Recipients of First President Abram W. Harris Award Led “Sea Change” in Public Support of University Research
Contact: Amos Orcutt, University of Maine Foundation, 207-581-5100
ORONO, Me. — The University of Maine Foundation will present the first President Abram W. Harris Award to the “Faculty Five”: George Jacobson, Stephen Norton, George Markowsky, Malcolm Hunter and David Smith at the Foundation’s Annual Meeting Thursday, Oct. 6, 2005 at Wells Commons. A $5,000 prize will be shared among the five individuals whose impact on the University of Maine reflects the transformational change made by former President Abram W. Harris who served the University from 1893 — 1901.
The group, made up of five esteemed UMaine professors, undertook a grassroots campaign, beginning in 1995, to travel across Maine spreading the word about the need for greater state investment in university research.
“The words ‘sea change’ come to mind when I think of the shift in attitude that came about in Maine regarding the importance of university research and development to Maine’s economy. The shift in attitude can be traced back to the efforts of Jacobson and his four colleagues,” says Bruce Wiersma, dean of UMaine’s College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture.
“They had a very strong message that we have a good flagship land grant University, but the state was not making an investment in research and therefore we were not able to bring in enough federal funds to increase the research that could help start up new companies,” says former State Senator Mary Cathcart, who credits the work of the Faculty Five for helping the public recognize the university’s potential.
In December 1996, George Jacobson met with State Senate President Mark Lawrence and laid out his vision for how university research could help improve the state’s economy.
“Maine was not a state that recognized R&D as a valuable expenditure of state government, Lawrence says. “Over the course of time, we were able to persuade the legislature and change this culture to where they saw it not as an expenditure but an investment in economic progress in the state.”
The legislature’s creation of the Maine Economic Improvement Fund allowed the university to hire world class faculty, graduate assistants and provide seed money for a variety of research projects focused on areas that could have the greatest impact on the Maine economy. In all, between 1998 and 2003, the voters of Maine approved bonds totaling $204 million directed toward higher education, and particularly research and development.
As a result of the Faculty Five efforts, external research and development funding has increased dramatically at the University of Maine from $23 million to more than $50 million dollars – creating research jobs and fledgling companies that will fuel Maine’s economic growth into the future.
“University research pays off. People who are entrepreneurial, with great forward thinking ideas, start these companies and succeed. That’s what we need,” says Cathcart, noting the commercialization activities at UMaine’s Target Technology incubator in Orono, a facility that exists to support high-tech entrepreneurial ideas.
The most significant element of Abram Harris’ presidency was said to be the long and ultimately successful fight to broaden the scope of the institution and change the name from the Maine State College to the University of Maine. He faced a great deal of opposition, both from influential members of the statewide community and from the legislature to his proposals, but won over both to his vision.
“We would be a very different institution today if it were not for the work of the Faculty Five,” says UMaine President Robert Kennedy. “Like President Harris in his time, their efforts really were transformational. We have more patent activity, more license activity, more economic development than all the other research institutions in the state combined. That’s enormously important. It is helping the citizens of the state both in terms of practical economic development and keeping young people who are starting their own companies in Maine. The efforts of the Faculty Five to shift the attitudes about the importance of university research and development parallel the impact made by President Harris. George, Steve, George, Mac and David are most appropriate recipients of this award.”
The $5,000 prize will be awarded annually and was established in memory of Dr. Abram Winegardner Harris, with an endowed gift to the University of Maine Foundation from his grandson A. W. “Pete” Harris, III ’50 and family friends. A.W. “Pete” Harris, III, UMaine Class of 1950 says his motivation for establishing the award was out of respect for his ancestor, who died when Pete was twelve, and to draw attention to President Harris’ impact on the history of the institution. Pete Harris, a resident of Williamsport, PA, will attend the annual meeting of the University of Maine Foundation on Thursday, and be available for comment.