The Donna M. Loring Lecture Series, sponsored by the Maine Women Writers Collection, addresses current or historic Native American or aboriginal issues, indigenous rights, as well as women’s issues, civil rights, and issues of fairness and equality as they overlap with the concerns of tribal peoples. Learn more.
Wabanaki Basketmaking Traditions Under Threat? Art, Culture, and the Future of Maine Indian Basketmaking
Lecture Series Donna M. Loring Lecture Series
Pam Outdusis Cunningham, Geo Neptune, Jennifer Neptune, Sarah Sockbeson, Darren Ranco
Biddeford Campus
Penobscot Nation v. Janet Mills: A Case of Cultural Identity and Tribal Stewardship
Lecture Series Donna M. Loring Lecture Series
Penobscot Indian Nation Chief Kirk Francis
Biddeford Campus
"Mary and Molly: In the Spirit of the Ancestors" a play by Donna M. Loring
Reading Donna M. Loring Lecture Series
Biddeford Campus
Racism in Maine: Beyond Black and White
Lecture Donna M. Loring Lecture Series
Panelists: Donna Loring, Rabbi Rachel Isaacs, Robert Bryant, Keita Whitten
Portland Campus
“The Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission: New Opportunities for Understanding Post-Colonialism”
Lecture Donna M. Loring Lecture Series
Matthew Dunlap
Biddeford Campus
Listening with Fifteen Hearts: Life Stories of Women across Cultures
Lecture Donna M. Loring Lecture Series
Bunny McBride
Biddeford Campus
Winona LaDuke: Environmental Justice from a Native Perspective
Lecture Donna M. Loring Lecture Series
Winona LaDuke
Off Campus
Truth and Reconciliation in Maine: a Model of Collaboration and Process of Decolonization
Lecture Donna M. Loring Lecture Series
Denise Altvater, Esther Attean and Martha Proulx
Biddeford Campus
Out of the Depths: A personal account of a residential school experience and the effects of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's apology many years later
Lecture Donna M. Loring Lecture Series
Isabelle Knockwood
Biddeford Campus
Weaving Waponahki Policy toward Decolonization
Lecture Donna M. Loring Lecture Series
Rebecca Sockbeson
Biddeford Campus
Donna Loring
Author and legislator Donna Loring grew up on Indian Island and graduated from the University of Maine at Orono with a B.A. in political science. Loring is a Vietnam veteran. Her professional background is in law enforcement, and she is a graduate of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.
She was the first woman police academy graduate to become police chief in the state of Maine and served as the police chief for the Penobscot Nation during the 1980s. Loring was appointed aide de camp to then-governor Angus King and was advisor to the governor on women veterans' affairs.
She was also Penobscot Tribal Representative to the Maine State Legislature. Among her legislative accomplishments, Loring authored and sponsored LD 291 “An Act to Require Teaching Maine Native American History and Culture in Maine’s Schools.” Governor Angus King signed the Act into law on June 14th 2001. The law is changing the way Maine views its history. Loring’s book, In the Shadow of the Eagle, Tilbury House, 2008, chronicles her experiences as the tribal representative to the State Legislature.
The University of New England’s Maine Women Writers Collection in 2009 announced the acquisition of the Loring's personal and literary papers.
This acquisition is the first given by a Native American woman to the University’s collections. It enriches the women’s literary collections preserved in the MWWC facility for research and study, and it signals a new direction in the acquisition of papers of women authors from very significant yet underrepresented groups. These papers shed light on the enormously varied life experiences of Loring.