University of Maine

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University of Maine
Motto	Dirigo (Latin)
Motto in English	I lead
Established	1865
Type	Public
Endowment	$230.5 Million
President	Robert A. Kennedy
Faculty	720
Students	12,100
Undergraduates	9,596
Location	Orono, Maine, USA
Campus	Rural
Colors	Blue and White
Nickname	Black Bears
Mascot	Bananas the Bear
Website	www.umaine.edu

The University of Maine (UMaine)^[1] is a public research university located in Orono, Maine, United States. The university was established in 1865 as a land grant college and is referred to as the flagship university of the University of Maine System.^[1][2] The university has an enrollment of over 12,000 students making it the largest university in the state. It is the only institution in Maine classified as a research university (RU/H) by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.^[3] The University of Maine's athletic teams are nicknamed the Black Bears, and sport blue and white uniforms.

History

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UMaine was founded in 1862 by the Morrill Act, signed by President Lincoln. Originally named the Maine College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, the Maine College opened on September 21, 1868, changing its name to the University of Maine in 1897.^[4]

The College was the fourth to be established in Maine, after Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby. Originally intended as an agricultural college, the College also placed a large emphasis on engineering and the sciences.

Tuition at the Maine College was free until 1879. In return, all students were expected to contribute 15 hours a week of labor, on which they were graded and received compensation in accordance with their grades.

Near the end of the 19th century, the curriculum was expanded to place greater emphasis on liberal arts. New faculty hired during this time included Caroline Colvin, chair of the history department, and the first woman in the nation to head a major university department.

In 1906, The Senior Skull Honor Society was founded to “publicly recognize, formally reward, and continually promote outstanding leadership and scholarship, and exemplary citizenship within the University of Maine community.”

In 1973, the Wilde Stein Alliance for Sexual Diversity was founded as one of the first gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender student organizations in the United States and the first in the state of Maine.

When the University of Maine System was incorporated, the school was renamed by the legislature over the objections of the faculty to the University of Maine at Orono (or UMO). This was changed back to the University of Maine in 1986. However, it is still frequently referred to as UMO.

Stevens Hall

The official fight song of UMaine is the “Stein Song”. Written by Lincoln Colcord (words) and E. A. Fenstad (music), the tune rose to fame when Rudy Vallee arranged the current version. Vallee attended Maine from 1921–1922 before transferring to Yale, and his popularity helped make the song a national favorite. To this day, the "Stein Song" remains the only college fight song to ever reach number one on the pop charts, achieving this distinction in 1930.^[5] According to College Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthology, by Studwell and Schueneman, the "Stein Song" is one of the very best fight songs of all time.^[6]

Organization and administration

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UMaine is considered by the University of Maine system, the governor, and other public officials to be the flagship of the University of Maine System.^{[1][2][7][8][9]}

The University of Maine is one of a handful of colleges in the United States whose Student Government is incorporated. Student Government was formed in 1978 and incorporated in 1987. They are classified as a 501(c)(3) not for profit corporation.^[10] It consists of a Legislative Branch, which passes resolutions, and an Executive Branch, which helps organize on-campus entertainment and guest speakers, works with new and existing student organizations, and performs other duties. Other organizations fall under the umbrella of Student Government, including Representative Boards, Community Associations, and many other student groups.

Campus

University of Maine at Orono Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic District
Location:	Munson, Sebec, and Schoodic Rds., Orono, Maine
Coordinates:	44°53′56″N 68°40′17″W / 44.89889°N 68.67139°W / 44.89889; -68.67139Coordinates: 44°53′56″N 68°40′17″W / 44.89889°N 68.67139°W / 44.89889; -68.67139
Area:	15 acres (6.1 ha)
Built/Founded:	1868
Architect:	Multiple
Architectural style(s):	Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Late Victorian, Greek Revival
Governing body:	State
Added to NRHP:	July 12, 1978
NRHP Reference#:	78000194[11]

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Sustainability

The University of Maine has a sustainability council composed of students, faculty, administrators, and staff, and employs a full-time sustainability coordinator. A green loan fund provides capital for energy efficiency and renewable energy investments.^[12] The university has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2040, and two residential-scale solar thermal systems are in place on Nutting Hall and Sebec House. The University of Maine composts food scraps from dining facilities, and York Dining Hall has gone trayless to reduce waste. For all new campus construction, LEED Silver standards are required.^[13] The Blue Bike program refurbishes abandoned bikes and rents them to students free of charge, providing a means of alternative transportation on and around-campus. ^[14]

The university earned a grade of "C+" on the College Sustainability Report Card 2010, published by the Sustainable Endowments Institute.^[15]

Academics

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The University of Maine offers seventy-five undergraduate major programs organized in five Colleges: College of Business, Public Policy and Health; College of Education and Human Development; College of Engineering; College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture. It offers graduate programs, including eighty-four masters degree programs and thirty seven doctoral programs.^[1] UMaine offers programs in engineering, business, forestry, marine science and agriculture, wood science, aquaculture, education, and nutrition science. UMaine is unique in offering a program in socialist and Marxist studies and a minor in that field.

