Maine Franco-American Studies Alliance

[version française]

Statement of Purpose, Common Ground Fair, Unity, Maine, 22 September 2001

Franco-American Studies has been established as a concentration at several campuses of the University of Maine System, as well as having been taught as independent courses or sections of courses at other campuses. Although established as an integral part of the University System, the logistical problems these programs face are sizable.

Maine is a large, diverse state, so our ability to communicate between ourselves and our communities is difficult. This is made more of a problem by the fact that our programs are newly established and greatly under-funded. There is also a lack of continuity. We often do not know what resources are available and feel that we are doing things that have already been done.

Our Maine Franco-American Studies Alliance (MFASA) is established so that the academics involved in these programs can aid each other in better developing Franco-American Studies in Maine. This cooperation can be addressed in several ways, including team-teaching, joint grant-writing, and information sharing.

Barry Rodrigue, (rodrigue@usm.maine.edu)

Lewiston Auburn College, University of Southern Maine.

Lisa Ornstein (ornstein@maine.edu) and Nicholas Hawes

University of Maine at Fort Kent.

Rhea Coté Robbins, (rjcr@aol.com)

University of Maine, Orono.

Susan Pinette (susan­_pinette@umit.maine.edu)

University of Maine, Orono.

Sylvie Charron (scharron@maine.edu)

University of Maine at Farmington.

Activities & Needs
Maine Franco-American Studies Alliance

1). Identify needs and assist each other in developing our programs.

2). Establish a Franco-American Studies website through the University of Maine System.

3). Work to have URSUS create a cataloguing link for various categories of Franco-American studies, including Acadian, French American, and others.

4). Participate in joint grant and funding project.

5). Things for which we need funding:

*Books
*Faculty development, course development, cross-discipline development, student development
*Conferences
*Scholarly activities
*Community reading program
*Translation of literature and academic materials into English

[version française]