University of 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 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.
The Maine Graduate and Professional Center continues to perform: The $55 million investment in the University of 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 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. These programs come together in a new state-of-the-art building in Portland that, by design, will strengthen connections throughout Maine and its higher education community.

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