Maine

Meeting learners where they are, so they can go anywhere in the Maine workforce

Published

2 years ago

February 28, 2024

Meeting learners where they are, so they can go anywhere in the Maine workforce

Dannel Malloy
| Portsmouth Herald

Jamie Guerrette was at a career crossroads. The working mother of two could see the boost a bachelor’s degree in business could give her in the job market. What she couldn’t see was how she would find the time to come back to college.

Enter University of Maine at Presque Isle’s YourPace.

A competency-based degree program offered entirely online, YourPace allows adults like Jamie to access courses when it works best in their busy lives, and advance as they master the material.

Students can receive credit for prior learning and work experience, and personal success coaches to support them as they progress toward their degree or certificate in high-demand fields including accounting, criminal justice, psychology and supply chain management. And they pay an affordable flat fee per session, regardless of how many courses they take.

The fit and flexibility of YourPace — and her hard work on nights and weekends — enabled Jamie to finish her business degree in six months. She’s since secured a great job working for an Aroostook County nonprofit, and says the skills she has now she wishes she had years ago.

In Maine, it’s estimated that 190,000 adults have some college but no door-opening degree or credential. Our public universities want to help those Mainers — and the state’s employers and economy — realize their full potential.

Doing so is not only essential to growing Maine’s workforce, but to ensuring the sustainability of our System, which is seeing far fewer students enroll directly from high school.

YourPace proves what is possible, and has helped UMPI’s enrollment increase by 67% over the last five years. It’s just one example of our System’s evolution to better engage adult learners in earning a postsecondary degree or credential, consistent with Maine’s 10-year economic strategy of growing local talent and our own new strategic plan.

Expanded broadband connectivity has been invaluable to our doing so.

The University of Maine at Augusta was a pioneer in distance education, broadcasting courses statewide using interactive television starting in the late-1980s. This fall, distance education made up 37% of all credit hours delivered by UMS.

Across the System, our universities are adding responsive, high-quality online programming so adults can most easily access innovative education and opportunity in fields where Maine most needs knowledgeable workers. This shift online has led UMS to start selling now-underutilized facilities to local partners so they can be repurposed for public benefit — like affordable senior housing — and reduce our operating costs.

The University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK) now has a fully online master’s in nursing, as well as RN to BSN programs so nurses here can improve their economic mobility and patient outcomes. And this fall, the University of Southern Maine launched an online bachelor’s degree in special education to up-skill those already working in the state’s schools including educational technicians. Even the University of Maine School of Law now has entirely online offerings, like its Compliance Program.

Of course, distance education isn’t for everyone. That’s why our System is improving in-person access in creative, cost-efficient ways.

For example, the University of Maine at Farmington delivers its bachelor’s in early childhood education at Southern Maine Community College, with evening and weekend classes preparing working adults in the state’s most populated region to build strong foundations for our youngest Mainers.

Beyond access and affordability, like traditional-aged learners, the 40% of UMS students who are 25 and older also need wrap-around support. The University of Maine, the University of Maine at Machias and UMFK are collaborating to help Mainers Finish Strong — an adult degree completion program that provides scholarships including a free course, personalized advising and even intensive English language training for New Americans.

Higher education doesn’t have a reputation for flexibility. Here in Maine, our public universities are changing that and the lives of Maine people.

Dannel Malloy has been chancellor of the University of Maine System since 2019. Prior to his tenure in Maine, Malloy was a public servant for more than two decades, serving as a prosecutor, mayor and two-term governor of Connecticut.

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Maine

Maine Women’s Hockey Battles To A Tie With Providence In A Thrilling Match

Published

7 hours ago

November 2, 2025

Press Room

Maine Women’s Hockey Battles To A Tie With Providence In A Thrilling Match

The Maine Women’s Hockey Team skated to a 1-1 tie with the Providence Friars on Saturday afternoon, November 1st. Providence won the shootout to win the extra point in Hockey East.

After a scoreless tie, Providence scored their goal with :32 seconds gone.

Maine answered 34 seconds later, when Frederikke Foss scored, assisted by Ali Altiman and Danielle Brunette.

Maine was 0-5 on the power play, while Providence was 1-1.

Maine outshot Providence 31-23.

Kiia Lahtinen turned away 22 shots in goal for Maine.

Providence is 3-6-1 overall and 1-2-1 in Hockey East. Maine is 2-6-1 overall and 0-1-1 in Hockey East.

The Black Bears return to the Alfond this coming weekend, with a series against Boston University. The puck drops on Friday November 7th at 3 p.m. and on Saturday, November 8th at 3:30 p.m.

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Maine

Women’s Hockey Skates To 1-1 Tie Against Maine – Providence College Athletics

Published

1 day ago

November 2, 2025

Press Room

Women’s Hockey Skates To 1-1 Tie Against Maine – Providence College Athletics

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Providence College women’s hockey team skated to a 1-1 tie against the University of Maine on Saturday, Nov. 1 at Schneider Arena. The Friars are now 3-6-1 overall and 1-2-1 in Hockey East play, while the Black Bears move to 2-6-1 and 0-1-1. Senior Reichen Kirchmair (Oakville, Ontario) scored the lone goal for Providence, her eighth of the season.

