Celebrating our Community — May 5, 2025

Dear members of the University of Maine and University of Maine Machias communities,

As we begin finals week of the spring 2025 semester, and with commencement only a few days away, I am writing to thank everyone for all that you are doing.  

To the students: Your kindness, caring, and compassion for one another and those in your community make our institution the great place that it is. With all that you do to focus on your success and on obtaining your degree, together with the many ways in which you participate in our community (and special thanks to all who were a part of last week’s service events), you are models. Even as you face anxiety, challenges, and disappointments, you show us how to persevere, to adapt, to carry on—and quite importantly, to have fun.

For our faculty, in what for many is a very demanding time, I am encouraged that you continue to put the academic success and well-being of our students first. You are continuing your teaching, research and scholarship, and public engagement with professionalism and grace in the face of major professional and personal uncertainties. And that too makes UMaine what it is—an R1 university committed to student learning. 

Our staff, who represent so many different departments, organizations, and groups, bring an extraordinary set of talents, skills, and institutional knowledge that keep this university running. From the steam plant to the hockey arena, from labs and classrooms to residence halls, in so many other venues in Orono and Machias and across the state, your dedication and pride in your work matter to everyone.

The past few months have been difficult for many members of our community, affecting them in countless, serious ways.  I want to thank several groups for their continued, exemplary leadership, including the Faculty Senate, Faculty Assembly, the President’s Cabinet+, deans, research center and institute directors, undergraduate student government, graduate student government, and the Office of Connections and Community. I appreciate your understanding of the complexity of our situation, your practical and principled approaches to it, and the countless hours, often at night and on weekends, you devote to UMaine’s flourishing.

For this week, to the extent we can, let’s celebrate our more than 2,600 graduates for the great accomplishment of earning a University of Maine or UMaine Machias degree. Congratulations!

Sincerely,

Joan Ferrini-Mundy
President
University of Maine and the University of Maine at Machias