Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 22 : Fall 2014 | Page 58
UMPI
arts
F
making its mark in
AND
education endeavors
rom a statewide art trail, to a national education network, to an international
school in China, the University of Maine at Presque Isle is making an indelible
mark with its arts and education-focused endeavors.
The University helped to put Presque Isle on the map—literally—when it became one of the stops on the official Langlais Art
Trail. This trail provides art enthusiasts and tourists with a “road
map” connecting the locations in Maine where they are able to
view the works renowned Maine artist Bernard Langlais created
throughout his prolific artistic career. UMPI was able to serve as
the northernmost stop on the trail starting this summer after it
was gifted more than Langlais art pieces from the Kohler
Foundation, Inc., making the campus the premiere research facility for art lovers and scholars who want to study Langlais’ artistic
process. The collection includes sketches, sketchbooks, archives,
and more than wooden sculptures and wall pieces valued at
more than $,.
At the national level, UMPI was one of only institutions
across the U.S. selected to work with the nation’s top Competency-Based Education leaders as members of the CompetencyBased Education Network [C-BEN]. C-BEN is working to
establish shared guiding principles for the learning approach and
offer recommendations that will help other institutions develop
competency-based degree programs of their own. C-BEN is a
three-year effort coordinated by the national nonprofit research
and public engagement organization Public Agenda and funded by
the Lumina Foundation, the nation’s largest private
foundation focused solely on increasing Americans’ success in
higher education.
Also at the national level, the University was very pleased to announce this summer that it had received a $, National Endowment for the Arts grant to assist in the creation of the region’s very
first facility dedicated to the visual arts. The University has been
working with the Wintergreen Arts Center, the City of Presque Isle,
building owners, and several other partners to transform a building
in downtown Presque Isle into the Northern Maine Center for the
Cultural Arts. The University was one of Our Town projects selected nationwide for this arts-based community development investment. This is only the third Our Town grant ever awarded in
Maine and the first-ever to a Maine college or university.
At the international level, UMPI welcomed officials from Siyuan
University, located in Xi’an, China, to campus in August for the formal signing of a collaborative agreement between the two institutions
to \