Carnegie Foundation Names UMaine's Strong 2007 Maine Professor of the Year - UMaine News

UMaine Alert

Posted: April 19, 2024 - 1:32 PM

At approximately 9:24 a.m. on Friday, April 19, a University of Maine graduate student was struck by a university vehicle on Long Road at the University of Maine campus in Orono. The student reports that they are at a local hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services, including the Orono Fire Department, University Volunteer Ambulance Corps, University of Maine Police Department, Orono Police Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

The university vehicle involved in the incident was a Chevrolet Express van. It was being operated by a university employee.

Counseling services and support are available for students, faculty or staff who may have been affected. The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and the Dean of Students Office can be reached at 207-581-1406.

The scene has been cleared and Long Road is now accessible. An investigation is being conducted by the University of Maine Police Department with assistance from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Unit. Any witnesses to the incident are encouraged to contact Lt. Noel Santiago at noel.santiago@maine.edu.

Carnegie Foundation Names UMaine’s Strong 2007 Maine Professor of the Year

November 16, 2007 Archives

Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571

ORONO — Robert A. Strong, a University of Maine professor of finance, has been selected as the 2007 Maine Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE.)

Established in 1981, the Professor of the Year award is the only national program that recognizes undergraduate professors for outstanding commitment to their students, educational institutions, profession and communities.

“Obviously I am very pleased with this honor,” says Strong, “but there is a certain amount luck involved, after all, considering that there are so many other people out there qualified to win it.”

Maybe so. But for Matthew Rossignol’s money, none of them could be more deserving than his former business professor and mentor.

“There is no one, in my opinion, more worthy of this honor than Dr. Strong,” says Rossignol, who received his undergraduate degree in business administration in May 2007 and now works for State Street Global Markets in Boston. “His commitment to excellence in teaching, on a personal level, has inspired me to achieve a career in finance that I would not have been been able to do otherwise.”

Strong, winner of the 2005 Distinguished Maine Professor Award, earned an engineering degree at the United States Miltary Academy at West Point, a master’s in business administration from Boston University and a Ph.D in finance from Penn State. Now in his 24th year at UMaine, the highly regarded finance professor is convinced that campus life trumps the private sector as an outlet for his abundant energy and passion.

“Everything’s a tradeoff,” says Strong, an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys sea-kayaking and fly-fishing, “but I’ve found that academics is the best job in the world for me. I like teaching very much, I like writing textbooks and I also enjoy the public service part.”

Strong’s scholarly output is voluminous and far-reaching. He has written more than 75 articles for business journals, many of them about his teaching methods, and books on a variety of financial topics. His three textbooks are used in more than 100 universities around the world.

Over the years, he has generously shared his considerable financial and investment prowess with many private an not-for-profit boards in the region, and is in demand as an expert witness and consultant.

“Bob’s strong leadership in the business community and service in the nonprofit world complement his significant contributions to academic teaching and research,” says Jim Conlon, president and CEO of Bangor Savings Bank, which has benefitted from Strong’s involvement there as trustee, foundation director and advisor. “His expertise, dedication and ethics make him a professional colleague and decision maker of absolute first rank.”

The license plate on Strong’s car reads BUA 353 — a cryptic message to most people roaming the UMaine campus, perhaps, but instantly recognizable to students of the Maine Business School. The plate refers to Strong’s undergraduate investment strategy course, the biggest class he teaches and one of the most thought-provoking.

“It’s a class that sparks their interest,” says Strong, who is the University of Maine Foundation Professor of Investment Education. “People are naturally interested in the topic, because everyone is going to wind up investing money in their lives, whether it’s a 401K at work or whatever. The class really gives them ideas.”

In 1993, Strong, working with the University of Maine Foundation, started a club that has allowed 30 to 40 students a year to put some of those ideas to the test by acting as real-money portolio managers for UMaine Foundation funds. The Student Portfolio Investment Fund, or SPIFFY, has since increased its original $200,000 allotment to more than $1.2 million today.

Because of its success, SPIFFY has become an ideal adjunct to Strong’s investment class and an ambitious, student-driven model for other universities. A contingent of SPIFFY students also travels to New York City each year, where they mingle with Wall Street investment pros and witness firsthand the frenzy and clamor of the stock exchange at work.

Rossignol, SPIFFY president in his senior year, calls his investment club involvement “the most positive and worthwhile experiences of my UMaine career.”

“The opportunities Bob makes for his students are invaluable,” says Todd Saucier, president and executive director of the UMaine Alumni Association. “He provides a solid basis for their growth and is continuously cultivating their minds and whetting their appetites about the world of finance.”