Before a standing-room-only crowd of faculty and staff, University of Southern Maine President Jacqueline Edmondson kicked off the 2024-2025 academic year with a message of thanks and hope.
“I thank you all for the work that you do, together and on behalf of our students, because that’s what it’s all about,” Edmondson began. “I am confident that this is going to be our best year yet.”
The heart of her message — people, learning and the future — was woven into her address.
“Just the other day, I was talking with a group of people about what a privilege it is to work in higher education. We have evidence of that here this morning,” Edmondson said. “We work with incredibly smart, talented people. I mean, where else in the world can you have a breakfast where you talk with people from cybersecurity, you learn about veterans affairs, you hear about geography and anthropology and chemistry and nursing and teacher education and music and art. And all of the things that are happening here: student affairs, public safety. It’s an incredible group of people that come together in higher education.
The breakfast meeting, a USM tradition, gathered faculty and staff from all three campuses into the Brooks Dining Hall. It is a singular event that gathers everyone in one place.
“We have the added benefit of really influencing the future, of thinking about our students and what’s going to come ahead for them,” Edmondson said. “And I thank you all for the work that you do together and on behalf of our students because that’s what this is all about.”
“One of my priorities in the year ahead is to work with all of you to connect with one another and build a stronger sense of community at our university,” she continued. “This is not something one person can do alone. It’s the responsibility of all of us. I ask you to find ways to connect with a new person or reconnect with someone you haven’t seen in a while. And I ask you to do this throughout the year. It may be as simple as taking a walk across campus to a different building and greeting the people who are there.”
President Edmondson was joined at the podium by Adam Tuchinsky, who moved to the role of Provost this summer. The former dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences introduced Wendy Chapkis, a longtime professor of Sociology and Women & Gender Studies, as the inaugural Presidential Scholar.
“Her work has influenced policy in Maine and beyond,” Tuchinsky said. “But what I may treasure the most is that she became a public intellectual, an oral and public historian and a filmmaker documenting the experience of her communities and your communities and making them accessible to wider audiences.”
“The most important thing about it was that it was research that was carried out with students at her side,” he said. “And to me, there’s no higher expression of the core elements of our academic vision.
And so Wendy, I would like to thank you for everything that you’ve done,” Tuchinsky said. “This is her last semester here at USM, but I know it isn’t her last semester in Portland, in USM, in our library, and in her discipline.”
In her address, President Edmondson set her sights on the future,
“That’s what education is about. It’s about preparing for what’s ahead and looking forward,” she said.
“We are turning a corner together. You may have seen the news this morning that our enrollments are up 2% for the fall. It’s the first time we’ve had an increase in enrollment since 2017. That’s an incredible accomplishment that is attributed to every single person in this room. Everyone has a responsibility for our enrollments, for our student retention and the experiences that are here. And I can’t thank you enough for that. We’re successfully working through difficult budgetary times. We ended fiscal year 24 with a slight surplus. Again, the first time since 2017. And we’re really proud and thankful for the hard work that went into that accomplishment.
“So thank you for that as well,” she said.