University of Southern Maine > News

Summer Course Highlight!

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:15:40 +0000

Poverty, Homelessness, Foster Care and Learning (EPA 512)

This course, for teachers, administrators, and related service personnel, provides an interactive format for developing processes to support teaching and learning for students educationally at-risk due to poverty, homelessness, and foster care. Course participants will learn how to recognize and respond supportively to students in these situations, gain greater awareness of services and supports available in Maine, and learn strategies for integrating differentiated curriculum and instruction. Participants will also examine state and federal laws that impact school services and programs for these students and implications of these laws for school policies and procedures, as well as for the individual teacher and classroom.

Poverty, Homelessness, Foster Care and Learning (EPA 512) This course, for teachers, administrators, and related service personnel, provides an interactive format for developing processes to support teaching and learning for students educationally at-risk due to poverty, homelessness, and foster care. Course participants will learn how to recognize and respond supportively to students in these situations, gain greater awareness of services and supports available in Maine, and learn strategies for integrating differentiated curriculum and instruction.

Professional Development Center

Stonecoast Student Sheila Boneham to read at bi-annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:22:19 +0000

Stonecoast student Sheila Boneham (CNF S '13) will be reading "Chasm Familiaris" at the bi-annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Literature & Environment in Lawrence, KS, May 28-June 1.

"Chasm" is excerpted from a long narrative nonfiction WIP, that "blends elements of memoir, science, folklore, contemporary culture, and history...not to provide answers but to provoke thoughtful (re)consideration of our attitudes and actions as they may affect the future of Canis lupus familiaris, both the species and the warm muzzles in our hands."

Sheila's reading will be part of a panel called "Connecting with Canines: A Creative Nonfiction Reading."

http://asle.ku.edu/

Stonecoast student Sheila Boneham (CNF S '13) will be reading "Chasm Familiaris" at the bi-annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Literature & Environment in Lawrence, KS, May 28-June 1.

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Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing

School Ranking Re-Considered: Op-Ed article by Prashant Mittal

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:30:48 +0000

"The formula for calculating recent high school grades is a classic example of mediocre mathematics," states Mittal, faculty member in the USM School of Business and senior statistician in the Cutler Institute for Health and Social Policy.

In the May 20th issue of the Portland Press Herald, Mittal highlights the problems with the current grading system and offers a better alternative: a statistically sound and robust algorithm to rank and grade high schools.

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Cutler Institute for Health and Social Policy

Policy colloquia broadcast on MPBN Speaking in Maine

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:20:02 +0000

The Maine Public Broadcasting Network's Speaking in Maine has broadcast two health policy colloquia hosted by the USM Muskie School in April. You can listen to streaming versions of these broadcasts by clicking the audio links below. Video of the colloquia, as well as policy briefs created for the colloquia, are also available below.

Examining MaineCare’s Coverage Options Under the Affordable Care Act: Audio, Video, Policy Brief

Global Budgets, Payment Reform, and Single Payer: Understanding Vermont's Health Reform: Audio, Video, Policy Brief

The Maine Public Broadcasting Network's Speaking in Maine has aired two health policy colloquia hosted by the USM Muskie School in April.

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Cutler Institute for Health and Social Policy

Policy colloquia broadcast on MPBN Speaking in Maine

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:06:54 +0000

Examining MaineCare’s Coverage Options Under the Affordable Care Act: Audio, Video, Policy Brief

Global Budgets, Payment Reform, and Single Payer: Understanding Vermont's Health Reform: Audio, Video, Policy Brief

The Maine Public Broadcasting Network's Speaking in Maine has aired two health policy colloquia hosted by the USM Muskie School in April.

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Muskie School of Public Service

Muskie School Statistician and Business Faculty Member Responds to Maine School Grading System in the Portland Press Herald

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:34:01 +0000

On Monday, May 20, Prashant Mittal's op-ed "Lies, damned lies and (school ranking) statistics" was published in the Portland Press Herald.

The op-ed examines issues related to the formula used to calculate grades of high schools in Maine and recommends alternative solutions.

An excerpt:

"It wouldn't be unsafe to say that our education system in the United States is at least a couple of years behind systems in countries that are leading in education.

