Giles to premiere WWII film

    Film presentation
    PRESQUE ISLE – A 90-minute documentary about a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean and the crucial role it played during World War II will make its local premiere on Thursday.     Echoes from the Apocalypse, Tinian: 60 Years Later will be presented at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 8 in Wieden Auditorium. The film was written, produced and directed by University of Maine at Presque Isle Art Professor Anderson Giles. It premiered this fall in Albuquerque and Chicago.
    Giles has completed an award-winning film and numerous other research projects on World War II. Following the local premiere of his documentary, he will host an open forum discussion about his work.
    Echoes from the Apocalypse documents the once-in-a-lifetime commemoration event held on Tinian in August 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs and the end of WWII.
    The public is invited to attend this free event. For more information, contact Carol Ayoob at 768-9462.
UMPI hosts Science Day
    PRESQUE ISLE – The University of Maine at Presque Isle will celebrate its 12th annual Science Day next week when it brings a wildlife ecologist to campus as part of its Distinguished Lecturer Series.
    Dr. Malcolm “Mac” Hunter, the Libra Professor of Conservation Biology at the University of Maine, will speak on “Biodiversity: Buzzword or Fundamental Concept?” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13, in Wieden Auditorium. The public is invited to attend.
    Science Day is held every fall at the University to celebrate the 1996 opening of the Northern Maine Museum of Science. The goal of Science Day is to bring widely known scientists to campus to talk about current topics in science.
    Hunter will discuss the balance scientists and communities need to make when introducing plant, animal or other biological diversity into their local environment.
    A native of Damariscotta, Hunter earned his bachelor’s degree in wildlife science at the University of Maine in 1974 and then went on to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar where he received his Ph.D. in zoology.
    He joined the UMaine faculty in 1978 and has pursued research on a wide range of organisms and ecosystems. He has produced six books, including “Fundamentals of Conservation Biology” and he co-authored “Maine Amphibians and Reptiles.”
    Hunter has worked in over 25 countries, mainly in Africa and the Himalayas. He has served in many public service roles such as the Governor’s Council on Sustainable Forest Management and as president of the Society for Conservation Biology, a professional organization with 13,000 members in 140 countries.