University of New England

Nexus
Dangerous Memories

By Paul D. Merrill
Trustee and former Chair, Board of Trustess
(Excerpts from his introduction of President Featherman at a special luncheon hosted by The Newcomen Society of American on May 4, 2006)

For more than 20 years, I had the honor of being a trustee of the University of New England. Five of those years were as chair of the board during the administration of our guest speaker, so it is a particular pleasure to be introducing today UNE President Sandra Featherman, who will deliver today’s Newcomen Address.

But before I ask Sandra to come to the podium, we really need a little extended drum roll, because the institution she has led these past 11 years and the contributions she has made to it are all so extraordinary that I would not want her modesty to deprive you of a more complete understanding of just how special UNE now is and how special Sandra is in the continually evolving UNE story she will present.

Dr. Sandra Featherman took up the scepter in 1995. Th e University had advanced over the prior 20 years from the brink of disaster to a fragile upward momentum. But she had to grasp those “dangerous memories” sensitively and genuinely if the University was to fulfi ll her vision of what was possible.

Few would have had the courage to embrace the broad vision she developed. Fewer still would have accomplished so much of it. Th e success she has enjoyed, I believe, fl ows not simply from her brilliance, enthusiasm and energy. Th ese qualities, while unusual, are not unique. Her success comes from combining those attributes with a genuine warmth, integrity and ability to sensitively balance competing needs. She fi nds the truth and follows it. It doesn’t hurt that she has a natural gyroscope for balancing necessary risk against financial prudence.

When Dr. Featherman joined UNE in 1995, total enrollment was fewer than 2,000 students. Today UNE’s student population is 3,400 – and growing. Over the same period, full-time faculty grew from 81 to 158, the school’s operating budget grew from $26 million to just over $100 million, and endowment has grown from $2 million to $24 million. More than $100 million has been invested in capital construction and renovations on our campuses in Biddeford and on the Westbrook College Campus in Portland. UNE has earned repeated listings as one of the best regional universities in America by U.S. News and World Report.

Perhaps her greatest accomplishment has been the remarkably successful merger of Westbrook College – a small liberal arts college with a long history in Portland – with UNE, which created a larger, more diverse educational institution. In so doing she added some more “dangerous memories” to our institutional legacy. Under her leadership, the College of Health Professions was established on what became the Westbrook College Campus, and student enrollment there has grown from fewer than 300 students to some 900 today.

On the University Campus in Biddeford, the College of Arts and Sciences has expanded and diversifi ed its liberal arts, sciences, research and professional programs on a course to rival ivy-league liberal arts colleges. Maine’s only medical school, the College of Osteopathic Medicine, has continued to grow as a teaching and research institution and has been ranked nationally for educational excellence. And the campus has been transformed from a commuter campus to a predominately residential one.

Newcomen is not the first to recognize Dr. Featherman’s remarkable achievements. She was named a Champion of Economic Development by the Maine Development Foundation in 2002. In 2004 she was named a Woman of Distinction by the International Women’s Forum and a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania (her former home) by the Governor of Pennsylvania. Recently she was appointed chair of the Maine Legislature's Ethics Advisory Committee. If all this were not enough, I have to quote an unsolicited personal note to Sandra which gives some insight into her ability to make a favorable impression on important potential friends:

February 27, 2006

Dear Sandra,

Today I received an “alumni and friends” letter from Vincent Furey. The letter announced that Danielle Ripich has been named to take over the presidency of UNE. Boy, oh boy, Danielle is going to have mighty big shoes to fi ll! I know I will see you before you actually step down, since Barbara and I plan to come to Maine in mid-May; but I just want you to know that I have great respect for you personally and for what you have done for the University. They are going to miss you an awful lot. I hope you will be staying in the area so neither Barbara nor I will lose track of you.

With warmest personal regards, George [H. W.] Bush

Numbers, awards and relationships tell part of the story, but to understand President Featherman’s total contributions to this University one must see her more broadly, as I have had the good fortune to do. Th roughout her tenure at UNE she has been supported by her husband, Bernard, who is a business powerhouse in his own right. He clearly has a knack for pleasing the assertive women at the University as he regularly and graciously defers to his spouse who supported him in his career for many years as she raised their family of two accomplished sons, John and Andrew.

Few can match her far-reaching intelligence, her indefatigable energy and her warm, compassionate spirit. She is a renaissance person, a woman of true distinction.

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