Our system needs a major jolt and revival to a new life. The new school grading in Maine is a step in the right direction, done with good intentions -- but, sadly, with a blindfold.

The formula for calculating recent high school grades is a classic example of mediocre mathematics."

Prashant Mittal can be reached at pmittal@usm.maine.edu

Prashant Mittal, statistician in the Muskie School and part-time faculty in the School of Business at USM, examines the math behind Maine's new school grading system.

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College of Management and Human Service

“Seven Drownings” by Michael Kimball, This Week on the Stonecoast Faculty Blog

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:22:10 +0000

Seven Drownings

by Michael Kimball

photo courtesy of Michael Kimball

I’ve never been afraid of water. I’ve been a swimmer all my life. Summer days, vacations, my earliest best memories are swimming, diving off my father’s shoulders on Lake Chaubunagungamaug, riding the waves with my mother at Hampton Beach. In my suburban Massachusetts town, I took swimming lessons and earned my Junior Lifesaver certificate before my voice dropped. I could out-dive my sister and out-distance my friends underwater. So I was surprised to discover how many people drown in my novels. Sometimes two or three per book. Plummeting, tumbling, sailing over bridge railings and ridge tops.

Faculty member Michael Kimball gives us insight into what he calls a "water-as-death motif” in his work, this week on the Stonecoast Faculty Blog.

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Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing

Huskies Head to NCAA National Finals! Win Seventh New England Baseball Title since 1989

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:44:20 +0000

The University of Southern Maine Huskies will play in the NCAA Division III National Finals in Appleton, Wisconsin. The eight-team, double-elimination tournament begins this Friday, May 24, with the Huskies opening the tournament playing Millsaps College at 10:00 a.m. CDT.

The Huskies beat Endicott College 9-0 Sunday afternoon to win their seventh New England baseball title since 1989, and advance to the NCAA National Finals.

USM lost to Endicott in the Regional Tournament's Game 11, 5-2, on Friday, May 17, but came back on Saturday to beat Western New England University, 7-0, to earn the right to play Endicott for the regional title. The Huskies, needing to win two games, beat the Gulls, 5-2, in Saturday's late game to force today's winner-take-all final.

In Sunday's regional title game in Harwich, Mass., junior left-hander Logan Carman (Newfields, N.H./Laurel Spring [Calif.] came back on three days rest to limit the Gulls to seven hits and one walk while fanning four for his record setting 12th win of the season against no losses. Carman had shared the record for most wins in a season (11) with Robert Aceto. Aceto set the previous mark in 1991 while leading the Huskies to their first NCAA title.

Senior Nick Grady (Whitefield, Maine/Erskine Academy) and junior Matt Verrier (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) paced the Huskies' 15-hit attack with three hits apiece. Grady's fourth-inning single was his 89th hit of the season setting a single-season record. Grady broke the previous mark of 88 hits set by former All-American Bob Prince in 1991. Grady now has 90 hits in 216 at bats (.417).

The USM Huskies will play in the NCAA Division III National Finals in Appleton, Wisconsin.

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Office of Public Affairs

Apply to Stonecoast Ireland - Deadline is May 22, 2013

Sun, 19 May 2013 16:42:59 +0000

Applications are being accepted until 22 May 2013 for the 16th Stonecoast in Ireland residency which will be held in Howth, County Dublin, from 16 to 23 January 2014. Any current student or alumni who is interested should contact Ted Deppe at theodore.deppe@maine.edu.

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Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing

Biology Student Chosen for Fellowship with Jackson Lab

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:12:28 +0000

Biology major, Jennifer Ditano, has been selected for a summer research fellowship at Jackson Lab in Bar Harbor, Maine. Jackson Lab is a world leader in molecular genetic analysis of human health. This will be Jennifer's third summer spent on Mount Desert Island. The past two summers she has been chosen to participate in the research fellowship program at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory. Jennifer hopes to go to a doctoral program in biology research after graduating from USM in two years.

Biology major, Jennifer Ditano, has been selected for a summer research fellowship at Jackson Lab in Bar Harbor, Maine. Jackson Lab is a world leader in molecular genetic analysis of human health.

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Department of Biological Sciences