University of New England

News   

The Newcomen Society to honor the University of New England
The Newcomen Society of the United States will honor the University of New England and its president, Sandra Featherman, Ph.D., with the prestigious Newcomen Award, at an awards ceremony on Friday, May 5, 2006 at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland.

Continuing in its 82-year-old tradition of recognizing organizations that have helped promote the American free enterprise system, The Newcomen Society will honor the University of New England as an example of academic and innovative excellence.

The Newcomen Society of the United States is a non-profit foundation that studies and supports outstanding achievement in American business and education. Formed in 1923 by L.F. Loree, chairman of the Eastern Railroad Presidents' Conference, together with a group of other prominent business leaders, The Newcomen Society promotes the American system of free enterprise. More Information

Political science Professor Ali Ahmida quoted in New Yorker story on Libya
Ali Abdullatif Ahmida, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Political Science Department, was interviewed at length and quoted for an article on Libya in the May 8, 2006 New Yorker.  In "Letter from Libya: Circle of Fire," a 17-page story, Andrew Solomon analyzes the contradictions between reform and hardline authoritarianism in Libyan politics and culture. Solomon flew to Portland last winter to interview Ahmida for several hours. Ahmida is quoted in the story, saying that Colonel Muammar Qaddafi "plays his biological son Seif el-Islam against his ideological son Ahmed Ibrahim." Ibrahim is the deputy speaker of the General People's Congress. The infighting helps Qaddafi moderate the pace of change.

Professor Ahmida was also profiled in the Biddeford-Saco-Old Orchard Beach Courier on April 27, 2006. The profile also highlighted Ahmida's new book, Forgotten Voices: Power and Agency in Colonial and Postcolonial Libya. Courier  Editor Eric Wicklund wrote that "Ahmida sees himself as the spokesman for the Libyan citizen, one who has been beaten down through the years, first by colonialism, more recently by nationalism, yet still strives to get along with the West."  More UNE in the News

Database Previews
The UNE Libraries are previewing a variety of databases from ProQuest. The databases are:

Pharmaceutical News Index (PNI)
NewspaperDirect PressDisplay
ProQuest Health Management
Hoover's Company Records
Gerritsen Collection--Women History Online, 1543-1945
Evidence Matters
ProQuest 5000
MyiLibrary

For descriptions and access to these databases, please visit /library/whatsnew/testdb.asp Please send any comments about these or other test databases to library@une.edu

Events

UNE exhibits 'Everyday Still-Lifes' by Betsey Mahoney
Watercolors inspired by everyday objects and landscapes are on display now through May 31 in the Campus Center Gallery on the University Campus.

A self-taught watercolor painter, Betsey Mahoney of Kennebunk has been painting since she was ten years old. According to Mahoney, her work taps into the inspiration of the world around her, from the changing landscape outside her window to the everyday still-lifes found in her kitchen. More Information

Art Gallery presents 'In Black and White and Color: Photographs by Denise Froehlich and Murad Sayen,' May 4 – July 2
In Black and White and Color: Photographs by Denise Froehlich and Murad Sayen  will be on view May 4 through July 2, 2006 at the Art Gallery on the Westbrook College Campus.

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, May 4 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Two separate conversations with the artists are scheduled at the Art Gallery. Murad Sayen will speak on Wednesday, May 10th, 5:00 - 6:30 p.m., and Denise Froehlich will speak on Tuesday, June 13th, 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. More information

Dying of Pancreatic Cancer
A rare opportunity has presented itself again...A woman diagnosed with pancreatic cancer with liver metastases is coming back to UNE to speak more about what it is like to be dealing with cancer and facing death. Barbara Holt will be at UNECOM on:

Day: Wednesday, May 10th
Time: 12 noon to 1 pm - Lunch provided
Where: Alfond Lecture Hall 106

Barbara was diagnosed in February of 2005 and given a very bleak prognosis, which she has outlived. She spoke at UNE in December 2005 and is coming back to share her experiences since that time. Barbara is realistic about her future and the fact that she will die from the cancer. In her words, she wants to "give back and help others understand what it is like to be dealing with cancer and facing death." Barbara is on the boards of the United Way Foundation and SMMC.

This session is sponsored by the UNECOM Medicine and Aging Club. We hope you can join us for this rare and powerful presentation. Inquiries, please call x2556 (Dr. Gugliucci) or email mgugliucci@une.edu . Open to the UNE Community.

