WVII (Channel 7) spoke with John Jemison, a soil and water quality specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and two members of the Black Bear Food Guild for a report about Maine’s high commitment to local foods. Jemison said people want to know what’s in their food and how it’s grown, and he has seen a lot of that interest in Maine. UMaine students and Black Bear Food Guild members Laura Goldshein and Lindy Morgan spoke about their work within the guild. The Black Bear Food Guild is a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program that is organized and managed by sustainable agriculture students and offers CSA shares to community members in an effort to increase accessibility to fresh, seasonal produce.
Archive for the ‘Outreach’ Category
Jemison, Black Bear Food Guild Members Talk to WVII About Local Foods
Wednesday, April 16th, 2014UMaine Volunteers Educate Brewer Students About Healthy Living, WVII Reports
Wednesday, April 16th, 2014WVII (Channel 7) reported the University of Maine was one of a few organizations to gather at the Brewer Community School to educate the students about healthy living during the school’s fifth annual health fair. The event included hands-on activities that covered topics such as bullying, fire safety and nutrition.
Pen Bay Pilot Reports on UMaine Extension Plant Orders, Pickup Sites
Wednesday, April 16th, 2014The Penobscot Bay Pilot reported the University of Maine Cooperative Extension is taking orders for highbush blueberry plants, asparagus crowns and strawberry plants until May 1. Plants will be available for pickup May 17 at various locations throughout the state, including the Knox-Lincoln Extension office in Waldoboro and the the Waldo Extension office in Waldo. Proceeds from the “Grow it Right!” sale go toward scholarships for UMaine Extension’s statewide Master Gardener Volunteer Program and fund statewide community-based horticulture projects.
Finding Home in Franco America
Tuesday, April 15th, 2014The Franco-American Centre and Franco American Studies program at the University of Maine will host the spring symposium “In and Out of Place: Finding Home in Franco America” April 25–26.
The series of free events, sponsored by the UMaine Humanities Initiative and le Ministère des Relations internationales, Francophonie et Commerce extérieur du Québec, will take place on the Orono campus from 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 25 until 6 p.m. Saturday, April 26.
“Questions of ‘home’ and of ‘place’ can walk a line between the public and private spaces that take shape for each of us as individuals and as community members,” says Jacob Albert, a research associate at the Franco-American Centre. “We’re really excited to offer a forum for some powerful writers and thinkers to address these kinds of universal questions that are especially important for thinking about cultural identity.”
Keynote speaker and Canadian author Clark Blaise will read from his work-in-progress, “The Kerouac Who Never Was,” from 5:15 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 25.
Blaise is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa where he was the director of the International Writing Program. He also is the founder of the post-graduate program in creative writing at Concordia University. He has written more than 20 books, including “I Had a Father: A Post-Modern Autobiography,” “The Meagre Tarmac” and the Pearson Prize-winning “Time Lord: Sir Sandford Fleming and the Creation of Standard Time.”
The symposium will feature readings from other acclaimed writers including Jane Martin, Ron Currie Jr., Rhea Côté Robbins and Steven Riel; panel discussions by scholars from New England and Canada on “Franco Elections, Activism and Public Opinion,” “Historical Reflections on Place and Identity,” and “Franco American Archives and Collections in New England;” and a screening of the film “Le grand Jack (Jack Kerouac’s Road: A Franco-American Odyssey)” directed by Herménégilde Chiasson.
For more information or to request a disability accommodation, contact Albert at jacob.albert@maine.edu or 207.581.3795. A full symposium program is available online.
This symposium features precisely the sorts of interdisciplinary perspectives on a topic of regional significance that the Humanities Initiative aims to promote,” says Justin Wolff, UMHI director and an associate professor of art history at UMaine.
The UMaine Humanities Initiative (UMHI), housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and established in 2010, advances the teaching, research and community outreach of the arts and humanities to enrich the lives of all Maine residents.
More information about the UMHI is online.
Contact: Elyse Kahl, 207.581.3747
Black Bear Food Guild Offering CSA Shares
Tuesday, April 15th, 2014The Black Bear Food Guild, a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program that is organized and managed by students in the University of Maine’s Sustainable Agriculture program, is offering CSA shares for the season.
In an effort to increase accessibility to fresh, seasonal produce for all members of the community, the Black Bear Food Guild is offering full, half and quarter shares. The 2014 season marks the first time the guild will be offering quarter shares, which are recommended for one person and an ideal choice for students. Quarter shares cost $175. Full shares are $475 and will feed four people, and half shares are $300 and will feed two people.
Shareholders can pick up produce each week at the university’s Rogers Farm. The guild’s season runs from mid-June through early October.
A limited number of shares are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Those interested in purchasing a share for the 2014 season should email the Black Bear Food Guild at blackbearcsa@gmail.com.
Since 1994, students have farmed two acres of MOFGA-certified organic vegetables and cut flowers on Rogers Farm. The farmers for the 2014 Black Bear Food Guild are Laura Goldshein, Lindy Morgan and Abby Buckland.
Media Cover World Languages Day at UMaine
Monday, April 14th, 2014WABI (Channel 5) and WVII (Channel 7) reported on the University of Maine’s celebration of World Languages Day. More than 100 area high school students attended the event that highlighted French and Spanish with traditional dance lessons, a campuswide scavenger hunt and a culture bowl competition. Danielle Beaupre, a lecturer in UMaine’s Department of Modern Languages and Classics, said the best way to learn a language is through immersion. “Getting to spend a whole day in the target language that they’re studying has been a great experience for them,” Beaupre said of the students. The UMaine Department of Modern Languages and Classics, The Canadian-American Center and the Foreign Language Association of Maine (FLAME) sponsored the event.
WABI Reports on Maine National History Day Competition at UMaine
Monday, April 14th, 2014WABI (Channel 5) covered the Maine National History Day competition held at the University of Maine. More than 300 students, teachers and chaperones from about 20 Maine middle and high schools gathered at the event to show off their exhibits, websites, documentaries and performances. National History Day (NHD) is an academic program that promotes critical thinking, research and presentation skills through project-based learning for students of all abilities. Students’ projects were judged, and the top two winners in each category became eligible to compete in the national contest in Washington, D.C. in June. A scavenger hunt with activities from a half dozen museums and history organizations, including a Civil War re-enactment group, also were offered to students.
UMaine Volunteers Teach Children about Nanotechnology, WABI Reports
Monday, April 14th, 2014WABI (Channel 5) reported volunteers from the University of Maine helped children celebrate NanoDays at the Maine Discovery Museum in downtown Bangor. The museum set up hands-on activities to help children understand small particles. Trudi Plummer, the museum’s education director, said there is a lot of nanoscience research happening at the the University of Maine, and the displays show children what can be done using nanoscience technology.
WABI Attends Bike Swap at UMaine
Monday, April 14th, 2014WABI (Channel 5) covered the Bicycle Coalition of Maine’s 14th annual Great Maine Bike Swap that was held at the University of Maine’s New Balance Student Recreation Center. More than 400 bikes, including road bikes, mountain bikes and unicycles, were on sale at the event.
The Free Press Advances Darling Marine Center Symposium
Friday, April 11th, 2014The Free Press reported on the upcoming symposium, “Maine and The Mortal Sea: Taking Stock of the Past, Present and Future of Our Living Sea,” to be held at the University of Maine Darling Marine Center (DMC) in Walpole on Saturday, April 26. Fishermen, historians, marine scientists, authors, students, economists and fisheries managers are expected to gather at the interdisciplinary event that is based on the award-winning book, “The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail,” by University of New Hampshire historian W. Jeffrey Bolster.
