Visit our in-person and virtual drop-in voting office hours to find out! Volunteers will be available Monday through Friday, every day until Election Day on November 4th.

Visit the UMA Civic Engagement to find times and places to chat with us. Anyone with questions about voting is free to stop in, no appointment needed.

FMI: Zachary Roth, Faculty Coordinator of Civic Engagement, zachary.roth@maine.edu

The Â鶹APP is pleased to announce the following award recipients from the UMA community

Katherine Weatherford Darling, Assistant Professor of Sociology, was selected as a recipient of the Donald Harward Faculty Award for Service-Learning Excellence. This award recognizes outstanding Maine faculty who integrate community or public service into the curriculum and who work to institutionalize service-learning. Recipients are nominated and those selected demonstrate a clear evidence of reflection, community benefit, reciprocity with community partners, and a commitment to advocating for service-learning and/or community action on campus and beyond.

Katherine Weatherford Darling is a medical sociologist and health equity researcher with training in feminist science studies and the ethical, legal and social implications of genomics. Her research and pedagogy actively challenge hierarchies of expertise within and beyond the university. With students and community partners leading the way, she uses participatory sociological methods to understand how social inequities impact the health of Maine communities. Students’ deep personal knowledge and embedded relationships with their communities are essential to their research, and Katherine encourages them to reflect on the interactions between their experiential and academic learning processes.

Heidi Toner, recent UMA 2022 Graduate and previous Student Government Association Chair, received the Heart and Soul Student Award. This recognizes Maine undergraduate students who are actively involved in transforming their campuses and communities into environments of civic engagement. Through a nomination process, six students are selected for this honor. The award goes to students who have developed positive community and campus change; worked to institutionalize their community projects; demonstrated leadership; and implemented innovative approaches to social issues.

Heidi Toner was a non-traditional student in Mental Health and Human Services Program with a concentration in Addictions Counseling on the Bangor campus of the Â鶹APP (UMA-Bangor). Her two teenage daughters are her motivation and inspiration. Heidi has served as President of the Bangor Student Government Association at UMA-Bangor, and also advocates for those affected by substance abuse through the Maine Recovery Advocacy Project. Her efforts on campus to bring self-care and wellness programs, breakfast/snack baskets, and toiletries to the students of UMA-Bangor have been her passion.

Â鶹APP Social Science Program received the President’s Campus Leadership Award. This award recognizes a student organization or campus department at each MCC member institution for contributions to community service, service-learning, and/or civic engagement efforts on their campus.

Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition (MPAC) was awarded Community Partner of the Year Award for their work with Â鶹APP Prison Education Partnership.

Salvatore Cardinale was awarded the PILLARS Honorable Mention Student Award. This award recognizes Philanthropy, Innovation, Learning, Leadership, Action, Responsibility, and Service.

Maine Campus Compact is a coalition of 18 member campuses whose purpose is to catalyze and lead a movement to reinvigorate the public purposes and civic mission of higher education. They seek to transform campuses in ways that develop better informed, active citizen problem-solvers, stronger communities, and a more just democratic society.

UMA Civic Engagement is now accepting student applications for the Newman Civic Fellowship!

Each year, UMA can nominate ONE student to this national fellowship opportunity, which includes leadership development, national networking, and mentoring.

Are you that student? Or do you know that student?

About the Newman Civic Fellowship

The Newman Civic Fellowship is intended to honor the leadership legacy of Campus Compact founder Frank Newman by recognizing community-committed students. The fellowship is a one-year experience that provides students with training and resources that nurture their assets and passions to help them develop strategies for social change. Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides in-person and virtual learning opportunities focused on the skills fellows need to serve as effective agents of change in addressing public problems and building equitable communities.

Application Deadline

All applications must be submitted by 5:00 pm on January 18. Contact Kati Corlew at kate.corlew@maine.edu for more information.

UMA is a member institution of the Maine Campus Compact, and may only nominate one student for this fellowship. This application is designed to help us get to know students who are interested in this fellowship opportunity so that we can put forward a strong nomination for our selected student.

More Information

Nominees must commit to providing a short reflection piece (video, article, or letter format) to Campus Compact during their fellowship year. UMA Civic Engagement will be happy to support you in developing this reflection, perhaps even partnering with Â鶹APP media center if you opt to develop a video or article about your fellowship experience.

The nominee’s institution must commit to helping the nominee identify a local mentor for the duration of the fellowship. UMA Civic Engagement will be happy to help you to identify a local mentor.

If the nominee is selected, the nominee’s institution is encouraged but not required to cover the cost of transportation to the annual convening of Newman Civic Fellows. UMA Civic Engagement has committed to covering transportation costs to the annual convening of Newman Civic Fellows.

While there, they painted the porch of a local woman and cleaned, organized, and painted the volunteer dorms for the Southern Appalachian Labor School – a local non-profit that provides resources to address food insecurity, housing, emergency shelters, and afterschool programs in the area.

In addition to their service work, they took a tour of an exhibition coal mine, rode a jet boat up the New River Gorge, and learned all the verses to John Denver’s “Country Roads, Take Me Home”, which they sang on-stage with a local musician, Billy Payne.

A few students reflected on their experience:

Totally Trades workshops, coordinated by New Ventures Maine, will be offered virtually this spring with online sessions being provided on the mornings of April 27, April 29, May 4 and May 6. The sessions are designed to encourage girls to consider careers in fields traditionally underrepresented by women.  Eight virtual workshop sessions will be offered to girls interested in nontraditional careers in trade and technical fields, highlighting eight high wage, high demand career sectors, as follows: Automotive, Criminal Justice, Building and Design, Earn and Learn, Renewable Energy, Communications and Connectivity, Fire and Rescue, and Computer Technology.

