University president reflects on first 20 months, looks to future

To the editor:
    I was honored to have my term as president of the University of Maine at Presque Isle extended on May 19 by the University of Maine System Board of Trustees. It was a pleasure to know the reappointment came after a study of campus and community perceptions of my leadership of UMPI over the last 20 months.     Those 20 months have been ones of wonderful accomplishment for UMPI. The pages of the County newspapers and the Bangor Daily News have reported on them. WAGM-TV and our radio stations have made the written reports visual and aural. There is so much excitement that is happening on the campus, at the Houlton Center, and in the Central and Southern Aroostook communities. We on campus are delighted to lead and to follow in making a better Aroostook County.
    One of the strongest challenges for all of us is to increase the percentage of four-year college graduates in Aroostook County. That figure is one of the most significant in measuring the economic health of a state or community. For example, Massachusetts and New Hampshire are among national leaders in per capita income. It is no coincidence that those states are among the national leaders in the percentage of residents with at least a four-year college degree. Maine trails all of New England in that percentage. Aroostook County trails Maine.
    There is encouraging news. Prominent Maine economist Charlie Colgan noted that the County’s percentage of four-year graduates had increased from 16% to 19% over the last decade. We are headed in the right direction.
The overall college graduation figures for a state or county reflect thousands of individual stories. Statistics continually point out that an associate degree from a strong community college adds about $10,000 to the annual earnings of a graduate when compared to the earnings of an employee with only a high school degree. Completion of the bachelor’s degree adds another $10,000 to those figures. The four-year degree is also the only pathway to even higher paying jobs that require education beyond the bachelor’s degree. The bachelor’s degree also fits our fast moving economy in which today’s skills can be outmoded tomorrow.
    Nor, do the benefits of a bachelor’s degree stop with dollars and cents. The university degree gives its recipients skills and interests that make them better citizens and community leaders.
    That is the work that we do every day at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. I am very pleased to lead that work.
UMPI President Don Zillman