UNE Wrapped: The Stories That Defined The Year

Students came to campus (in record numbers); gathered with their friends; held dances, displays, and symposiums; excelled both on the field and on the ice; and mastered the deluge of assignments, exams, and extracurricular commitments. Faculty took their learning from the classrooms to the fields, forests, and waters of UNE’s reaches; led groundbreaking research initiatives; guided their students to success; and represented the University both in Maine and as far away as France, Kenya, Morocco, Italy, Ireland, and the far North.

The University of New England takes great pride in offering students real-word, experiential learning opportunities. Students in our Marine Sciences programs are a shining example of that, from planning and executing the deployment of Maine’s first real-time shark detection buoy to working with the state’s growing seaweed industry to make sure the harvesters’ products are safe to consume. The students are taking advantage of their coastal location by working on a comprehensive analysis of all the species inhabiting the waters off the Biddeford Campus, while keeping an eye on the future by readying UNE’s own Ram Island for future research projects. All those experiences can be invaluable when it comes to landing fulfilling jobs after graduation. Recent grads — including an attorney in marine affairs, a seaweed production manager, and a grant writer and fundraiser at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute — returned to campus to share their stories of how their UNE degrees helped them land careers in the field of marine sciences.

In addition to beginning the fall semester by welcoming its largest-ever class, UNE once again stood out as a leader in higher education, having been named to The Princeton Review's annual guide to “The 388 Best Colleges” for the eighth-straight year as well as The Princeton Review’s “Guide to Green Colleges” for the sixth. Both guides noted UNE’s excellence in supporting sustainable initiatives and providing a collaborative environment for students and faculty to engage in robust discourse. UNE also demonstrated its commitment to its mission, “Innovation for a Healthier Planet,” in hosting its first-ever Innovation Celebration — a string of events dedicated to new and noble efforts to better the planet through the health sciences, business, and design thinking. UNE also hosted its first University-wide Commencement since 2019, welcoming prominent social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who advocated for universities as places of free expression and open inquiry. UNE President James Herbert, in the publications University Business and Inside Higher Ed, also discussed UNE's commitment to being a marketplace of ideas and the need to challenge students’ beliefs.

While many UNE students feel engrained in their local community, their studies can take them around the world for once-in-a-lifetime experiences. For six years now, environmental studies professor Richard Peterson has been taking students to Africa for new perspectives on conservation and culture. Peterson was born and grew up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Now, he shares the wonders of his home continent with his students. For the first time ever, the Department of Physical Therapy sent students to the Caribbean to conduct their field work placements. In Belize, two students provided volunteer care for patients in and outside of the local clinic, educated the center’s employees about best practices in physical therapy, and made personal and professional connections with health professions students from across the entire globe. UNE aims to keep that global outreach going strong by partnering with schools in Maine and beyond to bring more international students to its campuses.