USM Public Affairs

“I Question America,” a Broadway styled, one-woman play honoring the life of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, will be presented this month as part of USM’s celebration of African-American History Month.

The event, featuring actress and author E.P. McKnight, begins at 5 p.m., Wednesday, February 16, in USM’s Hannaford Lecture Hall, Portland.  A question-and-answer session and a book signing will follow the performance.  It is free and open to the public.  For more information, contact the USM Office of Multicultural Affairs at 780-4006. (more…)

In her January 28 Portland Press Herald column, President Botman explains how the research project to document effects of the BP oil spill is an unusual and transformative experience for all concerned, including USM students.

Save the date for Maine Entrepreneurship Week this February. Beginning Saturday, February 12, 2011, Maine Entrepreneurship Week kicks off a selection of events for entrepreneurs, from those who design and create things like engineers and artists, to those who become business owners and sellers of products and services. Maine Entrepreneurship Week has one goal: support the creative and managerial efforts of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout Maine. Events are still being planned, and will be posted at www.eweekmaine.org. Watch for more information, and save the week of February 12^th through the 19^th to celebrate entrepreneurship in Maine.

Contact: Valarie Lamont, Director, Center for Entrepreneurship, University of Southern Maine at 207-780-5919, lamont@usm.maine.edu

Professor of Education Janaki Rajan of Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi will discuss the challenges of teaching and learning in patriarchal India at a free, public lecture scheduled for 4 p.m., Thursday, February 10, in the University Events Room of USM’s Glickman Family Library, Forest Avenue, Portland.

For more information, call 780-5638, or click on http://www.usm.maine.edu/sehd (more…)

REZA JALALI, coordinator for the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, presented “U.S.-Iran Relations: Hope and Fear,” at the Midcoast Forum on Foreign Relations in Camden on November 15.

DAVID B. JONES, associate professor of recreation and leisure studies, had his article, “Recreation Therapy Professionals Serve the World,” published in the American Journal of Recreation Therapy (Vol. 3, No. 9, pp. 7-9).  At the 38^th Annual International Conference of the Admission for Experiential Education on November 5, Jones presented “Increasing Students’ Cultural Awareness Through Service Learning.”

MATTHEW KILLMEIER, assistant professor of communication and media studies, co-authored “Neo-Nationalism Seeks Strength from the Gods: Yasukuni Shrine, Collective Memory and the Japanese Press,” which appeared in the December 2010 issue of Media, War and Conflict (Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 334-354).  Killmeier also had his article, “Modernity’s Enchanting Shadow: The Hall of Fantasy, Horror Programmes and U.S. Post-War Radio,” published in the December 2010 issue of Horror Studies (Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 177-192).

LIN LISBERGER, lecturer of art, and DUNCAN HEWITT, professor of art, have some of their respective work on view at the “Contemporary Maine Wood Sculpture” exhibit in the Messler Gallery at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, in Rockport.  The exhibit will be up from December 3, 2010 to February 4, 2011.  To see photos and learn more about the exhibit, view the November/December 2010 issue of “Maine Home and Design” magazine (pp. 93-95).

LOIS R. LUPICA, professor of law, presented “Data From the Costs of BAPCPA Study: The Best and the Worst of BAPCPA” at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges Annual Meeting in New Orleans, La. in October 2010.  She also presented “The Impact of BAPCPA on High Volume Consumer Bankruptcy Practice” to the American Consumer Bankruptcy College in Las Vegas, Nev. in September 2010.  On September 28, in Augusta, Lupica spoke at the “Seismic Shifting: Bankruptcy in a Time of Change” conference about recent “Supreme Court Bankruptcy Jurisprudence.”  She sat on a panel on that same topic with the Honorable James B. Haines, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge.  Lupica presented to the Amicus Project, National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, about “Note and Mortgage Transfers in Securitized Transactions” in October 2010.  She participated in the drafting of an Amicus Brief in the case of Stern v. Marshall, a September 2010 Supreme Court case.

JEFFREY MAINE, professor of law, had his article, “The History of Intellectual Property Taxation: Promoting Innovation and Other Intellectual Property Goals,” accepted for publication in the SMU Law Review (Vol. 64).  It will appear in a special symposium issue on “Intellectual Property, Innovation and Justice: Past, Present and Future.”  Maine presented his article, “Equity and Efficiency in Intellectual Property Taxation,” at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Ill. on October 3.