UMaine’s 214th Commencement set for May 14

Editor’s note: Story updated May 9.

The 214th Commencement at the University of Maine will be held May 14 in Harold Alfond Sports Arena on campus.

UMaine Commencement, held in two ceremonies at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., is one of the largest graduation events in the state, with nearly 1,800 undergraduate and graduate students, including over 40 doctoral degree candidates, expected to participate.

Both ceremonies are ticketed events and live streaming will be available.

Tips for attending Commencement, provided by UMaine Police Department, are online.

The morning ceremony includes the College of Education and Human Development, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Division of Lifelong learning, and the Maine Business School. The afternoon ceremony includes the College of Engineering, and the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture.

Honorary doctorates will be awarded to two alumni: United States diplomat Pamela White, the former ambassador to Haiti and The Gambia, an Auburn native now living on Orrs Island, Maine; and Leonard Minsky, community leader and retired president of Superior Paper Products Inc., who lives in Bangor, Maine and Sanibel Island, Florida.

White is the Commencement speaker for both ceremonies.

The 2016 valedictorian is Nicholas Fried of Millerstown, Pennsylvania, an animal and veterinary sciences major, with a minor in chemistry; Connor Smart of Lincoln, Maine, the salutatorian, is a double major in accounting and finance, and is the Outstanding Graduating Student in the Maine Business School. Both are Honors College students.

Also being honored will be four faculty members in anthropology, engineering technology, marine sciences and political science.

This year’s Distinguished Maine Professor is anthropologist Paul “Jim” Roscoe, a world-renowned leader in cultural anthropology who is a professor of anthropology, and a cooperating professor in UMaine’s Climate Change Institute and the School of Policy and International Affairs.

Howard M. “Mac” Gray, professor of construction engineering technology, will receive the 2016 Presidential Outstanding Teaching Award; Neal R. Pettigrew, professor of oceanography, will receive the 2016 Presidential Research and Creative Achievement Award; and Amy Fried, professor of political science, will receive the 2016 Presidential Public Service Achievement Award.

Contact: Margaret Nagle, 207.581.3745