Maryann Hartman Awards will celebrate inspiring Maine women March 25
The University of Maine Alumni Association and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGS) program will honor three distinguished Maine women with Maryann Hartman Awards at a 5 p.m. ceremony on March 25.
The virtual event will celebrate 2020 recipients Sharon Barker, retired director of the University of Maine’s Women’s Resource Center, Penobscot Nation Ambassador Maulian Dana of Old Town, and executive director of the Maine Hospice Council Kandyce Powell of Wiscasset. All are UMaine alumnae.
Program highlights include performance of two selections by the a capella singing group UMaine Renaissance; recorded remarks from Gov. Janet Mills, who received a Hartman Award in 2016 following her appointment as Maine’s first woman Attorney General; a live video welcome from University of Maine System Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation and University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy; and a synchronous Zoom panel discussion featuring the 2020 awardees talking about inspiration, engagement, the qualities women bring to leadership and how UMaine prepared them for professional success.
Mary Cathcart, who received a Hartman Award in 2006 and was recently honored with Maine NEW Leadership’s Minerva Award, will share her reflections on the Maryann Hartman Awards prior to moderating the panel discussion.
The Maryann Hartman Awards, named for the late UMaine associate professor of communication, have recognized Maine women’s achievements in arts, politics, business, education and community service since 1986. Maryann Hartman (1927–1980) was a distinguished educator, feminist, scholar and humanitarian. Due to the pandemic, no awards will be made in 2021.
Claudia Cummings, who graduated from UMaine in 2020 and is now enrolled in a master’s program in the School of Social Work, will also be recognized during the ceremony with the 2020 Sharon Barker Student Activism Award. This award, named for the retired director of the Women’s Resource Center and 2020 Hartman Award recipient, honors a current UMaine student or student organization that exemplifies a deep commitment to social change. The activism award was introduced by WGS in 2019.
More information and a registration link for the celebration are online.
To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Aysha Vear, 207.581.1146.