Strategic Re-Envisioning Update — June 26

June 26, 2024 Strategic re-envisioning

Dear University of Maine and University of Maine at Machias colleagues,

This week I’m pleased to announce the individuals who will help us move the Strategic Re-envisioning (SRE) initiative forward. Thank you to Provost John Volin, Vice President for Finance and Administration and Chief Business Officer Kelly Sparks, and their teams for conducting interviews with a talented group of candidates. 

Sabrina DeTurk, lecturer in the Honors College, will lead the SRE initiative as the project director, and James Beaupre, director of industrial cooperation in the Office of Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Resources and Engagement (SPIRE), will serve as associate director. We added that role after considering an extremely competitive pool of candidates for project director. Sabrina and James will collaborate with key stakeholders, facilitate working groups, manage project timelines and foster an inclusive environment throughout the strategic re-envisioning. Thank you to both of them for their interest in taking on these roles and ensuring a vibrant future for UMaine. 

Our faculty and staff Provost’s Fellows are: 

  • Seth Campbell, associate professor of glaciology
  • Amanda Klemmer, Faculty Senate president and assistant professor of landscape ecology
  • Sharmila Mukhopadhyay, director of the Frontier Institute for Research in Sensor Technologies (FIRST) and professor of mechanical engineering
  • Jessica Riccardi, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders
  • Zachary Rockwell Ludington, associate professor of Spanish
  • Karissa Tilbury, associate professor of biomedical engineering
  • Meghan Wilson Duff, associate professor of psychology at UMaine Machias
  • Qiujie “Angie” Zheng, associate professor of business analytics
  • Laura Wilson, director of non-academic learning initiatives at Cooperative Extension
  • Tanya Pinkham, assistant director for development and administration at the Institute of Medicine 

These individuals will partner with senior administration to spearhead this critical initiative and explore academic leadership roles. 

Engaging individuals from across the university who serve in a number of capacities has been one of the primary goals of this process. This group does exactly that, representing a breadth of academic disciplines, colleges, and programs. 

As a reminder, you can visit the SRE website for additional updates as the work of this group progresses and submit your ideas here for consideration. I look forward to working with each of these individuals as we move this initiative forward. Thank you to all for your dedication to the university’s success. 

Sincerely,

Joan Ferrini-Mundy
President