Student sustainability journal launch celebration May 4 at Hudson Museum

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.

April 28, 2017 Climate Change, Outreach, Signature and Emerging Areas, Sustainability Solutions and Technologies

Spire banner The inaugural edition of “Spire,” an online journal of conservation and sustainability based at the University of Maine, will be launched Thursday, May 4.

A public celebration with food and beverages will mark the occasion 6–8 p.m. May 4 in the Hudson Museum at the Collins Center for the Arts.

The Maine Woods National Park Photo-Documentation Project, which has photographs in “Spire: The Maine Journal of Conservation and Sustainability,” will have more on exhibit at the celebration and at the museum through June 30.

The student-produced journal seeks to promote awareness-raising dialogue to unite Maine communities to effect positive environmental change.

Kaitlyn Abrams, editor-in-chief, says her experience with “Spire” has been transformative.

The graduate teaching assistant in the UMaine Department of English, wanted to be a fiction writer when the project commenced in December 2015. But next fall, Abrams will be attending Oxford University to earn a master’s degree in nature, society and environmental governance.

“It’s been an extremely rewarding experience professionally and personally,” says Abrams. “‘Spire’ is a great platform — it invites others to join the conversation and gives young people a chance to help shape the future.”

Dan Dixon, sustainability director and a research assistant professor with the Climate Change Institute, is faculty adviser of “Spire.”

Along with the rest of the editorial team, Dixon, Abrams, and a number of contributing authors and artists will attend the May 4 celebration.

Colby Fogg, a new media major, created the cover art and has several other designs in the journal.

In addition to photographs and other pieces of art, “Spire” features work from the fields of biology and ecology, folklore, climate science, English, graphic design, nursing and forest resources.

Abrams says the multidisciplinary perspective strengthens the journal.

“We all live here and we all have a stake in this effort to address the shared challenges we face,” she says.

Abrams visited Dixon at the end of the fall 2015 semester to share her idea for creating such a journal. “It doesn’t exist yet…but it could,” she remembers saying.

She and Dixon then formed an advisory board and invited students to join the online journal’s editorial team. Abrams and other “Spire” staffers then reviewed multiple student and community submissions with environmental, conservation and sustainability themes.

As of May 4 the journal will exist online. Abrams says she’s proud and excited to see it continue to flourish.

People statewide interested in submitting articles, essays, data, artwork, photography or poetry with an environmental, conservation or sustainability theme are invited to visit umaine.edu/spire/submit.