Tuesday, April 28, 2015

New Honors Student Experience


On April 18, Stephen and I welcomed a record-breaking group of prospective students to the Unity campus.  After a morning and afternoon of immersion activities with current students and faculty, we held a reception for prospective Honors Program students to meet with me and co-director Aimee Phillippi, and a vibrant group from our current Honors cohort.



https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIXP72ZtHMuAj2BacITJCcJb1a-OJEe1L4PTSzC9sPGeMjXPIKHqct6yx7wB0gSYXtLv8IITChSKBUwzAQ1E1I9N7rag7Gl56FXQ2te1h3lImmFjvFrEy88WR0XnZqMRZLhE61JNBjEsg/s1600/IMG_0117.JPGHaving so many current Honors students available made things easy for me and Aimee -- all we had to do was find out the interests of the newbies, and then introduce them to current students who knew something about their interests -- and those interests are quite diverse!



https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJobvcLzbPRlFNnTdITbQRLZrZvRsXFidzzJ2AQWx_W3gDurCg4AkkxpmlYnSum5c9n6_DYedAipYfYg115E7hWdyKSvPArYMV9YUwyuemnvZnuJe_l2S_lrL-TtT-yPgXLCovpg-Hxc/s1600/IMG_0118.JPGOur most excited current student may have been Nick Newcomb, who high-fived two students who, like him, are investigating the Earth and Environmental Science major.  Captive Wildlife Care and Education majors enjoyed telling their stories to those interested in pursuing that major, and talking about the small animal room. Wildlife Bio folks talked about their experiences on projects like the Unity College Bear Study.





https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlx6iZ12t4dX1XkU_XRNNsHdTI49LJomHr2d4YIdn94YF-MGQiJ_RARFLR1DBozo-FHe77Pk_w-W8GMDfiK5yEFN9IV8aYi2yV16otm8dotzbJs6zSzY16qSJgOUpw_7VmIrgJMf_hEdM/s1600/IMG_0121.JPGMeanwhile, Stephen answered questions from parents about where the college is headed, and how Unity prepares students for careers in the green economy and for success in the knowledge economy.



https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyZXv_hNIZhZPa5Q_IfeUM_XaqUuEvxE90DshwgoriVahitDoFawsyKyZewTrXEJLFHaPDuxMOfWWI1Kv3n8kyLQ6g5uDtp5xJPK8siwTJM9WIcySH8CqFC2u8D1jGQrn2JxumR1X43g/s1600/IMG_0124.JPGAnd thankfully, it was a beautiful day!  I loved seeing people gathered out on the patio again, enjoying the sun and the birds, and the beauty that surrounds us at Unity College.











Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Only at Unity

The winter of 2015 has been one for the record books in Maine, and in New England generally.  I'm widely known as a wimp when it comes to cold and wind, so I spent most of February hunkered down in Unity House, where I was safe from the harsh weather.








In fact, Unity House is so well insulated and so "tight" that there are no drafts, and even the sound of the howling wind is muted.

Plus, we have the indoor plants to remind us of the green world.


I'm teaching the Honors section of Composition and Communication II, and in February I realized that my class is small enough to hold it at Unity House.










"Y'all are young and strong," I said to the students after a snow day. "How about you walk down to Unity House, instead of me walking up to class?"

"Will the dogs be there?" they asked.







They agreed -- and now it's spring, at least on the calendar, and we can even hold class out on the patio!
Next up -- green grass!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Activist Women visit Unity House



It's such a privilege to work with our students -- the environmental leaders of today and tomorrow! Congratulations to this year's WE Lead Student Environmental Leaders, Marina Theberge and Rebecca Zerlin! Both have made exceptional contributions to Unity College and to the larger world. They were honored at a reception and a ceremony organized by Unity's Experiential Program Coordinator, Nancy Vosburgh-Zane.


In April, our local community hosted several internationally-renowned visitors, including Dr. Lara Hansen, the 2014 WE Lead award winner.  Dr. Hansen, who served on the 2007 Nobel Prize-winning IPCC team, is currently the founding director of EcoAdapt, a non-profit organization that provides support for climate change adaptation.

We were also privileged to host a production of Kaiulani Lee's one-woman play, Can't Scare Me: The Story of Mother Jones at the UCCPA. Kaiulani is well known for her portrayal of Rachel Carson in the one-woman stage and film work, A Sense of Wonder. In both cases, Kaiulani has brought new meaning to the term "one-woman": she not only performs both roles, she researched and wrote both scripts. Kaiulani will be honored this year by the Audubon Women in Conservation for her work on A Sense of Wonder, which "reminds the audience of the monumental stature and influence of Rachel Carson, of how precious our natural world is, and of just how dramatic and difficult the challenges can be for those who stand to protect the truth."



The night before the play, Kaiulani attended a dinner with students and members of the community at Unity House. She spent much of her time talking with students. There's Marina again on the right, along with recent grad Zach Wigham, Environmental Writing major Josiah Coyle, and Summer Nay, who studies Adventure Therapy.



Community members also engaged in vigorous dialogue about a host of topics, as captured in this thoughtful moment between writing coach Kathrin Seitz and poet-activist Susie O'Keeffe.




