ORONO – With 25 to 35 percent of Maine residents being of French-Canadian and Acadian descent, faculty members like Susan Pinette are eager to strengthen Franco-American studies at the University of Maine.

With assistance from a recent $25,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant, the assistant professor of modern languages and classics and director of Franco-American studies began working with 13 other UMaine faculty members in January to create a stronger, more cohesive Franco-American studies program.

The grant helps lay the groundwork for the consortium of UMaine faculty to create what they believe is the first-ever academic model for Franco-American studies, which will be used to bolster the UMaine program and those of other institutions.

Though many colleges and universities throughout the Northeast and Canada include Franco-American content in classes, none of them has developed a clear curriculum for a comprehensive Franco-American Studies program, nationally or internationally, according to Pinette.

Timing is important. The lack of a designated course of study is particularly a problem now as Franco-Americans throughout the state have begun to evaluate their heritage and request that their history, literature and culture be taught in grade school and college, Pinette said.

Once humbled by widespread disrespect and openly discriminated against – for instance, the target of a massive 1923 Ku Klux Klan demonstration in Milo – Maine’s Franco-American population today is beginning to embrace its cultural heritage. The state is supporting their efforts with educational initiatives and community festivals.

Maine is surrounded by the French-speaking Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, the ancestral homes of a significant portion of Maine’s population, said Ann Leffler, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The college oversees the Franco-American Studies program and is home to most of the faculty working on the curriculum project.

“No other university in the nation is as perfectly positioned for such study – geographically, culturally and academically,” she said.

UMaine has been a pioneer in Franco-American studies for several years, beginning more than 25 years ago with the establishment of the university’s Franco-American Centre on campus, designed to assist in supporting the Franco-American communities in Maine, teaching occasional courses and more recently seeing the creation of an academic minor in the field.

The university hired Pinette four years ago to institutionalize a Franco-American studies program. She began by introducing an introductory course in Franco-American studies and applying for the grant to develop a more formal, comprehensive approach.

However, with no established syllabus from which to create a more formal curriculum, she said, the UMaine consortium of faculty decided to collectively study the subject themselves and create the syllabus.

“The trouble we face is not a lack of resources, but a lack of a curriculum,” Pinette said. “Historical accounts, literature in French and English, folklore and sociological studies of Franco-American communities already exist. The problem is, instead, one of definition and scope.”

The faculty group has been meeting, reading and studying through a series of workshops, one in January and one this month, to decide what aspects of Franco-American history, culture and literature should be included in UMaine classes, existing or those that may be proposed.

Pinette said her aim was to create a “community of Franco-American scholars” at UMaine.

“We have to teach the teachers, because lessons in teaching Franco-American history are not in any book,” she said. “We have to pick it up ourselves. It’s kind of a niche the University of Maine can offer.”

Once the new course material is clarified, the group will propose specific ways to interject the course material into new or existing classes.

Participating faculty include Joline Blais, assistant professor of new media and co-director of Stillwater Lab, a University of Maine digital-art and culture center; Don Cyr, a community scholar who teaches Acadian folklore and Quebec folklore; Pamela Dean, archivist for the Maine Folklife Center; Jacques Ferland, associate professor of history; Michael Grillo, associate professor of art; Diane Haslett, associate professor of social work; Kim Huisman, assistant professor of sociology; Yvon Labb?, director of the Franco-American Centre; Kristin Langellier, professor of communication and journalism; Margaret Lukens, associate professor of English; Raymond Pelletier, associate professor of modern languages and classics and associate director of Canadian studies; Eric Peterson, associate professor of communication and journalism; Rhea Cote Robbins, a community scholar who teaches Franco-American women’s experiences; Carol Toner, director of Maine studies; and Pinette.