1,908 Graduate at UMaine’s Largest Commencement
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571
ORONO — An estimated 12,000 people — graduates, family members and friends — filled the University of Maine’s Harold Alfond Stadium under a cloudless sky this morning, as degrees were awarded to 1,908 members of the Class of 2004. The commencement ceremony was the 202nd, and the largest, in UMaine’s history.
Michele Montas, a broadcast journalist and Haitian patriot who graduated from UMaine in 1968, returned to her alma mater to deliver the commencement address. She recalled 1964, when she left Haiti, which she called “a land of turbulence, fear and repression,” to begin studies at UMaine.
“Being forced to adapt to a new culture gave me a wide perspective on my own society and, above all, on myself,” she said.
Montas began at UMaine as a pre-med student, but quickly determined that journalism would be her calling and that she would return to her homeland to work in that field. She told the graduates about her life with her late husband and fellow journalist Jean Dominique, whom she compared to Prometheus, the mythical hero who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mortals.
“We chose to report the news, and we never looked back,” she said. “For 30 years, we paid a heavy price in a country that has been infused with political violence since its inception 200 years ago after the bloody overthrow of French imperialism. We were arrested, harassed, and forced into exile under various dictatorial regimes.”
In April 2000, Dominique was assassinated as he was arriving for work at Radio Haiti International, which he and Montas had established as the leading Haitian voice for credible news coverage. Following Dominique’s murder, Montas kept broadcasting, working with other reporters to draw attention to the assassination and other “unpunished crimes.” Fifteen months ago, after the assassination of her bodyguard during an attempt on her life, Montas closed Radio Haiti International and moved to New York. From there, she continues to work to bring her husband’s killers to justice. She reflected today on the journey that she and her husband took together.
“In choosing the road we followed, Jean and I shared the wonderful exhilaration of knowing that what we did mattered. It mattered to us. It mattered to thousands of others. We saved lives. We galvanized efforts. We nurtured solidarity. We fostered hope by simply doing our job,” she said.
Montas compared the “fire that Jean stole from the gods” to the fire that education has lit in today’s graduates.
“If you look inside yourself, that small flame is there,” she said, “of daring to be different, of daring to accept the differences of others, of daring to dream big dreams, beyond the comfort and security of a job, a house and a car, of daring to be free, beyond what your parents and friends expect of you, beyond Madison Avenue’s advertising messages that try to define your needs, your desires and even your identity.”
UMaine President Peter Hoff presided over the ceremony, during which each of the graduates was recognized individually. Of the degrees awarded, 467 were graduate degrees, 26 of which were doctorates.
Four honorary doctorates were presented at the ceremony. Montas received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree, as did National Public Radio correspondent and 1979 UMaine graduate Brian Naylor. Honorary doctor of science degrees were given to former Maine State Geologist Walter Anderson and to Robert Kates, a pioneering scientist in the study of the relationship between humans and the environment.
Prof. Eric Landis of the UMaine Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the winner of the UMaine Alumni Association’s 2004 Distinguished Maine Professor Award, addressed the graduates and discussed the need for graduates to take with them a lifelong love of learning.
“What this means is that if we have all done our jobs, you should have a thirst for knowledge that is unquenchable,” he said. “I submit to you that this is not merely an academic nicety, but a necessity for an active and productive future.”
UMaine’s valedictorian and salutatorian, both of whom hail from Hancock County, were recognized during the ceremony by President Hoff.
Brittney Lee Astbury of East Orland is the Class of 2004 valedictorian. She graduated with degrees in Communication Sciences and Disorders and in Elementary Education, along with an interdisciplinary concentration in disability studies. Amy Elizabeth Mickel of Sorrento, a Kinesiology and Physical Education major, is the class salutatorian.
Jeffery Mills, UMaine’s vice president for advancement and president of the UMaine Alumni Association, welcomed the new graduates to the ranks of the 90,000 living UMaine alumni. University of Maine System Board of Trustees member William D. Johnson brought greetings from that board.