“We want to provide girls in grades 8-12 with information and support in career sectors of interest to them. Maine’s career and technical education schools and Community College system are doing amazing work introducing students to programs such as public safety, building trades, electrical construction, and heavy equipment operations as well as other trade and technical careers. In addition, the University of Maine System is providing two and four-year degree programs in environmental protection, renewable energy, engineering, and other growing fields. These careers, for the most part, are considered high wage and high demand in Maine,” said Suzanne Senechal-Jandreau, conference planner for New Ventures Maine – a statewide community outreach program of the Â鶹APP.  Senechal-Jandreau adds, “Maine employers are looking for skilled tradeswomen and we want young women to have access to information that can lead them to good paying and secure jobs in the future. It’s a win-win for students and the Maine economy.”

The workshops are free, and open to girls in grades 8 through 12 who are exploring or considering employment in the featured career sectors.  Funding for the virtual Totally Trades Career Week is provided by the Maine Department of Education/CTE and the Maine Department of Transportation. Additional support and in-kind contributions are provided by businesses and community partners.

Individuals seeking more information on the virtual Totally Trades Career Week sessions, or interested in registering should contact Suzanne Senechal-Jandreau at 207-768-9635 or senechal@maine.edu or check out our website at .

Each year, UMA can nominate ONE student to this national fellowship opportunity, which includes leadership development, national networking, and mentoring.

Are you that student? Or do you know that student?

About the Newman Civic Fellowship

The Newman Civic Fellowship is intended to honor the leadership legacy of Campus Compact founder Frank Newman by recognizing community-committed students. The fellowship is a one-year experience that provides students with training and resources that nurture their assets and passions to help them develop strategies for social change. Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides in-person and virtual learning opportunities focused on the skills fellows need to serve as effective agents of change in addressing public problems and building equitable communities.

Application Deadline

All applications must be submitted by end-of-day on Friday, January 15th. Contact Kati Corlew at kate.corlew@maine.edu for more information.

UMA is a member institution of the Maine Campus Compact, and may only nominate one student for this fellowship. This application is designed to help us get to know students who are interested in this fellowship opportunity so that we can put forward a strong nomination for our selected student.

More Information

Nominees must commit to providing a short reflection piece (video, article, or letter format) to Campus Compact during their fellowship year. UMA Civic Engagement will be happy to support you in developing this reflection, perhaps even partnering with Â鶹APP media center if you opt to develop a video or article about your fellowship experience.

The nominee’s institution must commit to helping the nominee identify a local mentor for the duration of the fellowship. UMA Civic Engagement will be happy to help you to identify a local mentor.

If the nominee is selected, the nominee’s institution is encouraged but not required to cover the cost of transportation to the annual convening of Newman Civic Fellows. UMA Civic Engagement has committed to covering transportation costs to the annual convening of Newman Civic Fellows.

State Senator and UMA Student Justin Chenette
Photo Credit: Eduard Chenette

State Senator Justin Chenette has published a full-length children’s book about state government. Chenette is a UMA Student in the Postbaccalaureate Public Administration program.

The title of the book is “The Great Whoopie Pie Debate: A Kids’ Guide to the Maine Legislature”. It chronicles the steps of the legislative process when legislators actually debated whether whoopie pies should be the state dessert.

Chenette plans to donate a copy to area schools with an ultimate goal of sending a book to every elementary school in the state.

Cindy Dean, UMA Associate Professor of Education and Coordinator of Teacher Education

Governor Janet Mills recently appointed Cindy Dean, UMA Associate Professor of Education and Coordinator of Teacher Education, to a three-year term on the Maine State Professional Standards Board. This Board advises the State Board of Education on matters regarding professional growth, certification, endorsement, authorization, and governance of the education profession in Maine. The Maine State Standards Board is comprised of members representing education paraprofessionals, elementary and secondary teachers, university faculty, and administrators.

Keisha Beal of Rockland has been recognized by UMA with the James H. Woodworth Memorial Award which recognizes both academic and extracurricular achievement. Beal has worked to empower those who experience food insecurity and recently completed the “Building Advocates Leadership Program” funded by the JT Gorman Foundation. She is a 2020 graduate of UMA’s Bachelor of Science in Mental Health and Human Services degree.

Kendra Robinson of Rockland is the recipient of the Jeffrey Klivans Scholarship which is awarded by UMA to a deserving student in the BS in Business Administration program. This scholarship was established in 2007 with gifts from the Klivans family. Jeffrey Klivans of Camden was a well-respected member of UMA’s faculty and a pioneer in distance education technology and teaching.

Chelsea Summers of Owls Head has been recognized with the John Nickerson Scholarship which is awarded to students in the Public Administration program who demonstrate scholarship of the highest order with the potential to serve the public unselfishly. Summers is already putting her UMA education to best use in her multi-dimensional position as Assistant Town Administrator, Clerk, Tax Collector, and Deputy Registrar of Voters for the Town of South Thomaston.

Sara Wandell of Rockport has been awarded the Richard and Mary Elisabeth Randall Scholarship, a gift that was established at UMA in 2008 to honor UMA’s past President Richard Randall and his wife. The scholarship is awarded to a student who is demonstrating academic excellence, maintaining a very high GPA, and contributing to high standards at UMA.

Congratulations are extended to these four local scholars on their exceptional achievements!