President's Message

President Robert A. Kennedy   Links related to this story

With record enrollment, significant progress in our fundraising campaign and a sparkling new recreation center now online, this is an exciting time at the University of Maine. These developments give us reason to feel good about the current state of the university, and they inspire us to look toward the future with great anticipation.

For the past several months, I have been involved in helping lead "Fighting for Maine's Future," an advocacy group that, among other things, is promoting passage of Question 2 and Question 3, two bond measures that will appear on Maine's Nov. 6 ballot. Question 2 would create a $55 million R&D funding pool and a mechanism through which UMaine researchers could compete for funds to support research projects that will drive statewide economic development. State investment in UMaine research has paid off in a big way over the past several years, with our researchers bringing in five dollars of outside funding for every dollar of state R&D funding. Question 3 is a capital infrastructure bond, with $11.3 million to fund classroom and laboratory upgrades on our campus in Orono.

While I recognize that many UMaine Today readers live outside our state, I believe that initiatives like these are critical to helping UMaine fulfill its unique and vital role.

As we have seen many times in recent history, UMaine uses voter-approved bond funding to enhance the university’s role in improving Maine's economy and quality of life. In partnership with people and organizations all around Maine, UMaine uses opportunities like these to strengthen Maine educationally, economically and culturally. I know of nothing on the horizon that is more important to our state and our university than the opportunity that lies before us on Nov. 6.