Calendar of Events

University of Southern Maine Men's Track and Field vs NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships - Hosted by University of Wisconsin-La Crosse - Paradis (SP): 4:00 PM
2026-05-22 16:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | La Crosse, WI, La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States
University of Southern Maine Men’s Track and Field vs NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships – Hosted by University of Wisconsin-La Crosse – Paradis (SP): 4:00 PM
No Team Score
Streaming Video: https://www.ncaa.com/event/4798

An Evening of Franco-American Stories
2026-05-22 18:00 - 19:00 | Franco-American Collection — LAC, 51 Westminster St, Lewiston, ME, 04240, United States
Join Bates College’s “Short Term Practicum in Community-Engaged Audio Storytelling” students for an evening of curated audio stories from the Franco-American Collection and recently recorded oral history interviews. Led by instructor Galen Koch, students in this practicum course learned how to conduct an oral history interview, research in existing archives, and work with a group to curate a cohesive exhibit of edited audio stories. Each student interviewed community members as recommended by Anna Faherty at the Collection and their interviews will join the archive as valuable first person accounts.

(CANCELLED) Rosetta
2026-05-22 19:00 - 20:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Join the comet discoverer Klim Churyumov in the story about the origins of the Solar System and life on Earth. Meet the challenges of a 10 year long mission with Rosetta spacecraft and the “Philae” lander. Become the first one to find oneself on the comet surface!

Rosetta
2026-05-22 19:00 - 20:00, 2026-05-23 13:00 - 14:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States

USM CubeSat Design Competition - Launch Day at UMF
2026-05-23 09:00 - 12:00 | University of Maine Farmington, 224 Main St, Farmington, 04938, United States
The culminating event of the 6th Annual University of Southern Maine CubeSat Design Competition will take place on Saturday, May 23rd, at the University of Maine Farmington. Middle & high school teams from across the state have spent the spring semester building CubeSats – small, cubic satellites. These CubeSats were designed to meet 1 of 4 engineering challenges (remote sensing, radiation shielding, seed drop, and cricket survival pod), and they will be tested at this event through a high-altitude balloon launch.
We’re excited to celebrate the accomplishments of our students this year!

University of Southern Maine Women's Track and Field vs NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships - Hosted by University of Wisconsin-La Crosse - Reitchel (JT): 3:00 PM
2026-05-23 15:00 - 18:00 | La Crosse, WI, La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States
University of Southern Maine Women’s Track and Field vs NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships – Hosted by University of Wisconsin-La Crosse – Reitchel (JT): 3:00 PM
Streaming Video: https://www.ncaa.com/event/4799

Bilingualism & Heritage Language Maintenance: A Community Class with Dr. Jeanne Heil
2026-05-25 17:30 - 18:30, 2026-06-01 17:30 - 18:30 | Franco-American Collection — LAC, 51 Westminster St, Lewiston, ME, 04240, United States
The Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine is proud to announce a free community class taught by USM professor Dr. Jeanne Heil. There is no fee for our programs, which are made possible by the Québec Delegation in Boston, Schooner Estates and the Hilton Garden Inn Auburn Riverwatch.
This community class discusses the challenges and opportunities of the maintenance of minority/heritage languages. Particular attention will be paid to minority/heritage languages in Maine, including but not limited to French. A minority language is any language used by a subset of a population in a region, and both monolingual and actively bilingual regions can have minority languages. Minority languages that reflect a family or community identity–such as those used by children of immigrants–are often referred to as heritage languages. The four sessions of the class will present and layer various perspectives on heritage languages: cognitive perspectives, social perspectives, and educational perspectives. The result is a shared knowledge base that highlights both what’s at stake for bilingual families and what’s necessary for language maintenance.
Jeanne Heil is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Southern Maine. Originally from Ohio, she studied Hispanic Linguistics and Bilingualism at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she worked for nearly a decade in their bilingualism and code-switching laboratory. She has been a faculty member at USM since 2017, teaching courses on introductory linguistics, second language acquisition, syntax, research methods, and Spanish. In 2021, she received both USM’s Faculty Senate Honors for Excellence in Teaching and the President’s Award for Achievement, and she has mentored four Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program students between 2018 and 2024. Jeanne’s research examines cognitive and linguistic perspectives on bilingualism, including second language acquisition and heritage language acquisition.
To register for this class, follow this link, or email Anna at anna.faherty@maine.edu: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKGOdMtmybE5apVNwJzXbsyQxLxbHXLF_6TCkqlUO1wDiCSg/viewform?usp=publish-editor
For more information, or if you have questions about disability access or need to request disability accommodations, please contact the FAC archivist, Anna Faherty, at anna.faherty@maine.edu or by phone (207) 753-6545. Requests should be made as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the accommodation process.

