Inauguration of President Ferrini-Mundy highlights week of activities

The inauguration of University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy is March 29, capping a week of events leading to the 10 a.m. ceremony in Hutchins Concert Hall at the Collins Center for the Arts.

In addition to an address by Ferrini-Mundy, other speakers at the inauguration ceremony are expected to be Gov. Janet Mills and France Córdova, director of the National Science Foundation.

Mills is the 75th governor of Maine and the first woman to hold the position. Prior to becoming governor, Mills served as Maine’s attorney general — also the first woman in that job.

Córdova, an astrophysicist, is president emerita of Purdue University, and chancellor emerita of the University of California, Riverside. She also served as vice chancellor for research and professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and as NASA’s chief scientist. As the 14th NSF director, Córdova oversees the only government agency charged with advancing all fields of scientific discovery; technological innovation; and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

Inauguration week begins with an installation ceremony for Ferrini-Mundy at the University of Maine at Machias, UMaine’s regional campus, beginning at 4 p.m. March 25 in Reynolds Gymnasium. In addition to an address by Ferrini-Mundy, the ceremony will feature remarks by Susan Corbett, director of National Digital Equity Center in Machias, and a performance by the Washington County Children’s Chorus.

Public receptions follow both the inauguration and installation ceremonies. To attend the events, RSVP online.

The UMaine celebration begins March 28 with a community breakfast at 7:30 a.m. in Wells Conference Center. That will be followed 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. by the President’s Ice Cream Social, especially for students, in the Memorial Union.

At 3 p.m. in Minsky Recital Hall, the symposium, “Fostering Learner Success at American Research Universities: Challenges and Opportunities” begins with a keynote address by Susan Singer, vice president for academic affairs and provost at Rollins College. Singer is a co-author of the American Association for the Advancement of Science report “Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action,” and chair of National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine committees that wrote the studies “America’s Lab Report, Promising Practices in STEM Undergraduate Education” and “Discipline-based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering.”

Singer’s address will be followed by a panel discussion of the same topic, with participants Elizabeth Allan, professor of higher education; Habib Dagher, Bath Iron Works Professor of Structural Engineering and director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center; Emily Haddad, professor of English, and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and Darren Ranco, associate professor of anthropology and chair of Native American Programs. The panel discussion and question-and-answer session will be facilitated by Jeffrey Hecker, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Culminating inauguration week will be a free public performance by University Singers beginning at 7:30 p.m. March 29 in Hutchins Concert Hall at the Collins Center for the Arts.

Contact: Margaret Nagle, 207.581.3745