{"id":37,"date":"2020-10-19T10:38:58","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T14:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.umaine.edu\/tranforms\/?page_id=37"},"modified":"2026-03-13T09:52:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T13:52:27","slug":"impact","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/impact\/","title":{"rendered":"Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1091  aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/591\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-1-300x160.jpg\" alt=\"Harold Alfond statue with foliage.\" width=\"799\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/591\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-1-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/591\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-1-1024x546.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/591\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-1-768x410.jpg 768w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/591\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-1-105x56.jpg 105w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/591\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-1-317x169.jpg 317w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/591\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-1-423x226.jpg 423w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/591\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-1-634x338.jpg 634w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/591\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-1-846x451.jpg 846w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/591\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-1-951x507.jpg 951w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/591\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-1-1268x676.jpg 1268w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/591\/2025\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-Design-1.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 85vw, (max-width: 768px) 67vw, (max-width: 1024px) 62vw,799px\" \/><br \/>\nThe vision and leadership of Harold Alfond and the Harold Alfond Foundation have transformed the University of Maine campus and its statewide mission as Maine\u2019s land grant university. UMaine is the state\u2019s only public research university and <a href=\"https:\/\/goblackbears.com\/\">NCAA Division I athletics program<\/a>. Over many years, investments by Harold Alfond and the Harold Alfond Foundation have strengthened those distinctions to benefit Maine and beyond.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Athletics<\/strong>: Generous capital investments and operating support in UMaine athletics, particularly the football and men\u2019s ice hockey programs, have had a major impact. Harold Alfond Sports Arena and Harold Alfond Stadium are preeminent facilities on campus, serving student-athletes and Black Bear Nation fans, and countless numbers of community members. Most recently, the Alfond Fund launched a new chapter in Black Bear annual fundraising.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Infrastructure<\/strong>: Harold Alfond himself gave $3.8 million to UMaine, beginning with his $500,000 gift for Alfond Arena.<\/p>\n<p>Alfond Arena, Alfond Stadium, Alfond W<sup>2<\/sup> Ocean Engineering Lab, and Alfond Advanced Manufacturing Lab for Structural Thermoplastics are named in honor of Harold Alfond and the support of the Harold Alfond Foundation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Academic Excellence<\/strong>:\u00a0Harold Alfond Foundation investments also made history with the establishment of the prestigious Stephen E. King Chair in Literature in honor of UMaine\u2019s preeminent alumnus.<\/p>\n<p>Harold Alfond Foundation investments in UMaine innovation and research include significant contributions to establish the Alfond W<sup>2<\/sup> Ocean Engineering Lab and the Alfond Advanced Manufacturing Lab for Structural Thermoplastics, both at the internationally recognized Advanced Structures and Composites Center. Both laboratories support cutting-edge research and provide hands-on educational opportunities for tomorrow\u2019s workforce.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Investing in Maine&#8217;s Future<\/strong>: A challenge grant to the University of Maine System established the Portland-based Maine Graduate and Professional Center, which brings together programs in law, business, policy, and public health to train the workforce of the future and grow Maine\u2019s economy. This center is critical to offering UMaine\u2019s nationally recognized MBA degree statewide and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>The Harold Alfond Foundation created a leadership endowment fund in the University of Maine System to enable the University of Maine to compete nationally for a top-tier president and to help incentivize a long-term commitment to the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The vision and leadership of Harold Alfond and the Harold Alfond Foundation have transformed the University of Maine campus and its statewide mission as Maine\u2019s land grant university. UMaine is the state\u2019s only public research university and NCAA Division I athletics program. Over many years, investments by Harold Alfond and the Harold Alfond Foundation have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-37","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"kirby","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/author\/kirby\/"},"comment_info":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1096,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37\/revisions\/1096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/transforms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}