USM Public Affairs

USM Professors return from AAC&U institute

Earlier this month, a team from the University of Southern Maine attended an Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Engaging Departments Institute designed to address the challenge of ensuring students achieve a high-quality liberal education. USM’s team was among 14 teams chosen from throughout the U.S. and Canada and was led by Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education Susan McWilliams of Brunswick.  McWilliams wrote the successful application, which allowed USM to send a team to this institute held in Philadelphia.   (more…)

Drawing on her personal experience as an undergraduate, President Botman explains the importance of scholar-teachers in the lives of USM’s students. Read her most recent column in the July 23 Portland Press Herald.

Ina Basha '10, College of Nursing and Health Professions

Ina Basha of Portland came to America from Albania 13 years ago when her parents won a lottery. A graduate of USM’s nursing program, Ina feels nursing runs in the family. Her mother is a physical therapist, who was also trained as a labor and delivery nurse in Albania. Her sister is a nurse who graduated from USM. Ina came to USM after she saw the great experience her sister enjoyed while a student here.

While there are things that bother her about nursing (for example, she doesn’t like needles and has always been afraid of shots) she says, “you find ways to get over it … it’s necessary for the patient’s care so you put your fears aside and you do it.”

Is she ready to become a nurse and take the world by storm? She believes so, knowing that USM gave her groundwork needed to “continue to grow.”

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The University of Southern Maine’s Wise Laboratory of Environmental and Genetic Toxicology is again collaborating with Ocean Alliance, launching an expedition on the sailboat RV Odyssey to the Gulf of Mexico.  The joint effort by this international research and conservation organization and USM researchers and students is the first of its kind to evaluate the impact of the environmental disaster on whales, the marine life on which they feed and the ecosystem that supports them.

Fifteen USM students will be participating at one time or another during the voyage, living onboard the Odyssey, collecting samples, and conducting research in an onboard state-of-the-art lab.  Samples will be sent back to the Wise Lab at USM for further study, giving researchers and students in Portland an opportunity to also participate in this unique research expedition.

Check out our Flickr album of the Odyssey’s July 15 training cruise in Casco Bay.

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A July 18 Portland Press Herald story about Dyke Hendrickson’s new book, “Franco-American’s of Maine,” mentions his research in the Lewiston-Auburn College Franco-American Collection, and a July 20 Lewiston Sun Journal article about Hendrickson mentions former USM professor, the late Madeleine Giguere.

Many reporters were very interested in the departure of the USM/Ocean Alliance expedition to the Gulf of Mexico.  Stories included the July 15 Munjoy Hill News Observer; a July 16 story shared by WGME-TV and MyFOXMaine.com; a July 16 Associated Press story that appeared in the Bangor Daily News, on Portland’s three TV stations, on Boston’s WBZ-TV website, and many other New England publications/websites.  Maine Public Radio also covered the story beginning on Thursday, July 15, broadcasting updates throughout the weekend.

Read Muskie Director of Early Education Career Development Sue Reed’s July 14 Portland Press Herald “Maine Voices” column on how early exposure to language and literacy contributes to children’s reading success.

On July 12, Mass High Tech informed readers that Daniel Martinez landed a grant from the National Science Foundation that will be used to create an applied energy curriculum at USM.

The July 12 Bangor Daily News reported that an engineering and science pioneers program at USM was one of the 14 approved projects that requested University of Maine System Strategic Investment Funds.

On July 2, the Scarborough Leader published a feature about some of the USM students who will be sailing to the Gulf of Mexico on the RV Odyssey.