Tales for the Trustee Professorship and Sabbatical: Social Practice, Studio Practice, the Collaborative Process and the Gift of Time.
Peter Precourt, Associate Professor of Art
Wednesday, February 25, 12 Noon
University of Maine at Augusta Katz Library
Associate Professor of Art Peter Precourt will highlight five projects made during his Trustee Professorship and Sabbatical: renovations of his Community Gallery/Personal studio space Art: Works on Main, curating events for the community in that space, ongoing studio work of his Katrina Chronicle and two significant collaborative undertakings: the co-creation with Lisa Botshon of Let’s Talk Graphic for Maine Humanities Council and the two-person collaborative drawing/photography/re-drawing exhibition Pull with Luc Demers in Nashville Tennessee.
Let’s Talk Turkey
Peter Milligan, Associate Professor of Biology
Wednesday, March 18, 12 Noon
University of Maine at Augusta Katz Library
Between 1977 and 1988 the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife successfully reintroduced 111 wild turkeys from Vermont in the towns of York and Elliot, Maine. Since then the population has been repopulated and recovered to well over 60,000 birds (Kelsey Sullivan, personal communication). Successful wildlife management depends on a working knowledge of disease epidemiology. Turkeys are susceptible to a number of infectious diseases and wild birds can carry a range of zoonotic agents that may contribute to the dissemination of pathogens that are harmful for livestock and human health.
85 live and 108 dead or euthanized wild turkeys were analyzed for exposure to select agricultural pathogens and infection with hemoparasites using blood samples collected between the winter 2012 and fall of 2014. Serum analysis was conducted using slide agglutination assays and Plaque Reduction Neutralization Assay. Blood smears were screened for hemoparasites using methanol fixed Giemsa stained slides. During the spring and summer of 2012, an additional 15 turkeys, 13 with overt disease, were euthanized for diagnostic examination. Skin and bone samples from 15 birds were tested for new discovered lymphoproliferative disease virus (LPDV). After confirmation of LPDV retroviral DNA in Maine wild turkeys an additional 142 samples were assayed for retroviral DNA (4 with visible lesions and 138 apparently healthy birds).
Serum tests indicated possible exposure in 8 birds to Salmonella pullorum, and in 30 birds to avian mycoplasma species. All animals tested negative for exposure to avian influenza virus. Of 78 turkeys that were examined for hemoparasites, 41 had evidence of leukocytozoon infection and 9 had haemoproteus infection and 4 contained merozoite-like bodies indicating either leukocytozoon or haemoproteus infection. PCR testing of skin, bone, or blood samples showed 125 of 157 wild turkeys tested was positive for LPDV proviral DNA. 21 domestic turkeys sampled in 2013 were negative for LPDV. Historically, LPDV was only known to occur in domestic turkeys in Europe and Israel; however, since 2009, LPDV has been identified in wild turkeys from multiple sites throughout the Eastern United States. To our knowledge this is the first report of LPDV in Maine wild turkeys.
The significance of LPDV for wild turkey populations or the risks for domestic fowl are not currently understood. It also is not known whether these recent LPDV identifications in wild turkeys represent an emerging pathogen or an endemic virus that was previously undetected.
Teaching and Living Internationally
Chelsea Ray, Assistant Professor of French and Comparative Literature
Friday, April 10, 12 Noon
University of Maine at Augusta Katz Library
A faculty and student panel explores the value of living, teaching, and studying in a different culture, with a focus on how the experience changes the way we understand our work and the way we understand ourselves.
Open Maine: Making Politics Social
James Cook, Assistant Professor of Social Science
Wednesday, April 22, 12 noon
University of Maine at Augusta Katz Library
“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories.” — Thomas Jefferson
For most of Maine’s history, its state politics have been officially accessible but practically unavailable. Before the internet age, information about the legislature was kept in side rooms and libraries at the State House in Augusta, making our collective decisions available only to those who had the time and money to stalk about the stacks.
