Speaker Fecteau visits UMaine as Distinguished Maine Policy Fellow

Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau visited the University of Maine Feb. 18 for tours, discussions with students and a meeting with UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy as a Distinguished Maine Policy Fellow of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center. 

Since 2006, the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center has hosted distinguished policymakers from Maine as guests on campus for a day of interacting with students, faculty and administrators.

Speaker Fecteau, who represents Biddeford, was joined on the campus visit by House Majority Leader and UMaine alumna Michelle Dunphy of Old Town.

His visit included a roundtable with early childhood education majors at the Durst Child Development Learning Center, led by UMaine director Margo Brown. Speaker Fecteau has submitted legislation to strengthen and grow Maine’s early childhood workforce, including through wage supplements for early childhood educators (LD 1652), an initiative Gov. Janet Mills proposed funding in her recently released supplemental budget.

“It was wonderful to meet with Maine’s future early childhood educators. I consider them the workforce behind Maine’s workforce. Recruiting and retaining the child care professionals is one of the best investments we can make in our children and our communities,” said Speaker Fecteau.

Fecteau also was a special guest at the weekly meeting of Wilde Stein, part of the Rainbow Resource Center in the UMaine Division of Student Life. At his alma mater, Catholic Universityof America, Fecteau served as president of CUAllies, which supports equal representation and treatment of LGBTQIA+ students.

In addition, Fecteau toured the Advanced Manufacturing Center with Director John Belding, the Advanced Structures and Composites Center with Executive Director Habib Dagher and Foster Center for Innovation with Associate Vice President Renee Kelly. The Speaker also went on a site walk at the construction of Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center (EEDC), led by Dean Dana Humphrey. As a legislator, Fecteau has supported investments in career and technical education, including the state appropriation that helped make Ferland EEDC possible.

“I see great potential in UMaine’s Manufacturing Center’s progress on composite building materials that will contribute to making housing more affordable and energy efficient,” said Speaker Fecteau. “Maine needs many different kinds of solutions to the housing crunch we’re facing right now. The research that has gone into new Maine-made products for the construction industry is very exciting.”

“We appreciate Speaker Fecteau’s leadership and focus on public education and student success, and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” said President Ferrini-Mundy, who presented the representative with his commemorative plaque as a Distinguished Maine Policy Fellow.

Contact: Margaret Nagle, nagle@maine.edu