Maine NEW Leadership Program Begins June 2
ORONO, Maine – The Maine NEW Leadership program, a University of Maine initiative that aims to educate and empower women to become civic and political leaders, will be held June 2-7 on the UMaine campus and also in locations in Augusta and Skowhegan.
Twenty-nine undergraduate college women from 18 different Maine institutions of higher education will participate in the intensive residential training program targeting the next generation of leaders. The nonpartisan program is offered through the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and is provided at no cost to participants.
Participants are accepted to the program through an application process and must be from Maine or attend college in Maine. This year, 29 accepted students are enrolled in UMaine and 17 other public and private colleges and universities, including two-year and four-year institutions, from around the state.
Designed to address the historic and contemporary under-representation of women in politics, the program offers participants interactive sessions on leadership development, networking, diversity training and the realities of holding public office. In addition, a trip to the State House — with a stop at Margaret Chase Smith’s home and library in Skowhegan — is on the agenda.
This year’s Maine NEW Leadership participants will hear from a variety of men and women in academic, municipal, legislative, nonprofit and other public and private leadership roles.
Laura Liswood, the secretary general of the Council of Women World Leaders, will give a keynote address at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 3 at the Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono. The council, which Liswood co-founded in 1996 with former Iceland President Vigdis Finnbogadottir, is comprised of women presidents, prime ministers and heads of government, and seeks to promote good governance and enhance the experience of democracy globally by increasing the number, effectiveness and visibility of women who lead at the highest levels in their countries.
Liswood is also a senior advisor to global investment firm Goldman Sachs.
NEW Leadership began in 1991 at the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey. UMaine joined the program’s national network in 2009.
Contact: Hon. Mary Cathcart, 207-944-1411 or mary.cathcart@umit.maine.edu; Jessica Bloch, 207-581-3777 or jessica.bloch@umit.maine.edu