In recent decades, the website of the Maine State Legislature has taken great strides toward making information about the Pine Tree State’s legislature, our legislation and our legislators available to all. Some roadblocks remain, however:
- Maine legislative information isn’t easily shared through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter or other forms of social media;
- Maine legislative information isn’t easily mixed and downloaded for analysis by academics, journalists, citizen bloggers or the curious;
- It isn’t easy for us to engage in conversation about legislation and legislators in the same environment where raw information is made available;
- It isn’t easy for us to create, post and share our assessments of our legislators based on transparent and verifiable standards.
This RaP colloquium presents the result of a Presidential Research Grant kick-starting Open Maine, an online civic engagement and education project to make Maine legislative politics shareable, mixable, downloadable, conversable, assessable and transparent. Presentation of the new platform and research outcomes will be followed by discussion and a brainstorm on future development.
Separating Words From Thought: Spoken and Written English, Varied Perspectives — A Roundtable Discussion
Michelle Lisi, Director of University College Virtual Academic Writing Lab and Tutoring (VAWLT) Project, with writing tutors from UMA and University College
Tuesday, November 18, 12 noon
University of Maine at Augusta Katz Library
In March of 2014, the UMA Writing Centers of Augusta and Bangor traveled to the NEWCA (Northeast Writing Center Association) Conference to host and participate in discussions of writing center pedagogy and practice. Much of the conversation focused on the discrepancy between spoken and written English, our role as tutors in supporting and encouraging the understanding of the distinction between them, and the impact of choosing one dialect over another in communicating ideas about texts and subjects. We addressed the Writing Center’s place in encouraging difference in dialect and supporting the acquisition of Edited American English (E.A.E.).Our RaP presentation this fall will return to that discussion and to our mixed response to the arguments made by NEWCA keynote speaker Verhawn Young at the outset of the conference. In particular, we’ll review and encourage dialogue about the following questions posed by the NEWCA Steering Committee: How can Writing Centers more effectively honor students’ own languages? How can Writing Centers create opportunities for students to use their own languages? Faculty expectations for college-level writing/ institutional norms and students’ needs and abilities, combined with their own individual experiences with writing, are often two opposing forces. How do tutors work to reconcile institutional values of language with students’ own languages?
The Cultural Impacts of Climate Change
Dr. Kati Corlew, Assistant Professor of Social Science
Thursday, December 4, 12 noon
Nottage Library
University of Maine at Augusta, Bangor Campus
Dr. Kati Corlew shares her work concerning Tuvalu, a low-lying island nation and a Least Developed State. It is poised to be one of the first nation casualties of climate change as it is projected to become uninhabitable due to sea level rise in the next 50 to 100 years. The indigenous Tuvaluan population is now faced with extreme political, economic, social, and cultural decisions and uncertainties.
Why Americans are Not Bilingual
Yarissa Ortiz-Vidal, Adjunct Professor of Spanish
Wednesday, September 17, 12 noon
University of Maine at Augusta Katz Library
The United States of America is still being referred to as a nation of second-language illiterates, as linguistically malnourished, as in essence a monolingual nation. Approximately 82% of Americans are monolingual and only 9% of Americans who speak a second language are highly proficient. In comparison, 50% of Europeans speak a second language fluently. Why, despite several educational reforms in an era of globalization, is second-language instruction not a priority as it is in other nations around the world? This presentation seeks an answer with a review of research regarding native English speakers and their exposure to second-language instruction
To Stay Here and Die Here For My Country: Climate Change in Tuvalu
Dr. Kati Corlew, Assistant Professor of Social Science
Friday, October 3, 12 noon
University of Maine at Augusta Katz Library
Climate change is a global phenomenon with disparate causes and consequences. Tuvalu is a low-lying island nation in the South Pacific and a Least Developed State. It is poised to be one of the first nation casualties of climate change as it is projected to become uninhabitable due to sea level rise in the next 50 to 100 years. The indigenous Tuvaluan population is now faced with extreme political, economic, social, and cultural decisions and uncertainties. This qualitative research explored the human dimensions of climate change in Tuvalu, focusing on cultural reactions, understandings, and projections for future from a psychological perspective.