Come to the Senior Class Family Reception
The Senior Class Family Reception will take place on Friday, May 12 from 7:00 -8:30pm in the Upper Dining Room. The Senior Class has designed this night to provide their families with the opportunity to meet with the UNE faculty and staff that have contributed to their student's success. Over 180 students and families will be at the reception, but we need more faculty and staff to attend. Seniors should be passing out invitations but in case you have not yet received one - please consider yourself invited. We hope that you will be able to attend. Dress is casual. Hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar will be provided.  Please RSVP to Peg Donovan at pdonovan@une.edu or at extension 2346.

Faculty/Staff Reception
for President Featherman
The faculty and staff reception to honor President Sandra Featherman's eleven years of leadership and service to the University of New England will be held Wednesday, May 17, 2006, 3:00 - 5:30 p.m., Upper Dining Room, Decary Hall. Hor D'oeuvres and refreshments will be served.

Center for Arts and Social Transformation to sponsor two shows in May
The Thin Line, a 30-minute one-woman show, will be performed at on May 18, 2006 at 4:00 p.m. in Ludcke Auditorium, WCC. Cathy Plourde, a Maine Playwright and the executive director of Add Verb Productions will perform the play.

The Thin Line weaves together the voices of four characters—a girl who is struggling, her internal negative voice, her mother, and a friend—showing how the disease affects not only the individual struggling, but also how it impacts his or her surrounding family and circle of friends.   Following the performance, the audience has a chance to interact with area resources and local counselors and medical experts.

Love Letters, an one-act play by A. R. Gurney and performed by Michael Rafkin and Kate O’Neill, will be presented on Friday, May 19th at 8:00 p.m., also in Ludcke. Tickets cost $20.  Love Letters is comprised of letters exchanged over a lifetime between the staid, dutiful lawyer Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and the lively, unstable artist Melissa Gardner as they go their separate ways, but continue to share confidences and a unique bond born out of childhood friendship. As the actors read the letters aloud, what is created is an evocative, touching, frequently funny, but always telling, pair of character studies in which what is implied is as revealing and meaningful as what is actually written down.

For more information, contact Clay Graybeal at cgraybeal@une.edu or x.4509.  

UNE's Maine Women Writers Collection hosts creative writing workshop series
UNE's Maine Women Writers Collection will host "A Gathering of Writers" -  a five-week series of creative writing workshops held at the MWWC in the Abplanalp Library on the Westbrook College Campus, Tuesdays from 6:00-9:00 p.m., July 18 - August 15, 2006.

Each writing workshop will be inspired by the heritage of Maine women writers such as May Sarton, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Sarah Orne Jewett. But the true focus of the workshops will be on creating a supportive community of writers and using a variety of prompts to foster the development of a writer's own individual voice. More Information 

1st Annual Student-Athlete vs. Faculty/Staff Wiffle Ball Tournament
The UNE Student-Athlete Advisory Committee would like to invite all of you to participate in our 1st Annual Student-Athletes vs. Faculty/Staff Wiffle Ball Tournament!

The tournament will be held on Friday, May 5th from 4-7 p.m. on the athletic fields. This will be a 16 team, single-elimination tournament. Teams will consist of a minimum of 7 players, with a minimum of 4 female players.

Interested participants may sign up their complete teams only either via e-mail to Julie Redman - jredman@une.edu , or by signing up on her office door (back of the CC Gym). This is going to be a wonderful family-oriented event, and everyone is encouraged to stop by and catch the excitement!

SAAC will also be hosting a good old fashioned cookout from 4-6 p.m. out on the fields! Please contact Julie Redman with any questions at Ext. 2907.

10th Annual UNE Golf Classic
The 10th Annual University of New England Golf Classic will be held on Friday, May 19th at 8:00 a.m. at Nonesuch River Golf Course in Scarborough, Maine. The format is a four-person scramble and the cost is $120 per person. Please come support UNE's Athletic Department by taking part in this year's fundraising Classic.

New to the tournament this year will be a chance to win great hole-in-one prizes from a new car to a choice of airline tickets or a 7-day cruise. All you have to do is knock it in the hole!  To enter a foursome in the Classic, please contact Kasey Keenan at ext. 2555 ASAP.