Highlights
Celebrating the Indigenous heritage of our community
To mark the beginning of a year-long engagement with regional Indigenous communities — and as a lead-in to Native American Heritage Month — we began our Convocation with a panel discussion including Native alumni. As a university, we’ll explore how to heal the wounds of colonialism and promote decolonization through academics, museums, artists, researchers, and social workers. Look for future events and activities on this topic in the coming weeks and months.
An engine of academic excellence
The U.S. News & World Report college rankings for 2021 are here! Out of 4,000 colleges and universities in the country — 1,500 in the northeast — the University of Southern Maine (USM) ranked as a top university for social mobility in the northern U.S. The strength of our undergraduate engineering program also earned recognition.
Student engineers help solve an urgent problem
The Portland Rotary Club recently approached assistant professor Asheesh Lanba to help build prototypes for a prosthetic arm that could withstand hot and humid climates — an urgent, real-world problem. Despite the pandemic, Lanba and his engineering students rallied to create a fully functional and cost-effective solution that exceeded expectations with the help of the 3-D printers in our Maker Innovation Studio.
Creating climate awareness through art
Alumnus Justin Levesque ’10 is one of three artists awarded funding from the National Endowment of the Arts to decorate a bus shelter in Portland, ME — and what better location than his alma mater. Levesque utilized visual clues to portray changes in the Arctic and along the Maine coast as a result of climate change in his permanent art installation.
Featured News & Events
Healthy Huskies
Detailed information regarding the re-opening of our university is available on a dedicated section of our website, Healthy Huskies, that is updated regularly. Find answers to frequently asked questions — from new and returning students to faculty and staff to community members — that cover all facets of our institution.
Make a direct impact on students and double the power of your giving
The Promise Scholarship Program is at the heart of our mission to widen access to a college degree for first-generation college students across the state of Maine. When you make a gift to this scholarship before the end of 2020, two generous donors will match it — dollar for dollar — up to $1,000,000! Help us step up to this challenge and fill a financial aid gap that allows deserving students to thrive at USM.
Connect with us: Visits & Online Experiences
While our in-person visits and campus tours are limited, there are still many dynamic opportunities for you to learn about our thriving academic community from home. Attend an informational webinar about our university or a specific academic program, schedule a one-on-one video chat with a current student or an admissions counselor, and more. We’re excited to connect with you!
President Cummings' "Stand Against Racism" statement
As a university, USM stands against racial injustices. We make a collective and individual call for accountability and justice. We bear witness to the precarity of black lives, both at the hands of individuals and at the hands of our systems and policies. We are angry, disgusted, and saddened. We stand in solidarity with everyone calling for an end to this legacy of racial violence. We remember that our ultimate calling is love.
Archiving signs of the times
History professor Libby Bischof is asking for help to crowd-source an online archive of COVID-19-related signage called “Signs of the Times: Documenting COVID-19 Signs in Southern Maine.” She wants to capture the pandemic as it unfolds so the archive can one day serve as a reminder for those who experienced it and as a slice of history for those who come later.
