Pam Morgan receives Gulf of Maine Council Visionary Award

Melissa Luetje, Pam Morgan and Leia Lowery received their award during a ceremony in Nova Scotia
Melissa Luetje, Pam Morgan and Leia Lowery received their award during a ceremony in Nova Scotia

Pam Morgan, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Environmental Studies, was recently presented a Gulf of Maine Council Visionary Award.

The awards recognize innovation, creativity and a commitment to promoting a healthy Gulf of Maine.

Morgan, Leia Lowery of the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust and Melissa Luetje of Kennebunk High School were recognized for their leadership in the Gulf of Maine Community-Based Stewardship Initiative. The initiative is a Gulf of Maine Institute program that pairs interdisciplinary classroom learning with outdoor, hands-on, locally significant projects.

Through the initiative Morgan, Lowery and Luetje created Gulf of Maine Studies, an innovative new course that brings high school and university students together to work on a project. The collaborative pilot project investigated the feasibility of converting the Goat Island lighthouse from being dependent on the grid to being capable of running off of alternative energy.

Thirty Kennebunk High School students and 15 University of New England students were enrolled in the program and received college credit.

The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, created in 1989 by the governments of Maine, Massachusetts, New Brunswick, New Hampshire and Nova Scotia, works to foster environmental health and community well-being throughout the gulf watershed.

Pam Morgan and students install a monitor on Goat Island to collect wind data
Pam Morgan and students install a monitor on Goat Island to collect wind data

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.