First Impression from the President

President Peter S. Hoff Photo by Gabor Degree ©2003 Bangor Daily News, used with permission.

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One of the highlights of the 2002-03 academic year occurred in May, when former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney visited the University of Maine to deliver the fourth installment of our prestigious William S. Cohen Lecture Series. His address on the state of Canadian-American relations, speaking as one who has influenced those cross-border ties as much as any national leader in recent history, deeply impressed those of us in attendance.

In the days and weeks since the lecture, many people have let me know that the event made them proud to be associated with a university that is in a position to offer a program of such quality and importance. It was a stellar example of the sort of event that connects a university with its constituents – in our case, the people of Maine.

Mulroney's lecture also served to amplify once again UMaine's special relationship with former Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen. A Bangor native who once served on our faculty, Cohen is one of the most distinguished public servants in Maine history. We are grateful for his work with our William S. Cohen Center for International Policy and Commerce, and his decision to make UMaine the home for his archive.

With Secretary Cohen's guidance, and the leadership of Dean Daniel Innis in UMaine's College of Business, Public Policy and Health, the center is establishing itself as a vital player in Maine's economic development policy structure. Earlier this year we announced that significant portions of the Cohen archive are now open to researchers and others interested in Bill Cohen's remarkable public career.

Events and connections like these are a reflection of the vital role that UMaine plays in bringing high-profile, global discourse to our state. More examples of the university's extraordinary contributions – like the art of James Linehan, the dedicated training in the Rural Nurse Practitioner Program, and the research of cultural anthropologist James Acheson – may be found in this edition of UMaine Today.

Peter S. Hoff
President