UMPI honors alumni who ‘use their wings’
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The University of Maine at Presque Isle and the Alumni Association have honored three alumni with awards of distinction this fall.
Alumna Anita M. Campbell earned the Distinguished Educator Award, which is presented to an alumnus/alumna who has received ongoing recognition as an outstanding educator. Alumna Jeannette Beckwith Morrill received the Distinguished Alumni Award, which is presented to an alumnus/alumna who has made long-term contributions to the Alumni Association or the university, or who has received professional recognition that has reflected positively on the campus.
In addition, alumna Colette Cormier was named the recipient of the University’s first GOLD (Graduate of the Last Decade) Award, which recognizes an alumnus/alumna who has made important contributions in his or her career field and community, and who graduated from the University 10 or fewer years ago.
Campbell graduated from UMPI in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and earned her master’s degree in counselor education from the University of Southern Maine in 1983, and her doctoral degree in educational leadership from the University of Maine in 2003. Along the way, she served in a wide range of roles in Maine education at the elementary, secondary and college levels.
After graduating from UMPI, she taught at the Island Paradise School in Honolulu for a year and then returned to Maine to teach at the Morse Street School in Freeport from 1974-1983. She then was a school counselor from 1983-1991 at the Great Falls School and Sherwood Heights School in Auburn. From 1990-1991, she was co-principal of Great Falls School and the counseling supervisor at the University of Maine.
She served as the principal of several Auburn schools: Walton School in Auburn from 1991-1996, Sherwood Heights School and Lake Street School in Auburn from 1996-2000, and Auburn Middle School from 2000-2001. From 2000 to 2014, she was a student teacher supervisor and coordinator of alternative certification initiative at the University of Maine at Farmington.
Campbell has served as the President of the Maine School Counselors’ Association and of the Freeport Teachers’ Association, as a member of the Department of Health and Human Services mental health providers committee serving the needs of at-risk youth, and committee member of the Artisan’s Guild Project that supported a teen center to provide disadvantaged youth with access to the arts. She also volunteered at a hospice and at the Woman’s Wisdom Center, a support center for women in crisis, based in Lewiston.
She implemented a child study team initiative in Auburn schools and was a school liaison to the St. Mary’s Hospital/Edward Little High School initiative, helped start two student health centers in Auburn schools, and served on the RISC (Re-inventing Schools Coalition) advisory committee for Gray-New Gloucester High School.
“Anita has devoted her entire career to working with students, either at the K-12 level or at the University. Her dedication to helping students succeed is unmatched,” Barbara Eretzian, a longtime colleague, said in nominating Campbell.
Morrill graduated from the university with a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1974. While at UMPI, she was a staple in women’s volleyball, basketball and softball. After graduation, she taught physical education and health at Georges Valley High School in Thomaston and coached field hockey, winning a regional championship.
In 1977, she was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension, which is high blood pressure in the arteries to the lungs which weakens the heart. With no treatment and no cure, she was told she had a life expectancy of no more than two years. Forced to retire from teaching due to disability, Morrill was limited to an electric wheelchair and 24-hour oxygen. In 1978, she was able to take a new experimental drug, which was successful and greatly improved her quality of life.
She returned to teaching, this time at Greenville Middle/High School as a health and physical education teacher and later an applied life skills and safety education teacher, where she taught everything from cooking and sewing to CPR and hunter safety, to camping and outdoor skills. During those years, she coached middle school girls basketball, junior varsity girls basketball, varsity girls soccer (the team was an Eastern Maine Class D runner-up), and girls softball.
In addition, she taught American Heart Association CPR classes and was recognized with the Nancy Wynn Volunteer Award in 1985, and was also an emergency medical technician.
In 1997, Morrill’s condition stopped responding to the experimental drug and she was once again on medical disability retirement. She became a dedicated advocate for others suffering from pulmonary hypertension. She has served as the keynote speaker at the Pulmonary Hypertension Association International Conference in Orlando in 2014, at the Pulmonary Hypertension Association of Canada Conference in Montreal in 2015, was a patient speaker at a congressional luncheon in 2009 and 2011, and has spoken at numerous educational forums nationwide.
She published a book in June 2010 titled Living with Pulmonary Hypertension. In 2012, she was named the Outstanding Citizen of the Year by the Pulmonary Hypertension Association. She is also the founder of UPHill Journeys, which has a mission to support and sustain friends and neighbors in Maine and New Hampshire’s pulmonary hypertension community on their journey toward a cure. The organization is affiliated with Maine Medical Center in Portland.
It has been nearly 40 years since Morrill was diagnosed with PH; she is believed to be the person in the U.S. to live the longest with the disease.
Cormier graduated from UMPI in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in business with a concentration in information systems and a minor in accounting. While at UMPI, she was involved in the Professional Business Leaders club, and was a founding member and president of Phi Eta Sigma — National Honor Society. She earned her master’s degree in business administration from Husson University in 2011.
Cormier is a Certified Lean6 Green Belt and a Certified Financial Management Level 2. She is the accounts payable deputy director at Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Limestone, which involves the overall management of more than 300 personnel. During her time at DFAS, she has worked as an accountant in the Leaders in Motion Program and as a financial supervisory specialist over two separate divisions.
Since her graduation, Cormier has founded a local chapter and served as the president of the Association of Government Accounts (AGA) Aroostook County, which involved recruiting 24 paying members needed to petition for a new chapter formation. The chapter marked its 10th anniversary in 2014. She volunteered as the regional coordinator of membership and early careers of the Northeast Region, and was the adviser for a local school newspaper
In addition, she has assisted with fundraising for the local animal shelter and helped to raise funds to purchase a new Meals on Wheels van for the Aroostook Area Agency on Aging.
