Malmberg Named New Hutchinson Center Director
Contact: Meg Malmberg, (207) 388-8000
George Manlove, (207) 581-3756
BELFAST — Margaret “Meg” Malmberg, associate director of the University of Maine Fred Hutchinson Center in Belfast, has been named director of the UMaine education and outreach center, succeeding founding director Jim Patterson, who is retiring.
Malmberg has been associate director since September of 2005, when she came to the university from a previous post as provost and dean of faculty at the University of Charleston in West Virginia, a position she held from 2000 to August 2005. Trained as a psychologist who migrated into administration in the mid-1980s, Malmberg holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Muskingum College, and master’s and doctorate degrees in experimental psychology from Texas Christian University.
She did graduate work in clinical psychology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio 1964-1966, and later did post-doctoral studies in higher education administration at the Harvard University Institute for Educational Management in 1994.
Malmberg says she is thrilled to succeed Patterson, and noted that Patterson leaves an impressive legacy.
“The future of the Hutchinson Center is beautifully bright and the community support has been fantastic up to this point. I anticipate that support will continue to grow,” she says.
The Hutchinson Center was built by MBNA for UMaine, and named for former UMaine president Fred Hutchinson. It opened in 2000 on a 12-acre site on the grounds of the Bank of America complex on Route 3 in Belfast with Patterson at the helm. Bank of America, which merged with MBNA earlier this year, officially donated the center to the University of Maine System June 27.
The center offers people in the region access to high quality undergraduate, graduate and professional development education and cultural opportunities in a supportive and flexible environment.
Operating under through the UMaine College of Lifelong Learning in Orono, the center offers 200 courses per semester though on-site live classes, video conferencing, the Internet and ITV. More than 1,000 people enroll annually for classes and an estimated 14,000 people utilize the center’s conference services each year. Additionally, more than 500 senior citizens from more than 50 communities participate in what is the state’s second largest Senior College program.
Malmberg says the Hutchinson Center offers flexible educational opportunities for non-traditional students of all ages who are looking to earn college degrees or seek retraining as they pursue career changes. Since the center opened, it has served more than 5,000 students, 95 percent of whom are over 21 years of age and take classes at night or on the weekends.
Students at the Hutchinson Center have access to courses offered at several University of Maine System institutions, including the flagship Orono campus.
“The university’s image and strategic plan are very much what a great university can be,” she adds. “I’m thrilled to have this new role.”
Malmberg is no stranger to Maine. She served as provost and vice president of Unity College in Unity from 1998 to 2000. She also has served as vice president for academic affairs and dean at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, and was assistant to the president for administrative services and chaired the psychology department at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. in the early 1990s.
A Belfast resident, Malmberg says she is particularly enthusiastic about the collaboration between the Hutchinson Center and both other institutions and the mid-coast communities.
“We have much more of a community presence and the opportunity to reach out and touch many members of the community and student body,” she says.
She assumed her new role July 1.