Little Draggy Adventure
2026-05-26 10:00 - 11:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Little Draggy Adventure:
Do you know where the earth lives? What surrounds it? How far is it from the Earth to the Sun, and what makes our planet different from the others? Take a wonderful journey with a cheerful dragon Woody, who travels around the Universe in search of fantastic adventures.

Natural Selection
2026-05-26 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-05-27 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-05-29 19:00 - 20:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Witness the thrill of scientific discovery by seeing the world through Darwin’s eyes, make observations of the most beautiful natural scenery and let the pieces of the scientific puzzle slowly but surely fall into place.
Natural Selection:

The Little Star That Could
2026-05-28 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-05-29 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-05-30 13:00 - 14:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
The Little Star That Could: A story about Little Star, an average yellow star in search of planets of his own to protect and warm. Along the way, he meets other stars, learns what makes each star special, and discovers that stars combine to form star clusters and galaxies.

One Sky
2026-05-29 15:30 - 16:30 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
One Sky: A series of seven short fulldome films and a compiled full-length feature film focusing on cultural and Indigenous astronomy. This international collaboration seeks to build cross-cultural connections and increase understanding of different indigenous perspectives while demonstrating how our one sky connects us all.

One Sky
2026-06-01 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-06-02 13:00 - 14:00, 2026-06-03 13:00 - 14:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
A series of seven short fulldome films and a compiled full-length feature film focusing on cultural and Indigenous astronomy. This international collaboration seeks to build cross-cultural connections and increase understanding of different indigenous perspectives while demonstrating how our one sky connects us all.

Rusty Rocket's Last Blast!
2026-06-02 10:00 - 11:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Join Rusty Rocket and his band of rocket rookies as they explore the solar system. Fly across Saturn’s rings, soar along a Martian canyon; delve deep into the solar interior!

Dark Matter Mystery
2026-06-04 08:00 - 17:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Dark Matter Mystery: We know today that approximately a quarter of the Universe is filled with a mysterious glue: Dark Matter. We know that it is out there. But we have no idea what it is made out of.

Einstein's Gravity Playlist
2026-06-04 08:00 - 17:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Einstein’s Gravity Playlist: The show explores ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves. Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves and a century later, scientists detected these waves using technology here on Earth

Earth's Wild Ride
2026-06-04 08:00 - 17:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Earth’s Wild Ride: Set on the Moon in the year 2081, a grandfather and granddaughter watch a solar eclipse from scenic cliffs overlooking their moon colony. Conversation leads to contrasts between the moon and the Earth.

Dinosaurs At Dusk
2026-06-04 08:00 - 17:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Dinosaurs at Dusk: A whirlwind time travel adventure back to the epoch of the dinosaurs! A larger than life extravaganza rife with roaring monsters from the ancient age

Dark Side Of Light
2026-06-04 08:00 - 17:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Dark Side of Light: The main goal of the show is to present that the phenomenon of light pollution really exists and how it affects not only us, but the entire ecosystem

Natural Selection
2026-06-04 08:00 - 17:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Natural Selection: Join Darwin on his voyage with the HMS Beagle to the Galapagos Islands where he was inspired to develop his later theory of transmutation by natural selection

Audio Universe: Tour Of The Solar System
2026-06-04 08:00 - 17:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Audio Universe: Tour of the Solar System: Objects in space are represented with rich sounds and incredible visuals. The audience can listen to the stars appear and hear the planets orbit around their heads.

Rusty Rocket's Last Blast!
2026-06-04 08:00 - 17:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Rusty Rocket’s Last Blast: Join Rusty Rocket and his band of rocket rookies as they explore the solar system. Fly across Saturn’s rings, soar along a Martian canyon; delve deep into the solar interior!

Wayfinders
2026-06-04 08:00 - 17:00 | Southworth Planetarium — Science Building, 70 Falmouth St, Portland, ME, 04103, United States
Wayfinders This program puts you on the deck of the voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa as you explore traditional Polynesian navigation. Learn how to read the stars and interpret the winds and waves to navigate without modern instruments.
