New online journal spotlights creative work of UMPI students

    PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – Upcountry: A Journal of Sights and Insights is poised to spotlight the creative and scholarly works produced by students at the University of Maine at Presque Isle across the disciplines. But don’t look for it on the newsstands or in your mailbox. Rather, Upcountry’s first issue due out in late April is entirely electronic and all subsequent publications will also appear online.
   “Clearly, young people respond to online media,” Dr. Melissa Crowe, assistant professor of English, said. “An online journal will provide our students with the widest possible audience.”
Sponsored by the UMPI Honors Program, Upcountry is open to submission from all campus students
“The journal will seek out and publish the best work being produced by UMPI students each semester, including scholarly essays, creative writing and digitally reproduced visual art,” Crowe said. “We invite work from all disciplines, from history to biology.”
Working with Crowe as co-editor is student Jason Black. The two developed the journal’s title with the region in mind.
“Upcountry means ‘inland’,” Crowe said. “This is a way to distinguish the unique geography and culture of Aroostook County from coastal Maine. In addition, Upcountry implies land that is elevated and allows for a good vantage point in all directions. We believe that is an appropriate metaphor for the university experience.”
Together Crowe and Black have collaborated on the journal’s design, editorial policy and selection of work.
“If students are to feel that this journal represents the work they’re doing, I think they need to know that other students have a hand in selecting the work,” Crowe said. “I intend to hire a student editor each year and, in the future, I hope my student staff will grow.”
Like anyone working in academe, Crowe said, students want to feel and see the impact of their efforts outside of the classroom. Upcountry will provide them such a vehicle.
“Projects like this make students feel they are writing and painting and sculpting for a real audience (and) it will give them a sense that academic work matters in a larger arena,” Crowe said. “It also lets the world know how proud we are of the top-notch work our students do on a regular basis.”
Upcountry will be published once a semester with submission deadlines and requirements announced in advance. Crowe said they are no longer accepting submissions for the current issue.
To read Upcountry: A Journal of Sights and Insights, go to www.upcountryjournal.blogspot.com.