As the semester here at Unity comes to a close, I'm reviewing final review assignments from my section of Environmental Issues and Insights. Many of the students in that section expressed gratitude for the opportunity to read Rachel Carson's seminal work, Silent Spring, because it helped them to understand current environmental debates. In the words of one student, Emilee Reynolds, "I am better able to understand the scientific side of issues like GMO foods from reading Silent Spring." As usual, I am very proud of our students' insights, and I look forward to the new generation of activist women! 

Monday, March 31, 2014

Peace Jam at Unity

Last fall, Unity students signed on as mentors for the regional PeaceJam slam for New England.  The event drew over 40 high school and middle school participants from Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Unity students facilitated "family groups" and outdoor adventure activities on campus.




The day was so full of joy and inspiration, that a core group of Unity students decided to form the first PeaceJam Scholars Student Organization right here in Central Maine.  A Scholars group is for college students who want to be involved with PeaceJam to support elementary, middle and high school age youth in our community, and to carry out their own Global Call to Action service project. Here, the students meet at Unity House with Cathy Roberts (left), the Maine PeaceJam Coordinator.



The PeaceJam mission is about Nobel Peace Laureates mentoring youth to change the world. Thanks to a generous gift from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, the Unity PeaceJam Scholars group was able to register and attend the March 13 - 14  New England Spring Conference with Nobel Prize winner Oscar Arias! Pictured here is a group of PeaceJammers with Oscar Arias; our own Dean Sheehan is front and center.

Stay tuned, because Unity will be hosting the regional PeaceJam Slam on campus in Fall of 2014! Meanwhile, you can feel the love in this video of a shout out to Afghanistan, with Unity students Matt Leaghan and Zach Jendzejec.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Visiting Energy Expert Sharon Reishus



On November 4, 2013, energy policy expert Sharon Reishus spent an afternoon and evening on campus, visiting a class combined of Professional Writing and Natural Resource Policy students, and then meeting students and faculty for dinner at Unity House.



Sharon leads the development and delivery of research content for the IHS CERA North American Power Advisory Service. Previously, she served on Maine's state-wide Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for nearly seven years. Sitting in on the class, my knowledge of energy policy in Maine and in the world expanded exponentially. For example, I learned that Maine has been in the forefront of renewable energy use for over a hundred years, thanks to the hydroelectric plants that were originally built to supply power to the paper companies. Maine still gets over 25% of its energy from hydroelectricity sources like the Worumbo project pictured here.

 

Oversight agencies like the PUC were established to regulate utility companies in the absence of the sort of free market competition that is assumed to result in fair market prices. A natural teacher, Sharon explained that monopolies for utility companies were established by federal and state governments to avoid duplication of major infrastructure efforts, as Sharon reminded us during her classroom presentation. For example, having three electric or telephone companies would require three sets of lines.

The PUC is a judicial body that holds hearings on matters like rate increase requests, and requests for proposals for offshore wind projects. In the course of her service to the commission, Sharon saw an evolution in the type of stakeholders who came before the PUC. Increasingly diverse groups of citizens and corporate interests -- including representatives from the renewable energy industry -- all promoted their particular interests.

Sharon, who cares deeply about environmental issues in Maine and in the world, told us it became quite agonizing to weigh the often competing interests of economic prosperity, including jobs for Mainers, with ecosystem health and the consequences of fossil fuel emissions. I appreciated Sharon's emphasis on the complexity of energy issues. Like most complex systems, energy production and consumption systems benefit from diversity. A diverse energy portfolio can increase our overall energy security.

One of Sharon' proudest accomplishments was helping to bring the PUC and the Department of Environmental Protection together in founding the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the first market-based regulatory program in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She believes that California's new carbon credit trading program will have a significant international impact on greenhouse gas emissions. 



After class, the discussion continued at Unity House, where faculty including Dr. Janis Balda,  students from
the class, and members of Unity's Honors Program shared a very tasty dinner. Thank you to Dining Services chefs Charlie Krause and Jay Lozada for their thoughtful and creative selections, featuring locally-sourced food.



Monday, September 23, 2013

Class of 1973!

Front:Row: Dot Quimby, Louis Abramson, Michele, Michele Bajardi, Rev. George Fowler, Steve Bajardi
Back Row: Lennie Freedenberg, Bob Portner, Stephen, Steve Silver, Marc Bane
On Saturday, September 21, 2013, in the middle of a fantastic Community Weekend, Stephen and I hosted a brunch for some folks from Unity's Class of 1973.

 The Unity alums were delighted -- and who wouldn't be -- to see Dot Quimby and George Fowler, two of the original Unity staff members.  Dot and George often acted as substitute parents for new students, especially those who came from far-flung places like . . . New York City.



George almost didn't make it because he knocked on the back door while everyone was outside taking photos. "They wouldn't let me in!" he said.  But luckily, we were able to track down George, as well as Lou Abramson, who had also gone astray.




The conversation was rich and lively, and it was easy for me to visualize these folks as young, passionate students, in many ways very much like the students of today . . .  




maybe because one thing students from every generation share is a sense of humor about their college experience. . .

. . . and a love of coffee and conversation.








Stephen and I hope to see everyone from this group again at Unity's 50th anniversary alumni celebration on September 23, 2015.  It certainly seems destined to be. Could another "one L" Michele, who is married to someone named "Steve" be a coincidence?  I think not!