Hundreds graduate from Maine universities

A Hollywood actor who won a Golden Globe this year suffered a bout of stage fright minutes before he gave the University of Southern Maine’s commencement address Saturday.

Most of Tony Shalhoub’s professional acting is done before cameras – not live audiences, he said. He stars as the obsessive-compulsive detective on the “Monk” TV show, and is also known for his roles on NBC’s “Wings” series and in the 1996 movie “Big Night.”

“I’m not used to speaking my own words in front of thousands of people,” Shalhoub said in an anteroom at the Cumberland County Civic Center shortly before he went on stage.

“I’m more comfortable with a scriptwriter’s words,” he said. “This is my first commencement speech? Why shouldn’t I be nervous?”

Shalhoub, 49, who graduated from USM in 1977, addressed a crowd estimated at 7,500, including 1,200 graduates. USM’s graduation was one of many across the state Saturday.

In Presque Isle, two campuses of higher learning, the University of Maine at Presque Isle and Northern Maine Technical College, granted more than 400 degrees at commencement exercises Saturday morning.

In honor of its centennial celebration, UMPI showcased a trio of its alumni as commencement speakers.

They included Irvin Belanger of the Class of 1965, who was involved in education in Aroostook County for more than 30 years. The former superintendent of the Caribou school department subsequently was elected to the Maine Legislature.

Kathy Spangler, Class of 1979 and marketing director for the National Recreation and Parks Association, and Mark Wentworth, Class of 1976, who serves as counselor for public affairs in the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, Romania, also were honored.

All three received honorary degrees. They shared memories and passed on advice to the 176 men and women who received degrees at the ceremonies. UMPI President Nancy H. Hensel conferred a total of 225 degrees during the past year.

Many other alumni, including 100-year-old Lillian Keirstead of Easton of the Class of 1923, marched in the centennial commencement. She was joined by members of the 50th year class and many past valedictorians, salutatorians and class officers of years gone by.

Sandra Straubel of Littleton addressed her classmates as valedictorian.

Also speaking at the commencement exercises were Barry McCrum of the University of Maine System board of trustees and Barbara Blackstone, president of the alumni.

Chris Doody-Chabre, CEO of the Cary Medical Center in Caribou and a member of UMPI’s 1983 graduating class, addressed the nearly 200 seniors graduating from Northern Maine Technical College on Saturday morning.

Students, friends and family of graduates at NMTC also heard from Taunja Jandreau, a December graduate at the school. She was elected to speak on behalf of graduates.

At St. Joseph’s College in Standish, commencement ceremonies were held for 397 students. The featured speaker was J. Stephen Kimball, former president of the Teagle Foundation in New York City, who also served as chairman of the Council of Independent Colleges.

Kimball said that “small, private colleges like Saint Joseph’s create richer learning environments and have a vital place in our society.”

A former fund-raising consultant at John Prince Jones, Kimball directed shareholder relations and communications with institutional investors and security analysts for 28 years at Exxon Corp.

At the University of Maine at Augusta, some 650 graduates received diplomas Saturday.