ORONO — The award of a graduate degree to Kathleen Maguire this weekend represents not only a personal achievement for the Gorham woman but a technological milestone for the University of Maine.

Maguire earned her degree by taking four years of long-distance courses through the university’s interactive television system. Her master’s degree will be the first awarded to an ITV student.

“I think very highly of this program,” she said in a statement released by the university. “I couldn’t have done it any other way.”

Maguire will be one of more than 450 graduates who will receive their degrees in the university’s commencement ceremony in Orono on Saturday.

A geotechnical engineer who specializes in evaluating the ability of soils to support buildings, landfills and other structures, Maguire received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Maine in 1986.