PRESQUE ISLE – The University of Maine at Presque Isle may be host to a new master’s degree program as soon as this summer because of a cooperative effort among three state universities and a teacher development center.

The Aroostook Regional Teacher Development Center is working with UMPI, the University of Maine in Orono and the University of Southern Maine to offer a special education master’s degree program at the Presque Isle campus, Dave Ouellette, the center’s coordinator, said Wednesday.

The center – one of three developed in the state through a partnership among local schools, the university system and the state Department of Education – connects teachers who need to meet specific educational and certification requirements with the universities and educational

officials who can provide the training.

The centers, located in Presque Isle, Ellsworth and Farmington, are funded by $250,000 from the University of Maine System and federal grant funds.

Ouellette’s job is to help teachers, most of whom cannot take university classes during the school day, locate the course opportunities available to them.

“In the process of doing that I came across a fairly large number of special education teachers in The County who were teaching out of their field,” Ouellette said.

The teachers, who needed seven or eight classes to get their special education certification, were expressing similar points of view, he said.

“They were saying, ‘If I have to take that many classes after I already have my bachelor’s degree, I might as well be working on a master’s,'” Ouellette said. “That’s how I got started on this.”

“This” is a 45-credit master’s degree program from the University of Maine tailored for those who already have their elementary education degree but want their certification in special education, Ouellette said.

All program courses would be offered at UMPI, with some Orono instructors teaching classes either in person or through teleconferencing equipment, local professors offering classes and USM providing some online courses.

“If you’re a classroom teacher teaching full time, it’s pretty tough to drive to Orono to access a graduate program,” Ouellette said. “Sometimes it’s just not doable. And sometimes night courses even are hard for practicing teachers. We’re trying to provide access to professional development that’s doable.”

Ouellette expects it will take graduates about three years to complete the program.

Program officials will hold an organizational meeting at 4:15 p.m. Monday, April 25, in the Allagash Room at UMPI’s Campus Center to determine whether there are enough students to support the program.

Ouellette said officials will need about 12 to 15 people to start the program, but that since the meeting has been advertised, about 30 people have expressed interest.

For information, contact Ouellette at 768-9590 or e-mail him at ouelled@umpi.maine.edu.