Dear Editor:
I am a non-traditional student and I know a good professor when I have one. Professor Jura Avizienis is exemplary. Last semester I took Professor Avizienis’ “Intro to Literature” course and currently I am taking her “Honors 100: Thinking and Writing in Honors” class.
The thought of the next Paul Pierce or Kevin Garnett playing at the Portland Expo is a nice one. It’s filled with fancy and hope and dollar signs, but it’s a notion that couldn’t be farther from reality and it could ruin an already good thing for the city of Portland.
The room was buzzing with energy. Parents had video recorders, students were leaning in to pay delicate attention to each other’s performances, and in the back was a row of standing smilers. The beaming back row, it was obvious, were the coordinators of the program, showing gestures of success, nodding to one another in delight of what was going on onstage.
Charlie Colgan started off his annual economic forecast this year with a light-hearted joke, remarking, “the large attendance today is actually really bad news.”
Colgan, a professor in the Muskie School of Public Service, went on to explain to the more than 500 member audience that the large number could only mean that things must be getting “a little dicey” in the economy.
To the Editor:
As a member of USM Faculty Senate, I wish to express my thanks to students AJ Chalifour, Marie Follaytfar and Alex Bresler for effectively representing the interests of students at our December meeting.
Their comments on a pending proposal to weaken the ban on exams during the week before finals week were cogent, diplomatic, and carried the day.
Year: Junior
Major: Business
Sport: Men’s Track
FP: How long have you been running track?
Jimmy: I’ve been running track since the 7th grade. When I got to middle school I didn’t feel like trying out for baseball and basketball. The two sports that I didn’t have to try out for were football and track.
It’s 8 a.m., and Eric Favreau glides silently into a chair. He smiles when I thank him for agreeing to meet me, and softly speaks a few polite words. He speaks them slowly, without rushing a single syllable, and then quickly falls quiet again, giving the impression that he hadn’t spoken at all.
February 2 & 3
New Hampshire Ski/Snowboard Weekend Trip to Cranmore and Attitash- While the semester is young and your procrastination has not yet caught up with you, let’s get away for a weekend of downhill fun! We will visit Cranmore Mountain on Saturday, perched above Conway, New Hampshire; and hit Attitash Mountain on Sunday to experience another piece of the White Mountains.
Dear USM Community,
I don’t know about many things USM, but the faculty of the English department must have far superior insight and an intellect that can’t be matched. Why else would they deny the contracts of two of the favored department teachers? I do not know Margaret Reimer but can speak at lengths of Jura Avizienis.
monday, january 28
RON PAUL. AT USM.
Republican presidential nominee Ron Paul will speak this morning on campus. Free/ 9:30-10:30 a.m./ Hannaford Lecture Hall/ Portland campus/ Contact Jason Lavoie 228-8768
tuesday, january 29
HIT THE ROAD.
What USM is calling ‘The Ultimate Road Trip: Campus2Career’ will be an hour-long interactive presentation on the ins and outs of succeeding in courses, the college internship, goal-setting, and developing a ‘personal brand.
Candidates for USM’s presidency began touring campus last Wednesday, meeting various factions of university government, including representatives from the various senates and departments across all three campuses.
Of the four candidates, two-Bob Smith and Selma Botman-visited last week, and two-David Belcher and Nancy Kleniewski-will be on campus this week.
A Falmouth woman was arrested outside the Sullivan Gym last Thursday afternoon after a Portland Police Department drug dog was called to the scene. Somayeh Kargar, 22, was arrested for having May 2007 tags on her license plates. Having tags older than 90 days is a misdemeanor, according to USM Police Lt.
In this day and age, green and renewable energy is not only for the wealthy or the eccentric: the potential for their use is becoming more prevalent and widely used.
USM, for instance, recently finished New Hall, a “green” dorm, making it possible for the campus and its students to be more energy efficient.
The beginning of the spring semester is a time when students can still, for the most part, enjoy a break from looming deadlines. One deadline, however, is fast approaching-one that many students are still unaware of.
Although next school year seems far away, this is the time to start preparing for next year’s financial aid package by filling out the 2008-2009 FAFSA.
January 24, 2008
TO: The USM Community
FROM: Joseph S. Wood, Interim President
In accordance with Part VI, Article III of the USM Governance Constitution, I petition formally for an amendment to the Governance Constitution, specifically the section
Power outages delayed both the men’s and women’s basketball games last Tuesday night, nearly canceling the men’s game entirely. John Carroll, the public affairs manager at Central Maine Power, said that the outage, which began at 7:04 p.m., was triggered by an equipment failure on a transmission line in Standish and affected the USM campus in Gorham, as well as several nearby towns.
“One, and two, and cellos now.”
It is cacophony. Cellos screech, violins come in early, and at the front of the room, Marshunda Smith stands, poised, her face not giving in to the grimace that anyone else would make.
This group of children is just beginning to learn how to hold their instruments and bows, and while they might want to play the theme to Star Wars, they have quite some time before that is possible.
As I’m writing this, it’s Saturday in the Free Press house, and after three intense days of too much work and too little sleep; of trying to balance going to class with conducting interviews, signing purchase orders, and going to Gorham to cover sports for the section I have left without an editor, I think that the only thing I can communicate in my exhausted sigh of relief-that-I-survived-my-first-week-as-executive-editor is how proud I am.
The Faculty Senate voted to approve a new core curriculum which will dramatically change general education at USM beginning in the fall of 2009. The approval process took most of last semester, and was marked by debate and tension as full and part-time faculty weighed the feasibility and practicality of changing the current curriculum.
On a crazy night that saw multiple power outages and delays, the Rhode Island College Anchormen proved to be too much for the USM Huskies, winning 70-53 in Little East Conference men’s basketball action last Tuesday.
Powered by a high-octane scoring attack of guard penetration and fast-break opportunities, the Anchormen methodically extended their six point half-time lead to end the Huskies two game winning streak.
Monday, January 21
LOLA. L-O-L-A. The Portland Museum of Art shows Lola Alvarez Bravo, credited as Mexico’s first acclaimed female photographer. The exhibit features 55 vintage photographs
First let me say how sorry I am that Angelique Carson is retiring a Editor of the Free Press. I’ve been impressed by the quality of the paper under her leadership. The last issue to appear under her editorial command (Dec. 10, 2007) included several “must
After a long winter vacation, the mumps have ceased to be a hot button issue among the USM student body. The university is officially out of “outbreak” mode, and, as a resident director from Gorham puts it, the mumps is “certainly no longer the topic of conversation.
Women’s hockey finished last week on a three game losing streak that began with a tough 0-3 match against St. Michael’s College.
“Today’s game was the second of the weekend,” said coach John Lauziere following that loss, “last night they exerted a lot of energy and gave all they could.