The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine General University of Maine Publications University of Maine Publications 2005 2005, UMaine News Press Releases Division of Marketing and Communications George Manlove University of Maine Joe Carr University of Maine Nick Houtman University of Maine Kay Hyatt University of Maine Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/univ_publications Part of the Higher Education Commons, and the History Commons Repository Citation Division of Marketing and Communications; Manlove, George; Carr, Joe; Houtman, Nick; and Hyatt, Kay, "2005, UMaine News Press Releases" (2005). General University of Maine Publications. 1087. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/univ_publications/1087 This Monograph is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in General University of Maine Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UMaine News Press Releases from Word Press XML export 2005 E is for Entrepreneurship; The E-Fair Comes to UMaine 19 Jan 2005 Contact: Sharon Malm, Target Technology Center, 866-6500; ORONO, Maine --- Studying and getting a degree just isn't enough for some University of Maine students. They want to bring their ideas to the marketplace and turn new knowledge into a product or service. For them and other students who want to consider such a path, UMaine will hold an E-Fair in the Memorial Union, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., February 10. Sponsored by the UMaine Innovation Center and Target Technology Incubator in Orono, the fair will offer panel discussions and exhibits on business support services. "It's designed to allow students to stop in as their schedules allow," says Sharon Malm of Target. Last year's fair in Wells Commons drew more than 100 students. "The E-Fair is very educational, and I would recommend it to all students who are serious about starting a business in Maine," says Carl E. Barr, a UMaine MBA graduate student, business owner and power plant engineer. Gary Arnold, recent UMaine graduate in business administration, adds, "there was considerable value in having successful entrepreneurs discuss their stories of moving through the process, from concept to commercial reality." At this year's event, exhibits will be set up in the Bangor Room, and panel discussions will be held at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. across the hall in the FFA Room. Speakers will include a student entrepreneur, faculty members with expertise in entrepreneurship and representatives of business development services such as the Small Business Development Center, Eastern Maine Development Corporation and Maine Technology Institute. No registration is required. New Book on Maine Term Limits Reveals "Unintended Consequences 24 Jan 2005 Contact: Richard Powell, (207) 581-1795, George Manlove, (207) 581-3756 ORONO, Maine -- When Maine voters approved term limits in a 1993 referendum designed to replace what some considered professional politicians with more rank-and-file citizens, they set into motion a series of related changes with some unanticipated consequences. Voters interrupted or ended some lengthy political careers, but it is clear more than a decade later that voters also diminished the political power and efficiency of the Maine Legislature. Three current or former University of Maine political science professors are authors of a newly published book, "Changing Members: The Maine Legislature in the Era of Term Limits" (Lexington Books, 2004), which assesses the effects of term limits in Maine. The collaborators are Richard J. Powell, assistant professor of political science, Kenneth T. Palmer, professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Political Science, and Matthew C. Moen, former professor and chair of the political science department and now dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Dakota. The book takes a non- partisan look at the impact of term limits. It is an analysis based primarily on a survey of members of the Maine Legislature, plus several dozen interviews with legislators, staff, executive branch officials and lobbyists. The authors each have published articles or books on a variety of political science issues, including Congress, the Presidency, Federalism and Maine politics. The research is particularly significant, the authors note, because Maine is the first state in the nation where term limits actually forced members out of both chambers of its state legislature. Lessons from Maine may be applicable to the other 16 states operating under term limits. One of those lessons is that term limits can easily "gum up the works," Palmer says of the tendency for the Legislature to operate less efficiently under the restrictions. Unless a Maine legislator switches chambers or sits out an election cycle, a member is ineligible to run for reelection after serving four consecutive terms in the Maine House or Senate. This keeps new and largely inexperienced faces coming and going in Augusta, with what Powell calls "unintended consequences." One of those consequences is an abbreviated learning curve for new legislators, who must very quickly learn their way around the institution. They need to make a mark -- particularly if they have leadership ambitions. They sometimes are impatient with the give-and-take of the legislative process. Moen observes that new legislators often reintroduce legislation rejected in previous sessions, often unaware that such bills already had been considered. From 1995 to 2000, for instance, the number of bills introduced in the Maine Legislature rose by 43 percent. As each bill must be researched by the legislative staff and prepared for formal introduction, the redundancy consumes valuable time and resources, can extend the length of legislative sessions and, additionally, can distract legislators from more pressing legislative matters, according to the authors. Perhaps more significant is the loss of seasoned legislators, which effectively increases the political power of other policymakers, such as executive branch officials or legislative staff. Elected officials, the authors suggest, seem to have ceded at least some political power to these non-elected officials, who often serve, through necessity, as the institutional memories for legislators. While Moen, Powell and Palmer describe many of the interrelated consequences in detail, they also explain efforts of the Maine Legislature to adjust to this new political conundrum. In fact, a theme of the book is how legislators have attempted to adapt to the term limits era in a manner consistent with Maine's participatory political culture and values, avoiding steps such as limits on bill introductions per member. Ironically, the authors note, the relative success of Maine legislators' efforts to adapt their institution to term limits almost makes it harder for term limit opponents to persuade voters to repeal them, since many of the difficulties are less apparent to the public. In addition, many legislators are still reluctant to campaign against term limits, since it was the voters who adopted them in the first place. "Changing Members: The Maine Legislature in the Era of Term Limits" is available through Amazon.com. UMaine Camden Conference Course Explores Middle East Dilemmas 24 Jan 2005 Contact: Marlene Charron, (207) 581-4095, Tim Cole, (207) 581-1882, George Manlove, (207) 581-3756 ORONO -- This year's Camden Conference and the intensive, three-day UMaine course traditionally structured around it, analyze the current Middle East turmoil and explore related United States' foreign policy directions. The course will examine the nature, consequences and future direction of the politics in the Middle East, with primary focus on Iraq and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, and their effects on other nations. It also requires students to attend part of the Camden Conference. The Camden Conference, Feb. 25-27 and titled "The Middle East: Compromise or Conflagration?" will bring together a panel of distinguished authorities, former policy-makers and scholars to explore factors that may explain such questions as whether Iraq will be a model for the future or a quagmire in the making, in addition to social, political, economic and cultural implications for the region. "This roster of speakers is always just first rate," says Timothy Cole, an associate professor and chair of the UMaine Political Science Department. "Students get a first-hand, bird's-eye view, so to speak, of the thinking that makes up American foreign policy." For students interested in pursuing political science or international affairs careers, Cole says, the course in conjunction with the Camden Conference, is a rare opportunity to talk in an informal setting about ideas and meet the people who are moving the world forward in foreign policy matters. Experts, including former CIA Director James Woolsey, Rend Rahim Francke, Iraq's U.S. representative, and U.S.M.C. Gen. (Retired) Anthony Zinni will discuss the implications and reality of reforms in Iran and whether Islamic fundamentalism is a clash of civilizations, a struggle within Islam itself, a rejection of modernity or just rejection of westernization? The UMaine course, scheduled for three Saturdays -- Feb. 19, March 19 and April 2 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. -- is a compressed three-credit-hour course that is open not only to UMaine students, but to those who would like to enroll as