UMaine is one of only a handful of institutions to offer a combined developmental/clinical Ph.D. to all students accepted into their clinical psychology Ph.D. program, as well as advanced degrees with distinct concentrations in developmental psychology, social psychology, cognitive psychology, and behavioral neuroscience. Along with offering a Ph.D in psychology with a concentration in behavioral neuroscience, the University also offers a neuroscience concentration for Ph.D. students studying biomedical science.

The University of Maine perennially ranks high in both the Princeton Review and Kiplinger's lists of best public schools.

UMaine is one of only four institutions in Maine (along with Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby) accredited to award membership into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.^[16]

UMaine is also the birthplace of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society, recognizing high academic achievement across all disciplines.^[17]

It is the only institution in Maine ranked as a national university in the U.S. News and World Report annual rankings. U.S. News categorizes UMaine as an institution that offers "a full range of undergraduate majors, master's, and doctoral degrees."^[18]

The Lyle E. Littlefield Ornamentals Trial Garden is a research garden for horticulture in northern climates. The University of Maine is also home to the Maine Business School, the largest business school in Maine. Paris-based international educational consulting organization Eduniversal has included the Maine Business School at the University of Maine among its selection of 1,000 of the world’s best business schools. ^[19]

The 2008-2009 student body consists of representatives from 47 of the United States, as well as 47 other countries.^[20]

The University is also host to the Intensive English Institute, [1] an English as a second language program designed to help students develop their English language skills for success in school, business, and social communication.

Faculty and research

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Collections

The University's Fogler Library is the largest in Maine and serves as one of its intellectual hubs, attracting scholars, professors, and researchers from around the state. A collection of rare and ancient manuscripts, as well as about two million government publications, augment the University's collection. The Special Collections Unit includes the Stephen Edwin King (author of The Shining and UMaine alumnus) papers, which attract researchers from across the globe.

Student life

This section requires expansion.

Athletics

Maine Black Bears logo

UMaine Football Helmet

The University of Maine participates in the NCAA's Division I level,^[21] is a member of the Colonial Athletic Association for football,^[22] Hockey East for ice hockey,^[23] and the America East Conference for all other sports.^[24] The school has won two national championships, both in men's ice hockey. In 1993, they defeated Lake Superior State University 5-4 behind a third period hat trick by Jim Montgomery. In 1999, they defeated rival University of New Hampshire 3-2 in overtime on a goal by Marcus Gustafsson.^[25]

In 1965, the football team competed in the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Florida against East Carolina. They were beaten in the game 31-0,^[26] but remain the only team from Maine to compete in a bowl contest.

The Oak Hall Dormitory

Autumn leaves shower a lawn in front of UMaine's Hannibal Hamlin Hall

The Mall

Notable people

Among the notable graduates of UMaine are Nobel Prize laureate Bernard Lown, who won the award for his work in peace activism; U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Maine's senior senator and the first woman to have served in both houses of a state legislature and both houses of the U.S. Congress; Colby Chandler, a former CEO of the Eastman Kodak Company, Stephen Cooper, an NFL inside linebacker who currently plays for the San Diego Chargers, and Stephen King, a science fiction, horror, and fantasy author.^[27]

Notes

See also

• Francis Crowe Society
• The Maine Campus

References

• Fernald, Merritt Caldwell (1916). History of the Maine State College and the University of Maine. Orono, Maine: University of Maine. http://books.google.com/books?id=YgUiAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&cad=3_2#PPA3,M1. 
• Smith, David C. (1979). The First Century: A History of the University of Maine, 1865-1965. University of Maine at Orono Press. ISBN 0-89101-037-8. 
• Office of Institutional Studies, Fact Sheet with Official Enrollment

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: University of Maine

• Official UMaine site
  • Campus Map
  • Calendar of Events
  • Computer Connection
• Official Maine athletics site
• UMaine Student Government, Inc.
• The Maine Campus
• UMaine Alumni Association

Coordinates: 44°53′58″N 68°40′5″W / 44.89944°N 68.66806°W / 44.89944; -68.66806