UMaine Scholar in Bangladesh Receives Prestigious Pearson Award

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.

August 16, 2011 News

University of Maine business and economics student Rachel Binder-Hathaway, currently in Bangladesh helping impoverished people access small business loans, has received a prestigious Pearson Prize in Higher Education.

The Millinocket native was one of 20 students out of more than 20,000 applicants to receive a $10,000 Pearson National Fellowship, the Pearson Foundation announced Monday. The Pearson Foundation award recognizes exemplary students who are distinguishing themselves through commitment to community service while completing their undergraduate studies. The award aligns with the Foundation’s commitment to students, lifelong learning, community service and leadership, and was created to respond directly to the financial challenges many students face while pursuing academic goals.

The award comes just months after Binder-Hathaway learned she had been named a 2012 Fulbright Scholar. Binder-Hathaway is spending three months this summer in intensive study in Bangladesh for her thesis. In February 2012, she’ll return under the Fulbright Program to continue microfinance research with the Grameen Bank and BRAC microfinance institution in Bangladesh. Binder-Hathaway also is continuing her work with a non-profit consulting firm, Seeds of Change, she co-founded during a 2009 visit to help at-risk women and orphaned street children in the city of Dhaka in Bangladesh.

In December, Binder-Hathaway is scheduled to receive a dual degree in financial economics and business administration at UMaine, where she is a member of the Honors College. She also holds a certificate in Fundamentals of Microfinance from the UN Institute for Training & Research.

Her scholarly research involves studying the phenomenon of entrepreneurial micro-loans from microfinance institutions as a way to extend business opportunities to millions of people who lack access to traditional financial markets, “thus allowing them to rise above the cycle of abject poverty,” she says.

Microfinance institutions are providing a new business structure, which takes the standard for-profit model and marries it with agendas for societal betterment according to Binder-Hathaway. Micro-loans are empowerment tools that help poor people start small businesses, operating on the assumption that lack of opportunity is the main barrier to creating a better and solvent life, she says.

In Bangladesh, where nearly half of the population of 160 million lives in poverty, microfinance institutions, including the Grameen Trust bank and BRAC, have provided microloans to more than 14.5 million people throughout Bangladesh, the vast majority of them women.

The Pearson Foundation says it selected Binder-Hathaway, a single mother, for the award because of her commitment to public service and student leadership. In a preliminary award application video, Binder-Hathaway discusses her motivation and non-profit Seeds of Change in Bangladesh.

Seeds of Change initially provided or arranged food, education and doctor visits for impoverished children living in the slums and on the streets. In continuation of those efforts, the non-profit also strives to generate social change though education, empowerment and economic development, according to Binder-Hathaway. Her organization is presently seeking funding for the Maer Achol Children’s Shelter in Dhaka.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756