The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine General University of Maine Publications University of Maine Publications 2004 2004, UMaine News Press Releases Division of Marketing and Communications Kay Hyatt University of Maine Joe Carr University of Maine Nick Houtman University of Maine George Manlove 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; Hyatt, Kay; Carr, Joe; Houtman, Nick; and Manlove, George, "2004, UMaine News Press Releases" (2004). General University of Maine Publications. 1088. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/univ_publications/1088 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 2004 Policy, Technology Top Agenda for Small School Coalition 12 Jan 2004 Contact: Kay Hyatt at (207) 581-2761 ORONO, Maine -- A keynote address by the policy director for the Rural Schools and Community Trust will kick off the winter meeting of the Maine Small High School Coalition. Followed by a series of workshops on using technology to improve instruction, the Friday, Jan. 23 meeting takes place at the University of Maine. [email protected]. More information about the Coalition, as well as a registration form, is available on the organization's website: www.sad12.com/coalition. UMaine Franco American Studies Lecture Series Set 06 Jan 2004 Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571 ORONO -- The University of Maine Franco American Studies program will present a lecture series on campus, beginning on Friday, Jan. 9. The lectures, which are funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, will feature discussion of various issues related to Franco culture and history. The lectures will be held at 1 p.m. at the Franco American Centre in Crossland Hall at UMaine. A discussion will follow each lecture. For more information, contact the Franco American Studies Department at 581-3791. "'La Survivance' in New England: A Clerico-conservative French-Canadian Construct of 'race' or a Franco-American Concept of Working-Class Solidarity?" Jacques Ferland Friday January 9, 2004 "The Importance of Cultural Identity in Jack Kerouac's Satori in Paris" Susan Pinette Saturday January 10, 2004 "Where Have the Francophones Gone? Subtractive Bilingualism Revisited" Barney Berube Saturday January 17, 2004 "Haut en bas: French from the Top Down" Jane Smith Saturday January 17, 2004 "Franco American Family Storytelling in Maine" Kristin Langellier & Eric Peterson Saturday January 31, 2004 "Voicing the Unvoiced: Publishing the Writing of Franco-American Women" Rhea Cote Robbins Saturday February 14, 2004 "How We Got Here and How We Stay" Yvon Labbe Saturday February 14, 2004 Orono Bog Boardwalk's First Year Far Exceeds Expectations 05 Jan 2004 Contact: Nick Houtman, Dept. of Public Affairs, 207-581-3777 ORONO, Maine -- A total of 15,560 visitors registered at the Orono Bog Boardwalk in 2003, according to Director Ronald Davis, more than double the expectations of the facility's management committee. The board closed for the season on December 1 and will reopen in May. "The boardwalk has become a major outdoor recreation destination in the Bangor area. It has attracted people from more than 15 other states and 15 foreign countries," says Davis. Boardwalk success, he adds, is due to the work of many volunteers and the Maine Conservation Corps as well as the diversity of plant life and different environments in the bog. "It is a quiet and beautiful place, and it can be a great learning experience," says Davis who is also a University of Maine biologist. The mile-long boardwalk starts off the East Trail in the Bangor City Forest and continues on University of Maine land in Orono. To guide visitors through the bog, signs have been placed along the boardwalk, and a 16-page guidebook is available. It features facts about the boardwalk and the bog, as well as colored photographs of plants and flowers. This past year, many Bangor area organizations arranged for free, expert guided walks at the boardwalk. They included senior citizen clubs, rehabilitation facilities, nursing homes, garden clubs and students. This program will be continued in 2004, and guided walks can be scheduled by contacting Davis (866-4786 before 8:30 p.m.) at least a month in advance. The boardwalk is wheelchair accessible. In addition, an expanded series of guided Saturday morning nature walks will be planned. In 2003, they focused on bog ecology, birds and their habitats, wetland destruction and conservation, bog plant life, peat bogs for kids and water flows in the bog and its environmental implications. The boardwalk is a public service of its sponsors: the University of Maine, Orono Land Trust, and City of Bangor. A fund raising campaign is currently underway to establish an endowment for boardwalk maintenance. UMaine Responds to Dairy Task Force Recommendations 16 Jan 2004 Contact: John Rebar, Cooperative Extension, 