Student academic research focus of sixth University Day
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The University of Maine at Presque Isle is celebrating intellectual adventure during its sixth annual University Day. No regular classes will be held on Wednesday, April 11, and, in their stead, students will be giving public presentations and talks relating to their academic research, scholarly work and community service. The theme of this year’s event is Planting Seeds: Education, Community and Service.
The purpose of the day is to heighten students’ general awareness of the work being done by their peers not only in their own discipline, but also in each of the disciplines represented on campus. Students will begin to get an idea of how disciplines inter-relate and how their academic work applies to service and the professional life of a community. It is also an opportunity for students to experience a professional conference format.
Students will present 37 talks during four sessions covering such areas as athletic training, recreation, criminal justice, environmental studies, history, education, political science, social work and psychology. Many of the presentations address the concept of school work being just the beginning—the ‘seed’ for change and service in the community. The International Students Club will host a Culture Fest throughout the day.
To add to the community spirit of University Day, the University will open its doors to the public. The University Day Committee has invited honors students from local high schools, and community members are welcome to attend all sessions. There also will be an opportunity to tour the Northern Maine Museum of Science.
During lunch, Bryan Thompson will be presented with the Young Alumni Award. Bryan graduated from UMPI in 2004 with a double major in accounting and business management, MIS concentration. Upon graduation, he began working at DFAS, where he has held positions of increasing responsibility and is currently a staff accountant. On his own initiative, Bryan secured an internship at DFAS while still an UMPI student. Since that time he has served as an invaluable link between the campus and DFAS.
In the evening, the University will host the Woodrow Wilson Fellow, James Lindemann Nelson, professor of bioethics at Michigan State University. Nelson will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Campus Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Nelson teaches bioethics and moral theory in the Philosophy Department. In 2002 he was named a Fellow at the Hastings Center, a private research institution concerned with ethical issues in health care. He co-authored The Patient in the Family and Alzheimer´s: Answers to Hard Questions for Families, and in 2003 published Hippocrates´ Maze: Explorations through Medicine´s Labyrinth and Rationing Sanity: Ethical Issues in Managed Mental Care.
A complete schedule for University Day can be found at www.umpi.maine.edu. Look for University Day information in the column at the far left.
Stone sculpture focus of exhibit
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine —Homage to a Stone is an exhibition now display in the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Reed Art Gallery. A sculpture exhibition using stone as a primary material combined with wood and metal, Homage is the work of Leo-Paul Cyr, associate professor of art and art education.
Through this exhibition, Cyr wishes to restore the dignity in “the object made special,” as a repository of meaning but primarily it wants to be a testimony for this wonderful moment when a sculptor “is in the material.” The show relates the various layers of experiences that bring a sculptor and a stone into a dialogue characterized by “oneness of complexity.”
Homage to a Stone brings to the forefront the transition from the instant when a stone is about to be considered as a material for artistic expression to the moment when, with physical manipulation, mental attributes and fresh consideration, the stone no longer exists as an object in nature but stands as a vital part in a sculpture.
The exhibition will be on display through May 12 in the Reed Art Gallery located in the Campus Center. There will be an opening reception on Sunday, March 25, at 4 p.m. with the artist speaking about his work. Light refreshments will be served.
