First Impression from the President

Photo by Monty Rand

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For more than 130 years, The University of Maine has been making a huge difference. As one of the nation's oldest land-grant universities, UMaine has significantly improved the lives of generations of Mainers though education, research, and public service outreach. UMaine graduates, UMaine inventions, and UMaine ideas have made an impact across the nation and around the world.

That's no exaggeration. And the reason we have been so successful goes right back to the legislation that founded us. The Morrill Act of 1862 is considered one of the most progressive and successful legislative acts in American history. The Morrill Act's purpose was truly revolutionary: to make higher education accessible for the very first time to all qualified persons — regardless of their background and economic status — and to use the powerful new knowledge discovered by the faculty to benefit society.

The benefits have been many. New ideas, technologies, products, and public policies have resulted from the people and purpose of the nation's land-grant schools. So too have advances in education, health care, environmental protections and other conditions related to our quality of life. The impact of the Morrill Act, both in Maine and across the country, has shaped the nation — and the world, for that matter — far beyond what proponents Justin Morrill and Abraham Lincoln could ever have imagined.

Today, 75 land-grant institutions exist among the more than 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. As one of those 75 schools, UMaine continues to integrate learning, discovery, and public engagement to address Maine's most urgent needs, but now it does so in a 21st-century context.

This new publication, UMaine Today, is but one of our University's efforts to illustrate its continued importance — and its accountability — to Maine and its people. Each issue of the magazine will showcase the creativity, achievement, and broad contributions of our students, faculty, and staff. And because of their efforts — undertaken daily both on campus in Orono and throughout the state — they help Maine increase its attractiveness and future as a place to live, work, and raise a family.

Peter S. Hoff
President