USM Public Affairs

Student commencement speaker Jared Karrer of Eliot is a member of the Maine National Guard, who expected to be in Iraq this semester.  Speaking to the audience about the uncertainty he felt upon learning his battalion had been told to stand down, he stated, “Humility in the face of losing all control is empowering.” Karrer, a 2005 graduate of Marshwood High School, joined the Maine Army National Guard while still a senior in high school, and began his studies at USM in the fall of 2006. He served as the secretary of USM’s Bahai Campus Association.

John W. Hessler, senior cartographic librarian for the Library of Congress, discusses how Thoreau’s tracings of early North American maps shaped his thinking of the environment and the American wilderness. Hessler’s lecture, “Thoreau, his Maps, and his Image of Nature,” was the first public presentation of Hessler’s research.

10.16.09 John W. Hessler
The lecture kicked off a three-day celebration of the reopening of USM’s Osher Map Libray and Smith Center for Cartographic Education.

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman gave the keynote address to about 1,500 graduates and their friends and family at USM’s 129th Commencement ceremony. She also received an honorary doctor of humane letters at the ceremony. Goodman is perhaps best known for her syndicated Boston Globe column that appears in over 300 newspapers. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary in 1980. Her books include Paper Trail: Common Sense in Uncommon Times (Simon & Schuster, 2004), and I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women’s Lives co-written with Patricia O’Brien (Simon & Schuster, 2000).

Social work student Paige Emily Eclov, who was selected to present the student Commencement address, spoke on the importance of community work and contributing to society. While attending college, Eclov, of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, was actively involved in the community. She volunteered at the Preble Street soup kitchen, served as an Americorps Service Leader for Portland West, and was secretary and campaign head for PIRG (Public Interest Research Group). Her USM internships were at PROP’s (Peoples Regional Opportunity Program) Homelessness Prevention Program, and Little Brothers of the Elderly. She also made service trips to six different countries and is extensively involved in her church.

Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier turned human rights activist, speaks about his own experience as a child soldier in Sierra Leone and the greater effects of war on children. His story, told in his book A Long Way Gone: Memoir of a Boy Soldier (2007), has garnered national attention. Beah has made appearances on NPR’s Fresh Air and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. His story has also been told in Newsweek and the New York Times.

3.14.2009 Ishmael Beah
This address was the 2009 Douglas M. Schair Memorial Lecture on Genocide and Human Rights and was sponsored by The Hudson Foundation and the Academic Council for Religion, Genocide, and Human Rights.

Roger Wilkins shared a Pulitzer Prize in 1972 for Watergate coverage with Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, and Herb (Herblock) Block. Wilkins is the Clarence J. Robinson Professor of History and American Culture at George Mason University. He served as assistant attorney general during the Johnson administration, and has written for The New York Times and The Washington Post.

5.10.08 Roger Wilkins
The keynote address to 1,000 graduates and their friends and family at USM’s 128th Commencement ceremony at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Mark A. Coursey of Auburn, graduated with a B.S. in Leadership and Organizational Studies from USM Lewiston-Auburn College, was selected to give the 2008 student Commencement address. He returned to college after a sixteen-year absence. Coursey plans to attend the University of Maine School of Law, beginning in fall ’08.

5.10.08 Mark Coursey ’08
The student address at USM’s 128th Commencement ceremony.

Charles Colgan, professor of public policy and management in USM’s Muskie School of Public Service, gives his 2008 economic forecast for Maine. A former state economist, Colgan serves as a research fellow at the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and chairs the Maine Consensus Economic Forecasting Commission, which prepares an economic outlook report for state budget preparation. Colgan shares his predictions for 2008, based on his analysis of employment trends, income, retail sales, and a range of other indicators.

View Professor Colgan’s Slide Presentation

1.09.08 Charles Colgan
This lecture was given at a breakfast meeting hosted by the USM Corporate Partners.

The former president of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson speaks on the topic of globalization, ethics, and human rights. As the head of the Ethical Globalization Initiative, Robinson campaigns for equitable trade with developing countries and works to protect the rights of migrants, AIDS victims, and others who do not have the economic means or political power to defend themselves.

As the first woman president of Ireland (1990-1997), Robinson also was a champion of the rights of the poor and of women. In 2005, Time magazine included her among the World’s 100 Most Influential People. She served as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002. Before her election as president of Ireland, Robinson served as a senator for 20 years. She serves as the honorary president of Oxfam; a member of the UN Global Commission on International Migration; vice president of Club of Madrid, an independent organization of current and former heads of state dedicated to strengthening democracy around the world; and as the chair of the Council of Women World Leaders.

4.13.07 Mary Robinson
This address, the keynote of the 2007 Douglas M. Schair Memorial Lecture on Genocide and Human Rights, was sponsored by The Hudson Foundation with The Academic Council for Post-Holocaust Christian, Jewish, and Islamic Studies at the University of Southern Maine.

What does the Koran really say about “jihad”? What is the difference between the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam? What does the Muslim faith teach about the role of women?In his lecture “What Americans Need to Know about Islam,” Afis Ayinde Oladosu, Ph.D., a visiting Fulbright scholar at Southern Maine Community College, answers these questions and addresses misconceptions about the rapidly growing Muslim religion and its communities of practice in Maine and around the world. The visiting scholar co-founded the Interfaith Initiative at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where he is a lecturer in the Department of Arabic and Islamic studies, and recently initiated an international conference on Islam, Terrorism, and African Development.

12.4.06 Afis Ayinde Oladosu
This lecture was made possible thanks to SMCC, USM Interfaith Chaplaincy, USM Multicultural Student Affairs, the USM Religious Studies Program, and Interfaith Maine.