UMaine, Pennsylvania College Announce Global Policy Partnership

Contact: Jim Settele, 581-1835

ORONO – The presidents of the University of Maine and Dickinson College, a top liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, have signed an articulation agreement to formalize academic collaboration in areas of mutual strength and interest.  The new arrangement will facilitate priority admission of Dickinson students into the UMaine Master of Arts in Global Policy program in the School of Policy and International Affairs (SPIA).

Beginning in the fall of 2011, eligible Dickinson graduates can begin academically preparing for a fifth-year Master’s of Global Policy degree at UMaine, which they could earn in 15 months of graduate study, according to Jim Settele, assistant director of SPIA. Dickinson students who are conditionally accepted into the program would take courses during their senior year that would be applied toward the master’s degree upon matriculation at UMaine. Similarly, UMaine students interested in pursing a master’s in global policy through SPIA also could begin preparing as undergraduates for the “four-plus-one” program.

The affiliation is expected to expand to include possible faculty exchanges between the two institutions, teaching or research collaboration and joint seminars, conferences, classes and cultural programs involving both faculty and students at Dickinson in Carlisle, Pa. and UMaine. Some of the activities could involve distance-learning technologies, according to the agreement signed by UMaine President Robert Kennedy and Dickinson President William Durden.

“Our expanded and formalized collaboration with Dickinson College will provide significant opportunity for students who aspire to graduate degrees in this vital field of study,” Kennedy says. “The institutions will further benefit by combining our scholarly efforts and fostering greater understanding of international policy and the attendant issues.”

Settele says the affiliation is a “great opportunity” for the two institutions to capitalize on developing synergies. The arrangement includes creation of two graduate assistantships for Dickinson students at UMaine, according to Settele.

Dickinson College is described by U.S. News & World Report’s college ranking guide as a highly selective, private liberal-arts college known for its innovative curriculum. The 180-acre college has nearly 2,400 students and offers 41 majors with an emphasis on international studies. It has more than 40 study-abroad programs in 24 countries on six continents and offers 13 modern languages. Its curricular strengths include global education and environmental sustainability, says U.S. News & World Reports, which ranks the school 47th out of 266 liberal arts colleges nationwide.