Tradition plays an important role in colleges and universities. Each year commencements, lectures, athletic events and even campus pranks appear as important threads within the fabric of a college community.
This week’s Presidential Installation at the University of Southern Maine is no exception. It allows the community at large to acknowledge, even celebrate, the future of the institution as the baton of leadership passes. The ceremony underscores the importance of stability and unites the many stakeholders in affirming the university’s importance to our region and state.
This installation, however, will be a little different than most, focusing deeply on students. Close to 200 students have been selected by our faculty as Inauguration Scholars. These students will march into the Costello Fieldhouse on Friday to be honored as a centerpiece of the ceremony.
Reflecting the best values and principles of our school, our Inauguration Scholars have demonstrated academic excellence or have shown academic promise. Many have overcome great barriers, displayed bravery and courage in service to our country or simply revealed an inspirational commitment to their own education.
This all fits powerfully with our vision of USM as The University of Everyone. Our students exist as a beautiful mosaic of dreams, abilities, cultures and powerful futures. We unite under the banner of a university committed to empowering aspirations. They trust us to help build their dreams.
In fact, we must thank our students for USM’s vision, which has been unfolding over the past year. When we asked students why they came here (or why they left) and how should the university better fulfill their aspirations, they unequivocally highlighted three inspirational components to create our exciting vision:
• First, students told us they want to feel welcomed and connected; that is, they want to know that someone on the faculty or staff knows them and cares about them.
We are working hard on this issue of connectedness, and we now start building it even before students arrive. Over this past summer, we launched a program where advisers met one on one for two hours with every single one of our incoming students. Students were asked what their hopes and goals were, what they saw as their challenges, and they were provided with advice and support.
I cannot underscore the importance of these meetings in helping our incoming students to feel immediately connected.
• Second, our students told us they want a university that is affordable.
While USM begins with an advantage over most schools of having lower public tuition rates, today we go even further. We have significantly enhanced our financial aid packages and introduced new scholarships for high achievers. We have added scholarships for transfer students, while also making it simple for community college graduates to enroll with all their college credits.
At the same time that we are enhancing financial aid, we are also developing programs that expedite our students’ path to a graduate degree. We now have an arrangement with our Maine School of Law, so that students can enroll at the law school after their third year at USM, thus saving a year’s time and a year’s tuition in earning their law degree.
Similarly, we also have several arrangements between our undergraduate and graduate programs, so that our students can earn their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years instead of six.
• Third, our students asked us to link them with real world skills and authentic experiences to help them network and build a viable future.
We are uniquely positioned to do just that. Between our campus in Lewiston-Auburn and our Portland-area campuses, we cover the largest metropolitan area in northern New England, with thousands of businesses of every size, nonprofits, government agencies, hospitals and health care organizations.
For the benefit of our students and the benefit of our regional and state employers, I could not be more committed to enhancing our already strong ties with the communities that surround us.
So after several years of challenges and struggle, on Friday USM celebrates. We celebrate our successes and we celebrate our vision. We celebrate our faculty and we celebrate our staff. We celebrate our alumni and we celebrate our community. But most of all, and always, we celebrate our students.
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