You are invited to an online event on March 25 at 5:00 pm, when the UMaine Alumni Association will co-host the Maryann Hartman Awards with the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. The three awardees to be honored are UMaine alumnae Sharon Barker ’71, ’87G, retired director of UMaine’s Women’s Resource Center; Maulian Dana ’06,…
UMaine senior Joseph Cali’s speedy action likely saved lives, for which the Orono Police Department recently recognized him with a Courageous Citizen Award. Last December, as he drove down Bennoch Road on his way to the post office, Cali noticed a car moving slowly, and when he passed it, he realized that the driver was…
Bernard Lown ’42 (right, with Mikhail Gorbachev), one of the University of Maine’s most accomplished and influential alumni, died on February 16, 2021 at age 99. The pioneering cardiologist, author, and peace activist cofounded International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and received the Nobel Peace prize in 1985. In 1962 he invented the…
IN 1993, Dr. Robert A. Strong approached the University of Maine Foundation with an idea. Strong, at the time a UMaine professor of investment education, wanted to create a hands-on, real-life learning experience for undergraduates that would help them learn more about investment management. He asked the Foundation to provide $100,000 in seed money to create…
BRENDAN WALSH ’00 has long held a reputation as an enforcer. Two decades ago, he patrolled the ice of Alfond Arena as a tough-as-nails member of UMaine men’s ice hockey team, the 1999 NCAA national champions. Today, Walsh polices a different territory as a detective with the Boston Police Department. The 46-year-old Massachusetts native is…
Editor’s note: Dennis Bailey, a former reporter and senior advisor to then-Gov. Angus King, Jr., is a public relations consultant who lives in Washington, D.C. In late September he was infected with the coronavirus, leading to a life-threatening bout with the illness and nearly a month in the hospital. This journal is adapted from the…
THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE in Orono will be the largest beneficiary of the Harold Alfond Foundation’s historic investment in Maine’s public universities. In October, the foundation, established by its namesake in 1950, announced it would be providing more than $500 million in grants to Maine people and institutions. The grants are intended to grow Maine’s…
I CAN ONLY SPEAK from my own experience. Growing up in Maine, I have a very unique experience compared to most of my family who grew up in the inner cities, but we will get there. Growing up in Maine. The first time I can recall being called “the N word” I was four. At…
GENEVIEVE MCDONALD ’18 represents a legislative district that could have inspired the old Maine saying, “You can’t get there from here!” It consists of 10 communities scattered across 14 coastal islands in Downeast Maine. Only two of the islands are accessible by car from McDonald’s home in Ston ington, so she often utilizes her own…
THE UMAINE Alumni Association Board of Directors has voted to rename one of its most prestigious awards after a longtime Association volunteer and leader who passed away on October 9, 2020. In December, the board voted unanimously to rename the “Pine Tree Emblem Alumni Service Award” as the “Suzanne Kay Hart ’68 Alumni Service Award.”…
GINA FERAZZI frantically loads her Ford Fusion for a 300-mile drive north from her home in Riverside, California, to Mammoth in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. She says good-bye to Charlie, her Goldendoodle, who sulks when she departs. It’s November 19, 2020, the end of a typical week in Ferazzi’s life as a staff photographer for…
FOLLOWING HIS UMAINE graduation, Erik Gundersen ’05 moved to Arizona to pursue a career as a golf pro. When that didn’t pan out, he moved back to Maine, where he has become a major player of a different kind. Gundersen, 37, directs Maine’s Office of Marijuana Policy (OMP), the arm of state government responsible for…