University of Maine at Farmington

The University of Maine at Farmington serves a statewide mission as Maine's public liberal arts college. We offer the educational experiences typically found at selective private colleges to bright and ambitious students from Maine and beyond. We are committed to the belief that a liberal education in a residential setting is the best preparation for careers and for citizenship. Because all our graduates, including those who have studied in pre-professional programs, are liberally educated, they are creative problem solvers who have learned how to learn and how to work on complex challenges with people from a variety of backgrounds and fields.More than 400 members of University of Maine at Farmington's 2009 graduating class recently marched in the University's 156th Commencement celebration. According to the Sun Journal, the graduation ceremony featured award-winning journalist Naomi Schalit as keynote speaker and graduating senior Katharine Rose Gergosian as senior speaker. In her commencement address, Schalit urged graduates to be courageous, speak their minds, and encourage others to do likewise. During the ceremony, Theodora J. Kalikow, UMF president, conferred honorary degrees of Doctor of Humane Letters on local writers Ann Arbor and her husband John Rosenwald for the cultural vision they have shared with the community.

Eleven UMF students will be taking part in a spring travel course to help some of the world's poorest children. Led by Mariella Passarelli, associate professor of chemistry, the course will travel to Safe Passage in Guatemala, the program started by Portland native Hanley Denning that offers hope, education and assistance to the children in the garbage dump community. As reported by Boston's WBZ channel 38, the course requirements will have the UMF students teaching English, designing an educational project related to their major and composing a reflection on their experience.