Over 1,800 UMaine Degrees Awarded
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571
ORONO — Under a bright blue sky, 1,803 new University of Maine graduates received degrees during a morning commencement ceremony at Harold Alfond Sports Stadium. The university’s 201st commencement ceremony, it was attended by an estimated 11,500 family members and friends. This morning’s event is believed to have been the largest single gathering of people in the university’s history.
In his address to the graduating class, Gov. John E. Baldacci discussed the value of education and touted the opportunities that exist in Maine. Citing the examples of U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe and William S. Cohen, the former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Baldacci told the graduates to set their sights high.
“Take your diploma, this light of learning, this lantern of reasoning and carry it with you, so that people from other states and other regions can continue to see the leadership that comes from Maine,” he said.
Baldacci, who took office in January, earned a history degree from UMaine in 1986. He is the first UMaine graduate to serve as Maine’s governor since John Reed, a 1941 graduate who was in office from 1959-66.
UMaine President Peter S. Hoff presided over the ceremony, which marked a return to the traditional format of one annual commencement ceremony. UMaine did not hold a December commencement during this academic year. It was the third outdoor commencement ceremony at UMaine since Alfond Stadium opened in September of 1998.
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Richard Russo and Julia Watkins, the president of the American University in Bulgaria, were presented with honorary doctor of humane letters degrees.
Kevin Boyle, a Presque Isle native who graduated from UMaine in 1978, delivered the Celebration of Academia remarks. Boyle, a faculty member in the UMaine Dept. of Resource Economics and Policy, is the 2003 recipient of the University of Maine Alumni Association’s Distinguished Maine Professor Award.
Four valedictorians and four salutatorians were also recognized during the ceremony.
The valedictorians are Andrew Goupee, a mechanical engineering major from Orrington and Brewer High School; Kristen McGregor, a computer science major from South Berwick and Marshwood High School; Katie Nadeau, a zoology major (with a psychology minor) from Madawaska; and Jessica Sheldon, an Ecology and Environmental Sciences major (with a minor in mathematics) from Berwick.
The salutatorians are Heidi Crosby, a biochemistry major from Orono; Steven Fellows, a financial economics major from Rockland; Lisa Johnson, an International Affairs-Political Science major (with minors in history and economics), from Windham; and Amanda Reynolds, a music performance major (with a minor in German), of Searsport.
UMaine student Matthew Rodrigue, the student member of the University of Maine System Board of Trustees, delivered the greeting from the board. Bion Foster, chair of the board of directors of the University of Maine Alumni Association, welcomed the new graduates to the ranks of the 89,000 people who are UMaine alumni.