USM Public Affairs

WMPG's management team: Lisa Bunker, Dale Robin Goodman and Jim Rand

The University of Southern Maine’s community radio station WMPG was recently awarded a $128,044 grant from the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, through its Public Telecommunications Facilities Program.  The grant will make WMPG’s “Power UP!” signal upgrade project a reality. The station has now raised more than $175,000 toward the $225,000 project budget. “Power Up!” will allow WMPG’s signal to reach well beyond the greater Portland area.  Radio fans from Bath to Biddeford and from Lewiston to Norway and the Lakes Region will be able to listen to the community station once upgrades are complete in September 2011. Station Manager Jim Rand and his staff wrote the grant. Rand graduated from USM in 1987 with a degree in business administration. (more…)

On December 9, MSNBC ran an online story about alumnus Bill Yeo’s research on Mount Everest pollution that included a link to the Soil Survey Horizons article, “Trace Element Deposition on Mount Everest,” Yeo wrote with Professor of Environmental Science Samantha Langley-Turnbaugh.

On December 14, BusinessWire.com informed readers that Brenda Harvey, who holds a master’s degree from USM, was named the New England States Consortium Systems Organization executive director. Currently, she is the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

Read the December 13 Mt. Laurel (N.J.)Telegram story about Jonathan McCarthy, a 1993 graduate who holds a B.S. in nursing, who was named vice president of clinical services for Kennedy University Hospital’s Cherry Hill and Stratford campuses in New Jersey.

On December 14, The Portland Press Herald’s “On the Move” column informed readers that Eric Eddy, a recent graduate of USM who studied insurance and risk management, joined C.E. Carll Agency of the Chalmers Insurance Group as a sales representative.

Kate Pinkerton, who holds a M.S. in nursing from USM, joined the staff at The Cancer Care Center of York County in December. Read about Pinkerton in the Sanford News story that was published on Fosters.com on December 16.

Jennifer A. Dreher of Warren, who holds a M.S. in nursing from USM, joined Pen Bay Internal Medicine. Read more in the December 15 Republican Journal.

Davis Advertising of Worcester has hired USM alumnus John R. Lufkin as production director. Read more about Lufkin, who received his bachelor’s in communication from USM, in the December 20 Worcester Business Journal online.

On December 22, The Times Record reported that WCSH 6 (Portland) and WLBZ 2 (Bangor) recently promoted USM alumna Joanne Small to business manager.

Read a December 25 Portland Press Herald feature about former Husky hockey player and USM alumnus Andy Gildart, who is now coaching at Portland High School.