FARMINGTON – Maine’s public universities are helping students and faculty displaced by Hurricane Katrina continue their learning and teaching.

In addition to raising money for victims from the hurricane-battered gulf region, the campuses have found other ways to help, University of Maine System officials said Monday.

The University of Maine at Machias and the University of Southern Maine each donated an online course to an organization involved with electronic learning, Vice Chancellor Elsa Nunez told the UMS board of trustees during a meeting at the University of Maine at Farmington. Students whose schools closed because of the hurricane can take the courses free of charge and keep up with their studies, she said.

Provost John Mahon said UMaine in Orono has made room at Somerset Hall’s faculty residence for a married couple who taught engineering at the University of New Orleans. The professors are being treated as “faculty in residence” and are interacting with students and setting up informal programs, he said.

Two students from Louisiana have enrolled at UMaine, while another two are taking courses, Mahon said. Also, two graduate students have been granted full access at UMaine’s Fogler Library so they can continue their research.

In addition, associate professor Tony Brinkley and Franco-American Centre director Yvon Labbe serve on Gov. John Baldacci’s Hurricane Katrina Task Force, and are exploring ways in which the center could work with the French-speaking population in Louisiana, Mahon said.

Also:

. The University of Maine at Machias is raising money through the Newman Club for a Louisiana organization that cares for stranded animals, said President Cindy Huggins.

. The University of Maine at Presque Isle has enrolled a New Orleans student whose boyfriend has family in Fort Fairfield, said President Karl Burgher.

. The University of Maine at Farmington sent a staff member from the school’s computer center to Louisiana on the State of Maine – the training ship for Maine Maritime Academy – so he could lend his technology expertise, said President Theodora Kalikow. UMF also held a weeklong symposium on issues of race and culture, she said.

. In addition to raising funds for Habitat for Humanity, the University of Maine at Fort Kent has let people in the hurricane-affected areas know that “we reside in a French-speaking community,” President Richard Cost said.

. The University of Maine at Augusta has donated funds and “stands ready to provide assistance any way we can,” said President Richard Randall.

. A faculty member and a staff member trained in disaster relief are helping out in Louisiana, said University of Southern Maine President Richard Pattenaude. Also, the University of Maine Law School is working to identify law students who want to transfer, he said.