New Sustainability Course Puts Students in the Thick of Stakeholder Engagement

UMaine Alert

Posted: April 19, 2024 - 1:32 PM

At approximately 9:24 a.m. on Friday, April 19, a University of Maine graduate student was struck by a university vehicle on Long Road at the University of Maine campus in Orono. The student reports that they are at a local hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services, including the Orono Fire Department, University Volunteer Ambulance Corps, University of Maine Police Department, Orono Police Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

The university vehicle involved in the incident was a Chevrolet Express van. It was being operated by a university employee.

Counseling services and support are available for students, faculty or staff who may have been affected. The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and the Dean of Students Office can be reached at 207-581-1406.

The scene has been cleared and Long Road is now accessible. An investigation is being conducted by the University of Maine Police Department with assistance from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Unit. Any witnesses to the incident are encouraged to contact Lt. Noel Santiago at noel.santiago@maine.edu.

May 18, 2015 News

If sustainability science is about reaching beyond the borders of academia into communities, then it follows that a class focused on the growing discipline might land a student in a group of fishermen concerned about their livelihoods.

Students at UMaine and University of New Hampshire taking the newly offered Sustainability Science and Stakeholder Engagement course this spring were asked to engage directly with stakeholders. And, reflecting sustainability’s focus on urgent, real world issues, they went right into the thick of it. Working with shellfish harvesters in Frenchman’s Bay, Emma Fox, found she was a valued member of the academic team collaborating with the fishermen on complex issues related to bacterial contamination and the closing of shellfish flats. But there was a lot more to it than that. For instance, there were tides.

“I learned a lot about partnership and stakeholder engagement; learned a lot about transparency and trust and different communication issues. Working the tides was one of the themes, like making sure meetings with shellfish harvesters occur at mid-tide times,” she said, noting the low and high tides are prime working times for groups of these stakeholders. “Partnerships take time; they’re difficult. So, you have to keep coming back and respecting the opinions of other people and listening.” See more on this story