SCORE
Providence – 1 | Maine – 1

RECORDS
Providence – 3-6-1 (1-2-1 HEAW) | Maine – 2-6-1 (0-1-1 HEAW)

VENUE
Schneider Arena | Providence, R.I.

GAME FLOW & NOTES

-The teams skated scoreless through the first period, with Maine holding an 11-4 edge in shots on goal. The Friars successfully killed off three penalties, including a five-on-three for 19 seconds.

-Providence opened the scoring on the power play to start the second period. Senior Reichen Kirchmair (Oakville, Ontario) found the back of the net, assisted by junior Audrey Knapp (Stevens Point, Wis.) and senior Cristina Cavaliere (Mississauga, Ontario). It marked Kirchmair’s team-leading eighth goal of the season.

-Maine tied the game just 34 seconds later on a goal from Frederikke Foss, assisted by Ali Altiman and Danielle Brunette.

-The teams played a scoreless third period to send the game to overtime, marking the Friars’ third overtime contest in their last four games.

-Neither team scored in overtime, resulting in a 1-1 tie. It was Providence’s first tie since Nov. 16, 2024, against Vermont.

-In the shootout, graduate student goaltender Hope Walinski (Lincoln, R.I.) stopped two shots, while Knapp and sophomore Jessie Pellerin (Bowmanville, Ontario) each scored to give Providence the extra point.

-Walinski finished with 30 saves in net for the Friars.

STAT COMPARISON

Providence – 1

Shots: 26

Face-offs: 27/45

Power plays: 1/1

Penalty Kill: 5/5

Maine – 1

Shots: 33

Face-offs: 18/45

Power plays: 0/5

Penalty Kill: 0/1

PC GAME HIGHS

Shots on Goal: Davies (5)

Blocks: Clarke (3)

Goals: Kirchmair (1)

Assists: Cavaliere, Knapp (1)

Points: Cavaliere, Kirchmair, Knapp (1)

UP NEXT

The Friars return to action next weekend with a home-and-home series against the University of New Hampshire in Hockey East play. Providence will travel to Durham, N.H. on Friday, Nov. 7 at 6:00 p.m. before hosting the Wildcats on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 2:00 p.m. at Schneider Arena.

For more updates on the Providence women’s hockey program, follow the team on Twitter and Instagram @PCWHockey.

– GO FRIARS –

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Maine

Maine mother who lost daughter to leukemia awarded $25m in wrongful death suit

Published

2 days ago

October 31, 2025

Press Room

Maine mother who lost daughter to leukemia awarded m in wrongful death suit

A civil jury in Maine has awarded $25m to a woman whose teenage daughter died from leukemia after being misdiagnosed with a condition linked to steroid-using men.

The hefty verdict delivered in favor of Lyndsey Sutherland on Thursday called for her to receive $10m for the wrongful 2021 death of 15-year-old Jasmine “Jazzy” Vincent as well as $15m for pain and suffering, said her attorney, Meryl Poulin.

Poulin said on Friday that the verdict could be appealed, and an applicable Maine state law caps wrongful death damages at $750,000. Nonetheless, Poulin said, she hoped the amount awarded to her client sends “a clear message that Maine juries are willing to hold medical providers accountable when they fail to meet minimum standards of care”.

“There are so many and yet so few words to capture the impact of this result,” Poulin added in a statement to the Guardian. “Watching Lyndsey continue to push year after year, uphill, against the odds, to get justice for her daughter was beyond inspiring. This result was possible because of her unbelievable perseverance and determination to obtain justice for Jazzy.

“I hope that this verdict will finally bring some peace and closure for the tragic loss of this beautiful, innocent 15-year-old girl.”

Jazzy was initially diagnosed with pneumonia after becoming ill on 14 July 2021, according to reporting from the Maine news outlet WMTW.

A doctor with the Mid Coast Medical Group later concluded Jazzy had gynecomastia, which is an increase in breast tissue that is frequently found in men who use anabolic steroids, as noted by Maine’s Portland Press Herald.

Jazzy subsequently died of cardiac arrest on 1 August 2021, a little more than two weeks after she first indicated she felt sick. It was later determined that Jazzy’s death resulted from a buildup of fluid stemming from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which Sutherland’s attorneys contended was a common kind of pediatric cancer that responds well to treatment if diagnosed appropriately. Sutherland ultimately sued Mid Coast, alleging negligence in the death of Jazzy, who lived in Maine’s New Gloucester area.

Attempts to contact Mid Coast Medical Group for comment were not immediately successful. But WMTW reported that Mid Coast’s attorneys maintained that medical personnel are tasked with making many decisions daily, and honest mistakes should not be punished.

Mid Coast’s attorneys also argued that another provider who first saw Jazzy had some responsibility as well.

Jurors sided with Sutherland after a trial that began on Monday.

Sutherland testified during the trial, according to the Press Herald.

“I don’t want anybody [else] to have to do this,” Sutherland reportedly said on the witness stand while discussing why she was pursuing her lawsuit. “Nobody should have to do this.”

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