Four students onstage and in costume during a theatrical performance
The College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHS) is the public liberal arts college of Maine’s cultural and professional center. We offer our diverse community of learners a high quality, affordable education with opportunities for engaged research, scholarship, and creative activity under the mentorship of a distinguished faculty. Our strong liberal and fine arts programs provide the heart and soul of the undergraduate experience at the University of Southern Maine.
Two students onstage during a theatrical performance

Theatre at USM

Through a wide-ranging production season, inter-disciplinary collaborations, community and school outreach, and interactive theatre experiences, the USM Department of Theatre contributes to the rich cultural, creative, and artistic life of the greater Portland area and the state of Maine.

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Student playing piano alone in classroom with blackboard behind them

School of Music

The School of Music offers a personalized and opportunity-based approach to educating musicians, featuring a faculty of distinguished performers, teachers, scholars, and mentors.

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photo inside the Art Gallery. LArge hanging double helix sculpture in the foreground, two large starfish sculptures hanging on the wall in the background, and two framed works hanging on the wall in the background.

The Art Gallery

The Art Gallery serves the most diverse population of any Maine institution of higher learning, and it is known for its rich blend of contemporary art exhibitions, lectures, events, and Artist-in-Residence community projects.

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Student writing at picnic table outside with fall foliage in the background

Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing

The Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing is one of the nation’s most diverse, exciting, and rigorous low-residency MFA programs.

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Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts

This Center features lectures, workshops, panel discussions and exhibitions that celebrate the innovative and engaging nature of book arts.

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News

List view
Salena Goodine dressed in character as the Witch of the West at the listening party for "The Wizard of Oz" radio play.

November 5, 2024

Listening party transports Oz fans over the rainbow
Dr. William Paris from the University of Toronto was the speaker for the second installment of the Louden Lecture Series.

October 31, 2024

An emancipation proclamation for the modern age
Hailey Gagnon plays Dorothy with wide-eyed wonder during a rehearsal for the "The Wizard of Oz" radio play.

October 21, 2024

Brains, heart, courage: New ‘Wizard of Oz’ radio play has it all
Headshot of Kat Zagaria Buckley

September 11, 2024

Kat Zagaria Buckley published an article in the Boston Art Review on PMA Exhibition.
Among the dozens of papers that were pulled out of the Academy Building's walls during a renovation project was this drawing.

August 29, 2024

Renovation project opens a time warp to campus life in the 1800s
Rising Exhibition Poster featuring sculpture detail by BFA student, Katie Riley

August 23, 2024

BFA student, Katie Riley, exhibiting sculpture in “Rising” Exhibition at Portland Gallery, 82 Paris.