Our Top 10 Headlines of 2023

UNE researcher Will Kochtitzky, Ph.D., is part of a team that has shown for the first time how rapidly glaciers can lose mass and found that, in the worst case scenario, two out of three of the world’s glaciers could melt into the sea within the next century. Public News Service picked up the story, leading to successful coverage in Maine and across the nation. Learn more about the study

At a packed press conference in July, UNE and Cheyney University of Pennsylvania — the nation’s first historically Black university — announced an articulation agreement to provide a pathway for qualified Cheyney undergraduates to pursue a medical education at UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. Read more about the agreement

The Portland Press Herald, the state’s largest newspaper, as well as Yahoo! News reported on news that investigators from UNE and MaineHealth have received grant support to establish a comprehensive registry to track and better treat chronic pain, which affects millions globally and about 30% of all Mainers. Read the story behind the headlines

A $100,000 grant from the Maine Health Access Foundation is allowing UNE and its community partners to fund projects to encourage New Mainer youth to explore and seek out education in the health professions, with the goal of diversifying the health care workforce. Learn more about the grant that captured headlines on each of the state's major TV stations

Reporters flooded Girard Innovation Hall in September, as over 200 UNE volunteers came together to pack 50,000 meal kits for underserved communities across Maine. UNE’s own Trisha Mason, M.A., director of service-learning in the Westbrook College of Health Professions, went live with NEWS CENTER Maine amid the busy scene. UNE was just one of 10 schools nationwide to receive funding for the effort

A generous $2 million gift from the Judy Glickman Lauder Foundation to launch an innovative psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program garnered top placements in the Portland Press Herald and Maine Public, as well as international trades Becker’s Behavioral Health and Health Reporter. Learn how the program will bolster the state’s behavioral health workforce

In January, national media outlet Scripps News came to UNE’s Interprofessional Simulation and Innovation Center to learn more about our groundbreaking efforts to train nurses using virtual reality. The resulting story earned over 40 placements across the country, putting the spotlight on UNE’s innovations in health education. Learn how virtual reality is helping prepare students for the real world

Novel research involving sharks nabbed some of the top honors in our media mentions this year, including in Yahoo! News and Maine fishing trade The Working Waterfront. Reporters flocked to campus as researchers from UNE and the state deployed their second real-time shark detection buoy into the Gulf of Maine, and then again as UNE students pioneered a groundbreaking device intended to repel sharks from fisherman’s nets.

In February, UNE President James Herbert gave his second Congressional testimony about the dearth of workers in the health care workforce at the request of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The President’s testimony earned over 30 national media placements as well as an op-ed outlining his solutions to the problem. See the President’s plan to tackle the health workforce crisis

This lobster is not cooked. Peaches, a 1-in-30 million orange lobster, captured hearts everywhere when she arrived at UNE in June, garnering nearly 700 global news placements and an emphatic response on social media. Peaches has now taken up residence in the Girard Marine Science Center, where students and faculty are studying the genetic basis of her rare coloration. Meet Peaches