMaine and alumni interests since earning their degree.
The 2018 recipients are Brian Harris of Gray, a 2011 graduate; Hannah Hudson of Washington, D.C., who earned her bachelor’s degree in 2012 and her master’s in 2014; and Owen McCarthy of Gorham, a 2010 graduate. Hudson is an associate for The Cohen Group, an international business consulting organization. Harris and McCarthy are the executive partners of MedRhythms, Inc., a Boston-based neurological rehabilitation company. McCarthy currently serves as chair of the University of Maine Board of Visitors, which advises UMaine’s president on policy, financial, and advocacy matters.
Award recipients were selected through a formal nomination and review process that concluded in January. A standing committee of alumni volunteers conducted the review. Recipients will be honored at the Alumni Association’s inaugural Alumni Achievement Awards Dinner and Celebration to be held on Thursday, April 26 at Wells Conference Center on the University of Maine campus. The event is open to the public. For more information please contact alumni@maine.edu or call 207.581.1146.
Established in 1875, the University of Maine Alumni Association is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting the interests of UMaine and its 107,000 alumni.