UMPI’s new logo points to adventure

PRESQUE ISLE – Hoping to capitalize on its northern location, the University of Maine at Presque Isle unveiled Tuesday a new logo, tag line and theme as part of a program to distinguish itself from other campuses in New England.

The “North of Ordinary” tag line, coupled with the compass rose logo, is the university’s first endeavor for a unified marketing effort.

“We really felt that as a campus, we wanted to be distinctive … in Maine and in the broader New England region,” Dr. Nancy Hensel, president of the Presque Isle campus, said.

Last fall, the University of Maine System’s board of trustees voted to allow the individual UM campuses to develop their own trademark. UMPI officials worked with Education Marketing Group of Denver to develop their new logo. Several meetings were held with staff, students and community members during the process, according to Hensel.

“I know that many people think Aroostook County is the end of the world,” Hensel said during Tuesday’s presentation. “It is too far from Maine’s population centers, it is isolated and it is cold a good portion of the year.”

But that description of northern Maine led to a theme of “adventurous learning,” which later was illustrated by three UMPI professors talking about how they teach.

Hensel cited a recent trip to Ecuador taken by faculty and students, the opportunities for outdoor adventure and other excursions to New York and Scotland.

“The lessons our graduates glean from the adventurous learning at the University of Maine at Presque Isle will assure that they acquire habits and attitudes that will serve them well as teachers, lawyers, business leaders or whatever professions they undertake,” Hensel said to a group of businesspeople, university officials and guests from the community.

Geography professor Kim Sebold described an oral history class she plans to implement next fall as a way to facilitate compiling a film on the history of the university, beginning with its inception as a normal school, or teachers college.

The class, which will allow students to embark upon an intellectual adventure, also will introduce students to the surrounding community and relate world history to happenings during the campus’s history. For example, Sebold explained how the school was closed during World War II because its buildings became part of a military operation. As a result, the school’s academic functions, including students and staff, were transferred to Washington County’s normal school, which is now the University of Maine at Machias.

Anderson Giles, professor of art, described a tour he led recently to the west Pacific islands, which gained historical significance during World War II. Students, veterans and other community members saw sites such as where the Enola Gay bomber aircraft was loaded with the first nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Some students said later that their lives were changed by the tour.

“That will last their entire lives,” Giles said.

Another professor, Dr. Bonnie Wood, described how she has revised her traditional approach to teaching biology. In addition to the lecture, every class includes some sort of “active learning,” which has brought her closer to her students.

“I’m working harder than ever … but [I’m] more energized,” said Wood.