Adult Development and Higher Education: The Unstated Curriculum
Chip Curry, Student Services Coordinator
Wednesday, October 15, 12 noon
University College at Rockland
We all have hopes for the impact of education on students. Often these hopes go far beyond gaining knowledge and skills. In addition to being able to demonstrate mastery of content, our hope is that our students will grow to their fullest potential. Our hope is that over the course of four or more years our students will think differently; relate to others differently; understand themselves differently; and maybe discover a greater sense of purpose.
These goals for students are not new. For a century or more colleges have sought to build young men (and later young women) often valuing character development over content knowledge. What is new is that in many places, like right here in Rockland, students are not primarily arriving at the tail-end of adolescents but rather are showing up in all stages of adulthood.
This RaP seeks to explore what student development might look like for adult learners. In particular I’m hoping we can engage in a discussion of how we support adult students to succeed academically and to grow and develop to their greatest potential.
Women and Fitness in American Culture
Sarah Hentges, Assistant Professor of American Studies
Tuesday, October 28, 12 noon
Eastport Hall 124
University of Maine at Augusta Bangor Campus
Dr. Hentges will talk about the ways in which we can understand women and fitness from a variety of interdisciplinary lenses, and the ways in which the experiences of women and fitness represent the larger context of “American Fitness.”
The Price of Complacency and the Strength of Will
John G. Shattuck, Adjunct Professor of Mental Health and Human Services
Wednesday, November 5, 12 noon
University College at Rockland
This RaP reviews how in the 1970s persistent allegations of abuse at the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf to Governor Brennan and Commissioners of Education resulted in an investigation by the Attorney General’s office and the termination of the school’s Superintendent, Principal and Head Teacher. John Shattuck will tell the story of how 5 courageous men from Maine’s Deaf Community gained the attention of the Governor and the Legislative Branch to provide $17.5 million in compensation to those who suffered as children at the State administered school for the Deaf.
Teaching and Living Internationally
Thursday, November 6, 12 noon
University of Maine at Augusta Katz Library
In the RaP panel “Teaching and Living Internationally,” Tom Giordano, Ellen Taylor, Lisa Botshon, Mary Lewis Davitt, and Chelsea Ray will discuss their teaching in an international context. Zaid Dajani, an international student, will discuss his experiences at UMA.
Dr. Tom Giordano teaches the 400 level International Business course which is a requirement of all Business Management majors. In the course students research a country’s business and political environments, its customs and business practices, among other factors that affect conducting business in that country. The research concludes with students presenting a business plan on how to start a new business in that country. In addition, guest speakers with significant international business experience talk with students about the challenges and opportunities associated with conducting business outside of the US.
Dr. Ellen Taylor is a professor of English and Women and Gender Studies at UMA. She has taught three integrated courses which involved travel with students, twice to Nicaragua and more recently to Cuba. She has also brought students to Guatemala as part of a Latin American Literature course. Dr. Taylor will talk about traveling as an intellectual and emotional education, building academic community, and creating more global citizens.
Dr. Mary Louis Davitt is a professor of Justice Studies. She will discuss her teaching at the Azov Regional Institute in Berdyansk, Ukraine as a Fulbright fellow. She will also touch upon the current situation in Ukraine.
Dr. Lisa Botshon is a professor of English and will present on UMA-University of Ljubljana connections via 3 Fulbrights, 3 visiting professors, and 3 collaborative classes since 2009.
Chelsea Ray is a professor of French and Comparative Literature. She teaches French language courses, as well as a course on Franco-American culture. Dr. Ray will moderate the panel and briefly talk about her recent work with the community, including an innovative project connecting UMA to the local elementary schools (Maine French Heritage Language Program) .