ORONO – The world is getting smaller every day, with advances in technology and transportation, and the University of Maine wants to take steps to ensure that the state and its students don’t get lost in the mix.

By creating a School of Policy and International Affairs, UM hopes to encourage activity in a variety of fields that will provide a foundation “on which we can develop a higher national profile” in policy studies while increasing opportunities for externally funded research, said John F. Mahon, the school’s new director.

Mahon is a management professor at UM and holder of the first John M. Murphy Chair of International Business Policy and Strategy in UM’s Maine Business School.

With the William S. Cohen Center for International Policy as a cornerstone, the new policy school brings together 80-plus faculty members from a wide range of disciplines, including economic and environmental policy and international relations.

“We’re of a size where we can do things like this,” said UM President Robert Kennedy.

“Certainly just watching world events and even recognizing technology [increases] the importance and emphasis on policy decisions and international affairs – and those are the two components of the school …,” Kennedy said.

The new school will report through Mahon to Daniel Innes, dean of UM’s College of Business, and to Edna Mora Szymanski, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.

“Which means it’s universitywide, which is a different way of doing things,” Kennedy said.

There’s also no direct cost associated with the school, since UM is not hiring additional faculty.

The School of Policy and International Affairs is also designed to complement work at the university’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, which is involved in state policy development, and its Sen. George Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, which has expertise in environmental policy.

The new school officially will be unveiled during a reception at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Kennedy’s home on the UM campus.