Maine Graduate and Professional Center


$55 million in investment and a challenge to raise an additional $50 million to support scholarships, integrated program development across business, law, and policy and engineering, computing and information sciences with a state-of-the-art building to host Maine Center programs and Maine Law.

The Maine Graduate and Professional Center brings us together: A vibrant, growing Maine economy needs a critical mass of leaders who are connected, highly prepared, and focused on the knowledge economy. The Maine Center is helping build a dynamic education and workforce development community in the state through innovation and experiential learning delivered through clinics, practicums and internships. The result is stronger ties across the globe to any place where workers who are pursuing opportunities with Maine-based projects, our employers, and educational institutions reside.

The Maine Graduate and Professional Center is building: The UMS TRANSFORMS Maine Center initiative is being led by Maine Law President and Dean Leigh Saufley (lead), USM President Jacqueline Edmondson (co-lead) and UMaine School of Business Executive Dean Jason Harkins. With focused coordination, they work with the team at Maine Center Ventures, faculty, donors, and workforce partners to build a global brand and reach for University of Maine System graduate business, law, and policy, along with engineering, computing, and information sciences. 

The Maine Graduate and Professional Center continues to perform: The $55 million investment in the Maine Graduate & Professional Center follows on prior gifts from the Harold Alfond Foundation to advance curriculum innovation, real-world relevance, and stronger connections among educators and employers. 

The Maine Center delivers integration and innovation: Professionals and business leaders must work with teams and across disciplines to advance projects and pursue opportunities. Graduate and professional education must deliver the same integration to meet the needs of employers and serve students seeking to upgrade their skills and opportunities for career and leadership development.


New UMaine program offers leadership training to executives statewide

Portland – The Maine Business School and Graduate School of Business at the University of Maine announced that it has launched an accelerated, four-month leadership development program called Build a Better Maine 2023 for emerging business leaders from some of the state’s more prominent organizations. The training sessions are designed to help attendees develop their leadership skills and foster the creation of a peer/mentor network. The leadership program is offered as part of the Maine Graduate and Professional Center, a signature initiative of the Harold Alfond Foundation’s historic $240 million investment in the University of Maine System (UMS) as part of UMS Transforms. The program is designed to provide leaders with the skills needed to solve the most pressing global and local challenges, and to strengthen Maine’s economy and workforce.

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University of Maine School of Law, collaborators celebrate grand opening of new campus in downtown Portland

January 12, 2023
 
PORTLAND, ME — Aspiring attorneys began their classes in the new home of the State’s only law school this week, which is co-located with academic and public service programs from the University of Maine System (UMS) and the University of Southern Maine that will foster interdisciplinary learning in support of state workforce needs. Maine Governor Janet Mills and UMS Chancellor Dannel Malloy cut the ribbon on Maine Law’s new home at 300 Fore St. in Portland on Thursday evening, January 12. On Tuesday, January 17, the school welcomed students into their new classrooms for the start of the spring semester.