$1.5M gift to Husson creates college in Calais

Husson College has received a donation of more than $1.5 million in property and annual gifts, the largest donation in the school’s history, officials announced Monday.

Sidney and Nancy Unobskey of Robbinston and San Francisco have donated the Unobskey School, renamed Unobskey College, in downtown Calais, valued at $1.25 million. The couple also has offered to underwrite the school’s operating costs for the next seven years, a gift valued at $280,000, according to Husson president William Beardsley.

“Our modest Unobskey College has its champions. And out of this rich environment, coupled with these visions and champions, might just come new opportunities for the St. Croix Valley,” Beardsley said at a press conference at the Richard E. Dyke Center for Family Business on Husson’s Bangor campus.

Husson College now owns Unobskey College and plans to use it as a satellite campus. In the fall, Unobskey College will offer bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in criminal justice and business and a master’s degree program in school counseling. Husson hopes to add more liberal arts courses and plans to offer transfer opportunities for Washington County Community College students.

Students will be able to earn a graduate degree without ever leaving Calais, Beardsley said.

Husson will offer space to its subsidiary, New England School of Communications, and its affiliate, Bangor Theological Seminary. NESCOM plans to offer courses in media studies, journalism and copy writing and the seminary plans to offer some of its religion, theology and spirituality courses at Unobskey College.

Husson also plans to open the school to the University of New Brunswick. The school will encourage residents of Washington County and Charlotte County, New Brunswick, to come together to take courses and pursue degrees, Beardsley said.

“The Lower St. Croix River Valley is home to 30,000 Canadians and Americans. As of today, it will also be home to a collaboration of international higher education institutions in a place we now call Unobskey College. The concept is that of economic development built around a small international watershed with so much to offer,” Beardsley said.

The Unobskey School now is home to University College at Calais, part of the University of Maine System. The University College will finish its semester in the building, then relocate to the Washington County Community College Campus in Calais, according to John Diamond, executive director of external affairs for the University of Maine System.

“We think the Unobskey gift to Husson adds to the academic opportunities that will be available in Washington County,” Diamond said.

The plans for the Unobskey School were prompted by the Unobskey family’s vision to promote higher education and increase collaboration between Canada and the United States, especially in the St. Croix River Valley, Nancy Unobskey said.

“Sidney and I contribute to many causes, but no activity is closer to our hearts than the future of the St. Croix River Valley,” she said. “And nothing makes a difference in a person’s life as much as higher education.”

Sidney Unobskey, a 69-year-old real estate developer, was born in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, and raised in Calais. His wife, Nancy Unobskey, 67, is a psychiatric social worker. Neither attended Husson College, but Sidney Unobskey said he was impressed with the work Beardsley has done to promote Husson’s main campus in Bangor and satellite campuses in Presque Isle and South Portland.

At the press conference, Beardsley presented the Unobskeys with a bronze statue of two eagles, the Husson College mascot. Gov. John E. Baldacci was also present and thanked the Unobskeys for their generosity.

“This is a wonderful example of public and private collaboration for rural Maine, and it develops international opportunities and cooperation,” Baldacci said.