207-581-3238; Gary Anderson, Cooperative Extension, 207-581-3240 ORONO-- The University of Maine Agricultural Center has created a Dairy Task Force Response Team to develop and deliver educational programs in support of Maine dairy farmers. This team will be coordinating educational programming and applied research that will help Maine dairy farmers survive in challenging economic times. The recent Governor's Task Force on the Sustainability of the Dairy Industry in Maine included members of this team, and the final report highlighted several areas of need to be addressed by UMaine. The 10 member team will include representatives of UMaine's research and public outreach segments. They will work with the Maine Department of Agriculture and the Maine Dairy Industry Association, which represents the state dairy community, and several agribusinesses to identify high priority issue areas. "The response team is excited about the programming possibilities," says Gary Anderson, Extension professor and team coordinator. The Maine Ag Center has provided a $10,000 budget to support the team with their work. The team has members from UMaine Cooperative Extension offices statewide and from departments within the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station. Their expertise includes animal and veterinary science, food science, agronomy and farm business management. They will cover several areas of dairy management including nutrition, reproduction, mastitis and milking management, calf care, business management and the use of records to make business decisions as well as crop production, weed control and development of value added enterprises. Team members will take advantage of contacts across the country comprising a national resource base for problem solving and program delivery. As a result, a clearinghouse of valuable management information will be available to Maine dairy farmers. "One of the benefits of our high tech world is the capability to communicate easily with experts across the country. Team members are excited about working with members of the dairy community as they make decisions on their farm and develop business plans for the future," says Anderson. Examples of programs already planned for this year to support the recommendations of the task force are seminars in estate planning and transfer and the implementation of the dairy farm business summary for management accounting. Team members are working with farmers on alternatives through the Farms for Maine's Future Program, implementing farm biosecurity and disease risk assessment to improve food safety, and supporting the growing organic dairy industry in Maine. UMaine offers undergraduate degree programs to give students a thorough background in the biology of dairy cows combined with a practical hands on internship running the university dairy farm. These programs prepare students for careers in a variety of dairy related areas. The UMaine Dairy Task Force Response Team will meet regularly to assess needs and develop program offerings in the areas of on-campus instruction, applied research to address dairy industry needs and outreach programming on high priority issues. Anderson can be reached at 581-3240 or in state at 1-800-287-7170. Stroke Risks Associated with Reduced Mental Functioning 15 Jan 2004 Contact: Nick Houtman at 207-581-3777 ORONO, Maine -- Personal health factors that contribute to a higher risk of stroke can also lead to reduced cognitive functioning, according to a study released today by the American Medical Association at a meeting in New York City. A research team led by Merrill "Pete" Elias of the University of Maine and Boston University has found that the more at risk a person is for having a stroke within the next ten years, the lower that person is likely to score on cognitive tests involving abstract reasoning, visual spatial planning, organization and concentration, scanning and tracking. "Changes in cognitive function can be a very sensitive indicator of changes in the brain," says Elias. "The bottom line is that people at higher risk for stroke perform less well on cognitive tests. The practical outcome is additional support for prevention of stroke risks in the first place and then early intervention when changes in cognitive function are detected." The study is based on data from 2,175 participants of the Framingham Offspring Study (offspring of the Framingham Heart Study participants) who were free from stroke and dementia and had taken a battery of neuropsychological tests at Examination 7 in a series of longitudinal examinations. The subjects ranged in age from 33 to 88 years old, and 54 percent were women. The report is due to be published online today in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Co-authors include Lisa M. Sullivan, Ph.D., and Alexa Beiser, Ph.D., of the BU School of Public Health; Ralph B.